Wednesday, March 3, 2004 | 11:17 a.m.
Cheers erupted in the lobby of school district offices Tuesday evening, as Silverado High School students celebrated a small victory. The Clark County School Board had just passed a zoning proposal that would allow them to stay in their school next year.
With a 5-2 vote, the board voted for a plan that would let 306 current Silverado High School students stay in their school. The 674 eighth grade students who currently reside in the disputed Silverado High School zone will go to the new Del Sol High School in August.
The School Board also approved unanimously without objection new boundaries for two other high schools due to open in the fall: Spring Valley High School, off Spring Mountain Road and Rainbow Boulevard, and Canyon Springs High School, on North Fifth Street near Craig Road in North Las Vegas.
Spring Valley will draw from Bonanza, Durango and Sierra Vista high schools in a shift that will send almost 500 students from Palo Verde to Bonanza. Canyon Springs will get students from Mojave, Cheyenne, Cimarron-Memorial and Palo Verde high schools in a change that will reassign about 500 teens from Rancho High School to Mojave.
The redrawing of boundaries for Del Sol was the only one that drew any comment Tuesday night, but the comment was plentiful and emotional.
"I've known these friends since first grade and been in the band with them since sixth grade. I understand the importance of diversity, but isn't stability more important?" Silverado student Sarah Nielson told the board.
The Attendance Zone Advisory Commission, or AZAC, originally recommended that 980 students from Silverado High School be moved to the Del Sol, near Pecos Road and Patrick Lane. Those students live roughly north of Warm Springs Road west of Eastern Avenue and north of Sunset Road west of Maryland Parkway.
After listening to parental concerns, school district officials made a second proposal that would allow 306 of those students already attending Silverado to stay at their school and send the 674 incoming students to Del Sol.
Board Members Ruth Johnson and Sheila Moulton opposed the revised proposal.
The decision was a cause for celebration among current Silverado High School students, who will now graduate with their classmates.
Students gathered in the hallways, jumping and hugging one another. Parents shook hands and breathed a sigh of relief.
"I'm excited," said Becky Nielson, whose daughter is a freshman at Silverado. "I am grateful." Nielson said she was particularly pleased that the board took parents' concerns into consideration.
"I'm honestly pleased that they listened to us," she said. "They took what we wanted and voted for it. It's exciting to know that they are listening and they will hear your opinion.
"They actually heard us speaking and that makes you feel so strong. Now I can sleep at night."
Nielson's daughter, Sarah, who voiced her opinion to the School Board, said "When I heard I might be sent to Del Sol, I was not happy at all. I didn't know anyone going there.
"It was devastating because I'm in the band and I've formed such a bond with them. We've built relationships and trust with each other and I didn't want that broken."
J. Zhu, whose son is a sophomore at Silverado, immediately called his wife from his cell phone to announce the good news.
"She is excited and we think it's just wonderful," he said. "I've been at all the AZAC meetings and following this. My son is going to be so happy."
Two years ago Zhu's son was accepted into the Clark County magnet school, but because of the distance, he decided to send him to Silverado.
"It turned out to be a great school," he said. "He wants to finish his education there."
Zhu said he was mainly concerned that changing to Del Sol would ruin his son's chances of taking AP courses.
"My son had already signed up for AP classes there and was worried he wouldn't be able to take them if he went to Del Sol," he said.
Not everyone shared Zhu's enthusiasm for the decision.
Moulton gave an emotional plea, stating the revised proposal was not best for the interest of Del Sol.
"We don't want Del Sol to start out with low numbers like Liberty did," she said. "We're birthing a new school at Del Sol and need to go with the AZAC recommendation."
Board member Larry Mason disagreed.
"We need to look at this not like a birthing at all," he said. "We should have never placed that school there in the first place and I regret putting it there. But it is there now, and we can make Del Sol work and we made Liberty work.
"Starting Del Sol with fewer numbers will allow for growth. Del Sol being built without room for growth doesn't make any sense. I cannot support the (unrevised) proposal."
Del Sol is projected to open with 2,551 students, compared with 2,585 for Canyon Springs and 2,676 for Spring Valley.
Board President Susan Brager-Wellman agreed with Mason that Del Sol would be best suited starting out with fewer numbers.
In addition to the Silverado students, Del Sol's enrollment will include 156 students from Green Valley High School, 1,026 students from Chaparral High School and 306 from Valley High School. In addition 898 students would move from Las Vegas High School to Chaparral.
The projected numbers are based on geographic enrollment data and do not include students who may attend magnet programs or receive zoning waivers to attend a school other than Del Sol.
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