Parents may buy Warren-Walker Schools

Friday, May 7, 2004 | 10:45 a.m.

A group of six parents at Warren-Walker Schools made a verbal agreement to purchase the two private schools from Knowledge Learning Corp. to prevent them from being closed and sold to a home builder.

Terms of the agreement were not disclosed, but the Clark County Assessor's office values the land and building at nearly $7 million.

The deal should close by June 30, said Ira Levine, a committee member and attorney who has four children in the schools.

One unidentified parent is providing the money for the purchase, Levine said.

Warren-Walker opened in 1992 and teaches about 510 children from kindergarten through 12th grade at its two campuses. School administrators sent a letter to parents in April that the upper-level school at 1165 Sandy Ridge Ave. was for sale and that Arlington, Texas-based home builder D.R. Horton was interested in purchasing the 14-acre site, Levine said.

The lower-level school, at 2150 Windmill Parkway, was not among the home builder's interests but is included in the purchase by the parents, said Deborah Campbell, who has one child in the lower-level school.

Knowledge Learning owns 80 percent of the schools, and school administrators own 20 percent. After the transaction is complete, the administrators will maintain daily operations but will not own any portion of the schools, Levine said.

The schools will be converted from for-profit, to private nonprofit schools, which will be governed by a board of trustees selected by the parents, Levine said.