Booker Elementary project advances

By Emily Richmond

Friday, May 27, 2005 | 9:41 a.m.

Plans to give Booker Elementary School a custom-designed new home moved forward Thursday with the School Board's approval of preliminary blueprints.

As a cost-saving measure, the Clark County School District's construction department typically follows several pre-approved prototype designs for all new schools. But after heavy lobbying by the Booker community, the School Board agreed to a special design that would address the special security and safety needs of the campus on Martin Luther King Boulevard near Lake Mead Boulevard.

The School Board also voted that the cost of the project could not exceed the amount that would normally be allotted for an elementary school using one of the prototypes.

The current cost to build a new elementary school is about $16.5 million, said Dale Scheideman, director of planning and engineering for the district. The Booker project is hovering at about 16.8 million and district staff is working with the architects to reduce the price tag, Scheideman said.

The Booker campus is the sixth out of 11 campuses to be replaced as part of the School District's $3.5 billion capital improvement plan. The architects' preliminary designs include dividing the 62,200-square-foot campus into "learning villages" that will share common areas.

The school's main entrance, which currently faces Martin Luther King, will be shifted to Balzar Avenue. That will allow the school to have a more secure front entrance and better limit access by outsiders as well as keep students away from heavy traffic on the main street.

The existing Booker facilities are slated to be razed in September, with the new campus opening early in 2007. Booker students will be housed in portable classrooms at Wendell P. Williams Elementary School for the duration of the 2005-06 academic year.

The preliminary design of Perez-Green Architects and Winston Henderson Architects was initially slated for approval at the School Board's April 28 meeting. The School Board instead voted to put the decision off until Thursday's meeting because the district's Bond Oversight Committee had not yet made its recommendation on the Booker project.

School Board member Sheila Moulton, the liaison to the Bond Oversight Committee, said the group had lacked the quorum necessary to vote on the Booker design. While the School Board is not obligated to follow the committee's recommendations, Moulton said the review process "should be preserved."

The practice of taking construction plans to the committee for input has been praised by state auditors and lawmakers as an example of strong oversight, Moulton told the Sun.

The delay angered School Board member Shirley Barber, who said she was frustrated the project wasn't further along given that initial approval had been given in April 2003.

"This kind of thing has gone on for too long," Barber said. "The students and the families have waited long enough to get the kind of school they deserve."

Beverly Mathis, principal of Booker, said several parents contacted her after the April 28 School Board meeting and "expressed concern" that the project was being unduly delayed.

"The Bond Oversight Committee wasn't put in place to make decisions for the (School) Board so some of my parents were wondering if there was another reason for the delay," Mathis said. "They just want to know that the campus will be replaced as quickly as possible and students will not be sharing space at Williams any longer than necessary."