School architect Scheideman dies

Thursday, Feb. 9, 2006 | 12:34 p.m.

A school building should help students learn, architect Elton Dale Scheideman figured, and it showed in his designs calling for classrooms with plenty of sunlight, neat things like a rain forest biosphere and other innovative features.

Scheideman's handprint is on all of the 169 Southern Nevada schools built since 1991 and the nearly 200 projects at existing schools that are expected to be completed by 2008.

Scheideman, the director of the Clark County School District's New School and Facility Planning Department, died suddenly Wednesday morning at McCarran International Airport. He was 72.

He suffered an apparent heart attack prior to boarding a flight to Washington, D.C., for an American Institute of Architects conference.

Services are pending through Palm Mortuary-Eastern for Scheideman, whose philosophy on how campuses could best serve students revolutionized school construction locally and won the district national recognition.

Friends and co-workers said Scheideman was an architect who put the students' needs above all else when building learning centers for the nation's fifth-largest school district.

"His vision was to build the best places for kids to learn," said Paul Gerner, associate superintendent of facilities.

Fred Smith, the school district's construction manager, said Scheideman was conscientious.

"Dale believed strongly that design and construction had a direct bearing on how kids learn," Smith said. "He showed us that good and attractive architecture is not necessarily expensive architecture."

Some concepts that Scheideman worked into projects included:

Carolyn Reedom, who spent 25 years as principal at four district schools, said Scheideman was supportive of projects that principals thought would be good for their students - even ones that had not been tested elsewhere.

"Dale was so willing to give of himself to make projects a reality," said Reedom, who retired as an assistant region superintendent and was principal of John Vanderburg Elementary School.

At Vanderburg, Scheideman oversaw the construction of a $1 million, 3,000-square-foot biosphere rain forest.

"Dale looked at it as a laboratory where kids could experience hands-on science," Reedom said. "He helped children go beyond what they could learn in the classroom."

Interim schools Superintendent Walt Rulffes called Scheideman's death "a loss of a family staff member and a loss to our entire architectural community."

In an Oct. 20, 2005, letter to the American Institute of Architects, Rulffes wrote: "I consider Mr. Scheideman a master in what is often a necessary approach to remodeling existing facilities while the facility continues operation.

"Several older schools have been completely rebuilt on a phased replacement basis with a finished product that represents a visual and structural consistency of a new product planned from scratch."

Born April 19, 1933, in Ellis, Kan., Scheideman graduated from Kansas University, where he received his bachelor of science degree in architecture.

In 1958 Scheideman entered the Air Force and retired 30 years later as a colonel.

In 1988 he went to work for a private St. Louis architectural firm but left to take the Clark County post in January 1991.

Scheideman is survived by his wife, Mary "Lou" Scheideman; a son, Stephen Scheideman of Keller, Texas; two brothers, Blain Scheideman and Lyle Scheideman, both of Texas; and two grandchildren, Stephan Scheideman and Cara Scheideman.

Ed Koch can be reached at 259-4090 or at koch@lasvegassun.com.