Editorial: A missed opportunity

Tuesday, Aug. 21, 2007 | 6:54 a.m.

T he Clark County School District decided to build a $70 million magnet school in Summerlin instead of North Las Vegas after the officials in that city insisted that the School District also pay for road work around the campus.

A story by the Las Vegas Sun on Saturday says School District officials pulled the plug last week on plans to build the 1,300-student career and technical school in North Las Vegas after council members in that city insisted that the district pay for a traffic light and for widening the road next to the school.

As a result, the School District is taking the magnet school's technology, environmental science and hospitality industry programs to a neighborhood nearly 20 miles away.

So much for community cooperation and teamwork.

North Las Vegas residents who would have ended up living near the magnet school didn't want to deal with the noise, traffic and other issues often associated with high school students, Sun reporters Mike Trask and Emily Richmond report. The city's officials said they didn't think it was up to them to pay for necessary road improvements. And Clark County Schools Superintendent Walt Rulffes told the Sun he didn't think that supporters of the recent bond issue "intended for school construction money to be spent building streets in North Las Vegas."

No, but they did intend for schools to be built where they are needed, and that didn't happen this time.

Residents' concerns should have been addressed sooner - the community information meeting regarding this school was conducted only one day before the meeting in which the North Las Vegas City Council was to vote on it. And city and School District officials should have communicated better about what they expected and needed.

It is a shame that this proposal died in this manner, with residents and officials from North Las Vegas and the School District all bullying one another. Ultimately, North Las Vegas residents lost out on a great opportunity to add something of real value to the community.