School Board considers rezoning district

Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2008 | 2:51 p.m.

The Clark County School Board began discussions Tuesday about possibly rezoning the entire district to balance out enrollments at schools that are over or under capacity.

The district-wide rezoning would be more complicated than the typical yearly rezoning and is being considered to evaluate whether new schools need to built or if rezoning could solve crowding issues. The decision must be made before the district presents its 2010 bond package for building schools to the public, which is planned for late 2009.

However, during an special meeting Tuesday, the board decided to put discussions on hold until the Nov. 18 board meeting to have more time to assess creative alternatives to rezoning and to get a better grasp on how future budget cuts and economic uncertainty could affect zoning.

High schools and elementary schools in the northwest part of Las Vegas could significantly be affected by the rezoning because of crowding at some schools.

According to zoning maps, Ruthe Deskin, Dean L. Allen, John W. Bonner and Linda Rankin Givens elementary schools are considered as "hot spots," meaning they are 18 percent or more over capacity.

No northwest middle schools are overcrowded, but Palo Verde, Cimarron-Memorial and Centennial high school are all "hot spots." For example, Palo Verde was built to hold 2,700 students, but 3,400 students now attend. If the rezoning occurs, about 300 students could be transferred from Palo Verde to Bonanza High School.

District B Trustee Ruth Johnson said she wanted to bring up rezoning discussions early so the district has plenty of time to develop rezoning plans, should the district choose to rezone district-wide. She said she wanted the board to be prepared to know what should be in the 2010 bond package.

School Board member Terri Janison, who represents District E, said she gets questions from parents about why it is important to fill seats at schools that are under capacity.

"From my perspective, that is what is driving the possible rezoning of the district," she said. "For me, I don't want to build new schools until seats of existing schools are filled."

But Janison said it is too soon to decide on district-wide rezoning because of the unstable economy and projected budget cuts.

"With the high foreclosure rate in my district, there are a lot of unknown factors, so I feel a discomfort level of just moving to rezone seats without knowing what will happen in a year from now," she said.

Janison suggested letting the issue rest for a year to see what will happen.

Members of the Attendance Zone Advisory Commission (AZAC), a public volunteer committee made up mostly of parents, spoke about funding for rezoning. Barbara Moody, vice-chairwoman for AZAC, said that if the School Board moves to rezone, it would need increased funding for transportation.

"Also you have to keep in mind that with rezoning, your public outcry will be tremendous," Moody said. "To fill empty seats would require busing, is it worth it?"

Erin Cranor, an AZAC member, suggested that before the School Board looks at rezoning, it take a hard look at how to resolve "creative addresses" where people falsify housing documents so that their children can go to a school they are not zoned for.

"This happens to the degree that if you are able to resolve it, a lot of leveling would happen, and rezoning might not be needed," she said.

It was decided that during the Nov. 18 School Board meeting, the board would discuss a time line for possible rezoning, creative alternatives to rezoning, the priority of busing and the creative addresses issue.

The board will also discuss the possibility of district-wide open enrollment, which allows parents to decide what school they want their children to go to; the possibility of leap-frog zoning, which is moving students from an overcrowded school to an under-capacity school so that they do not attend schools closest to them; and discussing potentially waiting to discuss rezoning after seeing if the economy improves or worsens.

Jenny Davis can be reached at 990-8921 or jenny.davis@hbcpub.com.

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By 2zero

Oct. 22, 2008

5:38 p.m.

Flag

One great big colossal failure of a school district.

Seventh largest school district in the entire USA.

Break the monopoly! Please this thing is way past due. Three, four, maybe five school districts; then if one gets it right the others can emulate or at least stop with the "we are growing to fast", "we do not have enough money", wha wha wha.....

No to monopoly, yes to accountability!

The teachers union will not like it, might mean new contracts that require the teachers to teach and provide time before and after school to tutor students who need it or meet with parents who care!

The board and administration will not like it, downsizing their power....maybe their paychecks! Not to mention the ones that fail, like the one we have, will have no excuses...if another is passing the GRADE.

Since both groups will be against it then it must be a good solution? The students will win the parents will win...win-win!!!!
By gmag39

Oct. 22, 2008

6:30 p.m.

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Thank goodness we have so many "experts" in Las Vegas like 2zero that can help us teachers learn how to do our jobs better. And SO MANY experts on how to run a school district and cut costs! With all these brilliant minds working feverishly to cut our pay and have us perform more competently, things should be ship-shape shortly!
Hey, anytime you "private sector" folks that "pay my salary" need a performance review of your own, please, don't be shy. I'd be happy to help.
By geezelouise

Oct. 23, 2008

7:02 a.m.

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In my opinion it is not the teachers that are creating the problem, it is the administration which is eating up the budget.

The school district is top heavy and too big to be effective.

Let's get some of those administrators back into the classrooms teaching.
By ccsdsupportstaff

Oct. 23, 2008

9:59 a.m.

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I have to agree with geezelouise...the district is too top heavy. We have area superintendents and associate superintendents, who each have secretaries and those secretaries have assistants and so on...
As far as the state budget goes, I think the Governor needs to set an example by taking a pay cut. If all state, county and city employees take a small cut, no one should lose their job and the state would save a lot of money.
By gmag39

Oct. 23, 2008

10:35 a.m.

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For those of you who think the district has too much administration and associated waste; what do you think will happen when they split the district into 2 or as many as 6 seperate districts? HELLO! Each will come with it's own seperate ADMINISTRATION. I don't disagree there are areas of waste. Inevitably in a bureaucracy
you have waste. But the fat has largely been sliced off of this one through budget cuts and lack of funding. Administrative costs in this or any school district takes but a SMALL PORTION out of the general fund, even where there is waste. Look it up. I definately am not opposed to splitting up the district. It could be beneficial in a number of ways. Those of you who pine for it may be surprised to learn it won't necessarily provide monetary relief.
By 2zero

Oct. 23, 2008

4 p.m.

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CCSD is one great big colossal failure, do the math!

Monopoly x Union = KID's FAIL!
By uncommonsense

Oct. 24, 2008

2:27 p.m.

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You're absolutely right, breaking up the school district sounds like a great idea, as long as my kids school district has the tax revenue from the downtown casinos. Henderson, and Summerlin can just raise property taxes to pay for their schools, then it can be like California where they all came from. And we all know California does have any problems at all.