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Published Friday, March 1, 2013 | 3:42 p.m.
Updated Friday, March 1, 2013 | 5:19 p.m.
Three elementary schools in southwest Las Vegas will shift to a year-round schedule next year to ease a crowding crunch.
In a news release issued Friday afternoon, Clark County Superintendent Dwight Jones said he’d decided Robert L. Forbuss, Carolyn S. Reedom and William V. Wright elementary school would move to a year-round schedule at the start of the 2013-14 school year in August.
“After hearing the concerns of the community and factoring those into our decision, going year-round at Forbuss, Reedom and Wright elementary schools is the best solution at the current time,” Jones said in a statement. “The majority of the parents who spoke out love their schools and want their kids to stay there. This decision also minimizes the impact that future rezoning will have on families throughout the district."
The three schools were designed to house approximately 800 students each, but expanded housing developments in their surrounding communities have ballooned enrollment to nearly 1,300 students at each school.
The district expects another 800 families to move into the southwest part of the valley by the start of the 2013-14 school year, exacerbating the space crunch in schools in that area.
At a meeting Thursday night, board members heard presentations on three plans to alleviate the crunch, and board members unanimously expressed support for the option Jones ultimately selected. District officials had conducted town hall forums and time for public comment at school board meetings to hear comments on the plans.
The selected option is expected to cost the district $1.5 million in additional staffing, transportation and utility costs as well as portable classrooms.
Going year-round would save Forbuss, Reedom and Wright from rezoning. However, another 16 schools in the southwest valley could undergo rezoning. The School Board is expected to vote on a regional rezoning option on March 6.
An extra $1.5 million in operating costs for three schools, the aggravation of having family members on different schedules, and competition to get on the desirable tracks? Come on! Just rezone!
So my spouse teaches special ed at one of the unaffected schools, one of my children go to an unaffected district school, but the other will now be on a year round schedule. Guess my spouse will just have to quit teaching to be able to manage the random schedule chaos this is going to cause our family? Temporary fixes to problems that just spread the problem to others is not a good idea. Sorry if I just don't see this as a good move by CCSD. These schools going to year round schedules will be in the same overcrowded position again in a few years if the projected enrollment rates hold. What then?