Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Zoning could send Coronado students to Green Valley

Some Coronado High School students may have the option to move to Green Valley High School next year, and some Foothill High School students could have the choice to go to Coronado.

Clark County School District zoning administrators plan to present a recommendation to the School Board March 3 that 270 Coronado students who live between Interstate 215 and Wigwam Avenue be allowed to choose to go to Green Valley.

In addition, the administrators will recommend about 300 Foothill students who live west of Gibson Road and south of Horizon Ridge Parkway be given the option of attending Coronado, if seats are available.

The options would be provided in addition to a recommendation to the School Board that 240 students from Madeira Canyon and Anthem Highlands be rezoned to Liberty High School, Rick Baldwin, the School District's coordinator of demographics and zoning, said.

The new zone boundaries are to relieve crowding at Coronado, which is about 500 students over capacity, and fill more seats at Liberty, which is 750 students under capacity.

The recommendations to allow some Coronado students to move to Green Valley came after a parent living between Wigwam and Interstate 215 told the Attendance Zone Advisory Commission that she and other parents would welcome a rezoning of their neighborhood so their children could remain with their friends from Greenspun Junior High School. Some of the students in the neighborhood already attend Green Valley on zone variances, she said.

The Attendance Zone Advisory Commission did not vote to move those students, because Green Valley High School's enrollment is close to its capacity, but its members seemed willing to allow the voluntary option.

Depending on how many students take the option — and zoning staff expect many will — the seats freed up at Coronado could be filled by Foothill students living west of Gibson Road and south of Horizon Ridge Parkway.

Several parents from the Roma Hills community off Horizon Ridge Parkway said they would like to have that choice so their children could attend Coronado with their friends from Bob Miller Middle School.

Other Foothill parents living closer to Gibson Road told the attendance board they had no interest in moving their children.

Those options could become permanent zone changes in future years, Baldwin said.

The School Board will also be asked to allow any Coronado student to choose to attend Liberty next year.

With all of the voluntary options, the students must provide their own transportation.

Parents who live in Anthem Highlands and Madeira Canyon have loudly protested the proposed zone change that will send their children to Liberty High School.

They argue that the proposal, which moves about 200 students from Coronado to Liberty, fails to meet three main objectives: fill a substantial portion of empty seats at Liberty, and reduce crowding at both Coronado and Foothill high schools.

The parents pointed out that many Coronado students have other high schools closer to them. Some students attending north of Interstate 215 are much closer to Silverado, Del Sol or Green Valley than Coronado, yet they're bused to Coronado, they say.

Frances Vanderploeg can be reached at 990-2660 or [email protected].

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