Few glitches as classes begin

About 200,000 students marched back to 227 schools today in Clark County as the 1998-99 school year began in the fastest-growing school district in the nation.

Clark County School District spokesperson Ray Willis said at press time that the opening had been marred only by common first-day mishaps and expected glitches at the district's newest schools.

Bunker Elementary School in northwest Las Vegas is one of eight new schools the district opened to students today. Workers this morning were still completing construction and clean-up at the new buildings.

About 600 Bunker pupils, who came from Eisenberg, Kahre, Fong and Reed elementary schools, streamed into the building to check out their new digs. One student was more interested in his classroom than the new building.

"Mommy, who's my new teacher," asked second-grader Nehaad Tahsin of his mother, Fauzia Shariss.

Rick Slater, Bunker's principal, said, "We're in great shape. I would say 99 percent of everything is completed. Our supplies are in and we are ready to rock and roll."

At the new Silvestri Middle School in far south Las Vegas, parents created traffic jams that clogged the streets around the school.

Officials canceled back-to-school orientation Thursday because building inspectors had not issued a certificate of occupancy. A temporary certificate was issued Sunday. The only major work remaining is putting the locker rooms in the gym.

Workers at Silvestri had raced round-the-clock through the weekend to have the school ready enough to open today.

"I'm amazed that it came together as good as it did," said Kim Greene, a sixth-grade science teacher at Silvestri. "On Friday, we thought it was going to take a miracle for it to open."

Over the weekend, crews installed carpeting and doors and they painted interior portions of the school, unpacked desks and chairs, and accomplished dozens of other tasks enabling the school to open.

"It's kind of like moving into a new house and we have to make sure everything works," said Christopher Erbe, Silvestri principal. He confirmed that the fire alarms, plumbing, and other infrastructure relating to safety were all in working order.

Students around the county were greeted by more than 11,000 teachers, about 1,500 of them new. More than one-fourth of the students were shuttled to school by buses traveling 803 routes. The district's 107-member school police force was out en masse to keep the peace.

The district's growing pains were evident at many schools. Schools made use of 769 "portable" classrooms -- essentially trailers set up at on school grounds to catch student overflow.

About 20 year-round elementary schools have at least 1,000 students, some in buildings originally built for about 650. The district this year has 76 schools on year-round calendars, up from 62 last school year.

Year-round calendars ease crowding because several hundred students at each school are on vacation breaks at any given time during the year.

The state's system of county school districts -- one district per each county -- makes booming Clark County the ninth largest district in the country. The district operates 21 schools outside the greater Las Vegas/Henderson area in nine towns as far as Laughlin and Mesquite, roughly 75 miles outside Las Vegas.

District officials estimate 202,388 students will attend Clark County schools when an official count is taken next month.

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