Military school resets its sights on Pahrump

The organizers of a proposed military academy are eyeing Pahrump after abandoning their pursuit of a site in Indian Springs.

Charles Baker, leader of a group trying to establish Taps Military Academy of Higher Excellence, said his vision of a new private school could become reality in Pahrump as early as July 1999. The school would stress college-prep coursework and regimented discipline, school leaders say.

"You'll be hearing a lot more about us," Baker said. "There's a new school in town."

Baker has made two presentations in the past six weeks to the five-member town board in Pahrump, although Taps does not need the board's approval to begin building, said Town Manager Mike Cosgrove.

"Essentially the town board wished them well and will wait to see if they can put the project together," Cosgrove said. "It's a big project."

Taps still has several familiar hurdles to overcome in their three-year struggle to establish the school.

For one, Bureau of Land Management officials say Taps has turned in only general concepts about the school, not a complete application for land in Pahrump.

"There's no plan for development," said Rex Wells, BLM assistant field office manager. It's "doubtful" the Taps request for land could be approved any time soon, Wells said.

Taps also has not completed an application for licensure with the Nevada Department of Education.

"Their application is totally on hold," said Holly Walton-Buchanan, who processes private school applications for the department. "They can't activate this application until they get a site."

Walton-Buchanan said that among the missing pieces of Taps' application were funding sources and financial plans.

Baker said that Taps is pursuing roughly $30 million in grants from private foundations. For now, the organization has little money, he said. Still Baker met this week with an architect and a builder.

Baker said he has been pursuing BLM land in Pahrump since 1995, when Taps leaders first began trying to organize the school. Confusion over what land was available delayed the process and pushed school organizers to look for sites in other towns, including Indian Springs, he said.

But Taps organizers got a chilly response from some residents in Indian Springs in June. Some said they didn't trust Taps leaders; others just didn't want the BLM land developed by Taps.

"I didn't want to bring a school where we were not wanted," Baker said of Indian Springs. "We didn't want to deal with that. People in Pahrump are excited we are coming."

Assemblywoman Kathy Von Tobel, R-Las Vegas, led the charge to keep the school out of Indian Springs, a town of 1,300 about 45 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

"I'm definitely relieved," Von Tobel said. "I don't feel they have the credibility to run the school they were talking about. They don't have any idea what it takes to be credentialed, to run a private school."

Baker said he gave up on Indian Springs when the Pahrump site again seemed feasible.

School organizers say Taps will be the state's only coed military academy, filling a specialized private school niche in the growing state. They initially expect 850 seventh- through 10th-grade cadets with an eventual goal of 3,000.

Baker said there is just enough time to build the first three of seven buildings -- a dormitory, administration building and classroom building -- to open the school by the end of July 1999. Baker is interested in 1,260 acres of BLM land in northwest Pahrump, he said.

Taps leaders say they have weathered many obstacles in three years, from paperwork snafus to recent flooding in their downtown office. They vow to keep pressing ahead with plans that now include the 27,000-resident town of Pahrump.

"The community embraces us. The chamber of commerce embraces us. We have a grant writer who is working very hard for us," said Lillian Mc Morris, a public affairs director for Fox 5 KVVU-TV, who is serving as the leader of the proposed school's 10-member board of directors. "It's at the point where we can actually visualize this happening."

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