Decision delayed on West Las Vegas school

A school construction schedule was squeezed tighter Thursday night as Clark County School Board member Shirley Barber and Assemblyman Wendell Williams were successful in delaying any decision on building a new school in West Las Vegas.

The school board was scheduled to decide which of three elementary schools, Madison, Booker or Kelly, should be rebuilt in accordance with mandated legislation authored by Williams during the 1999 Legislature.

"I've been getting a lot of calls from my district, especially from people concerned about Booker, and I would just ask that we postpone this decision until we can hold a public forum and hear what the parents and students have to say," Barber said.

The forum will be held on Sept. 21 at West Middle School, 2050 Sapphire Stone St., and the decision will be back in front of the board on Sept. 23.

The district's staff recommended rebuilding Madison, 1030 J St., because it was the oldest of the three schools and in the worst disrepair, said Patrick Herron, assistant superintendent for facilities and transportation services.

"We have been mandated to choose one of the three schools based on the physical condition it is in and Madison is the clear choice," Herron said.

Madison was built in 1953, Booker was built on its lot at 2277 N. Martin Luther King Blvd. in 1954 and Kelly was built at 1900 J St. in 1960.

Williams said that if Madison was the choice that was fine, but the spirit of the legislation was to get input from parents and students.

"I realize that in order to make the July 1, 2001, opening date the district needs to make a decision on this as soon as possible, but we also have a responsibility to allow the community more time to see all the facts," Williams said.

The district will likely still be able to meet the July opening deadline for the new school set by the Legislature, but it may require the district to pay some acceleration fees to whomever wins the bid to build the school, Herron said.

Superintendent Brian Cram also made it clear that the district staff would stand by its recommendation of Madison.

"There are two other schools that come to mind that are in worse shape than these and they are Sunrise Acres and Virgin Valley, but this legislation only allows us to choose between these three schools," Cram said. "I want to make it very clear to the parents from Madison that their school is the recommendation of the district staff, and it will stay that way."

archive