10 schools go off 12-month schedule

Life just got a little easier for students at 10 middle schools in Clark County. Their 12-month schedules will soon become a thing of the past.

The Clark County Board of Education voted Thursday night to return the middle schools to nine-month schedules. No longer will students have to attend classes year-around with four 20-day breaks interspersed throughout the year.

"I strongly support going to a nine-month schedule," Linda Eliason told the board. "It promotes more choice. The families are being pulled apart by 12 months."

Janese Pinegar said trying to juggle her four children's lives around a 12-month middle school has played havoc with her family. She said her children can't take electives because they conflict with a 12-month schedule. Summer school classes also are designed around nine-month class schedules, she said, which makes it hard to prepare for high school.

"It's hard for families to have any time for each other," Pinegar said. "Now this will give us a summer together."

The middle schools that will be affected include: J. Harold Brinley, Las Vegas; Helen C. Cannon, Las Vegas; Walter Johnson, Las Vegas; Lied, Las Vegas; Mike O'Callaghan, Las Vegas; William E. Orr, Las Vegas; Dell H. Robinson, Las Vegas; Grant Sawyer, Las Vegas; Theron Swainston, North Las Vegas and Ed Von Tobel, Las Vegas.

It's anticipated that possibly four schools will be able to return to a nine-month schedule by mid-March or April once zoning is revised. The others will follow.

In other business, the architectural firm JMA Architecture Studios presented the board with structural evaluations at three elementary schools -- Madison, Kermit Booker and Matt Kelly.

Thomas Schoeman, president of JMA, said seven building on the Madison campus should be studied for replacement and one could be renovated.

Three buildings could possibly be replaced at Booker.

archive