Silverado High gets little relief

Overcrowded Silverado High School won't get as much relief as school district officials had hoped to give it next year.

The Attendance Zone Advisory Commission was persuaded by the objections of parents to adjust a plan that would have sent all new students and incoming freshmen from two areas to Foothill High School, 14 miles away.

The commission on Tuesday instead designed its own recommendation to relieve overcrowding at Silverado, which is operating at 42 percent over capacity with 3,600 students and is expected to grow to 4,000 students by next year.

Foothill is the only high school near Silverado that has room available. Next year Foothill, which can handle 2,500 students, is expected to have 1,800.

A new high school being built about three miles from Silverado at Maryland Parkway and Buena Vida won't be finished until 2001.

The commission will recommend to the Clark County School Board that new high school students moving into the area go to Foothill if they reside in the general area south of Silverado Ranch between Eastern Avenue and Interstate 15.

The commission also wants to give all students within the Silverado school zone a one-time offer to voluntarily transfer to Foothill and stay there until they graduate. Transportation would be provided.

Comments from residents at public hearings and a student survey have indicated not many would take that offer.

The recommendations will be presented to the Clark County School Board 5:30 p.m. Feb. 29 at the Education Center. The School Board will make the final decision.

Dusty Dickens, director of the Clark County School District's Demographics, Zoning and Realty department, does not expect the commission's plan will provide significant relief for Silverado. And without relief, Silverado could face double sessions, she said.

Late Tuesday her staff was working on enrollment projections for the commission's recommendation, but Dickens said it is possible that staff will make its own proposal to the School Board, as well.

Parent David Baker, who has attended the public input meetings, said the options being presented are "goofy."

One of the plans would have sent Baker's children to Foothill, even though the family lives nine-tenths of a mile from Silverado.

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