Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Committee recommends rezoning more than 2,000 students

A Clark County School Board committee has recommended rezoning more than 2,000 students in the southwest valley.

The issue: The Clark County School District wants to alleviate overcrowding at five southwest Las Vegas Valley elementary schools, which each have more than 1,000 students. Next year, the district is expecting an influx of 800 more students at area schools, putting several more than 150 percent over capacity.

The School District held three public meetings this month to hear parent input on solutions, including three options for rezoning as many as 2,700 students in the southwest valley. If approved, the rezoning would be one of the largest undertaken by the district in several years.

The recommendation: The Attendance Zone Advisory Commission on Tuesday decided to recommend Proposal 3, which would impact the fewest students.

It would move about 2,400 students at the following elementary schools: Batterman, Beatty, Ryan, Cartwright/Gehring, Forbuss, Frias, Hayes, Hill/Wiener Jr., Hummel, Kim, Reedom, Ries, Rogers, Steele, Stuckey, Tanaka and Wright.

The attendance zone commission decided not to rezone about 80 Forbuss students living in the Rhodes Ranch community and about 30 Bendorf students after receiving public input.

Parents also argued Proposal 3 would be safer for students because they wouldn’t be crossing Blue Diamond Road, which has heavy traffic.

If approved by the School Board, the proposal would move 14 to 345 students from crowded schools into schools with more space.

Although no schools would have more than 1,200 students, the proposal would likely push 11 schools over 1,000 students.

What’s next: The School Board will make its final decision during a special meeting on March 6. The board is likely to choose one of the three rezoning options and add portable classrooms to campuses.

Other options previously considered include building portable schools, rezoning the entire district and reverting to an year-round schedule and double sessions.

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