Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2024 | 2 a.m.
Growth in the area assigned to an already-packed Basic High School is leading the Clark County School District to adjust attendance boundaries to shift some students westward to Chaparral High School.
The School Board, in consultation with the district’s Attendance Zone Advisory Commission, unanimously approved the boundary changes Monday. They will go into effect in the fall and only affect next year’s incoming ninth-graders and others who move into the reassigned area, which is in the furthest-west corner of Basic’s current zoning area. This year’s ninth-, 10th- and 11th-graders in the area can choose to stay at Basic until they graduate.
Basic, which is in Henderson, has sprawling attendance boundaries that abut the zoning area for Chaparral, which serves a portion of Las Vegas’ dense eastern inner city. Basic students living north of Russell Road and west of the Wetlands Park area, just on the other side of the Chaparral zone, may travel more than 7 miles to school, even though Chaparral is less than 2 miles from their neighborhoods. It is this approximate area where Chaparral will peel off Basic’s zone.
Meeting materials indicated enrollment at Basic was increasing; the Cadence and Lake Las Vegas master-planned communities, in northeast Henderson, are growing. Chaparral, in an older part of Las Vegas, has capacity available.
Chaparral is about 12 miles northwest of Basic, which was Henderson’s first high school and is one of the valley’s oldest high schools. As of January, 2,466 students were enrolled at Basic and 2,140 were at Chaparral, according to district data.
In addition to Chaparral having fewer students, its campus was designed for more students than Basic’s. Current enrollments put Basic around 117% of capacity and Chaparral at 88% full.
Using current district demographics data, about 500 high school-aged teens live in the piece of Basic boundaries being shifted to Chaparral. Not all are necessarily enrolled in Basic, as they may attend charters, magnets or another alternative.
The School Board also voted Monday to dissolve the attendance zones for Burkholder and Johnston middle schools, as they are set to become magnet schools next year. Children living in what are currently these schools’ boundaries will be redistributed to nearby schools. Current sixth- and seventh-graders who live near the schools getting new boundaries will be grandfathered in.
For Henderson’s Burkholder, that means distributing students to Greenspun, Brown and Mannion middle schools. CCSD will also need to send some of those who would have been Brown students to Mannion to balance Brown’s new zone.
For North Las Vegas’ Johnston, that means distributing students to Findlay and Cram middle schools. CCSD will also need to send some of those who would have been Cram students to Saville Middle School to balance Cram’s new zone.
Burkholder and Johnston will both become magnets focused on environmental science.
CCSD hires HR chief
CCSD Region 1 Superintendent RoAnn Triana has been promoted to the district’s Chief of Human Resources, the district announced Tuesday.
Current School Associate Superintendent Lindsay Tomlinson will move up to the open regional superintendent spot, and School Associate Superintendent Scott Walker will move over from CCSD’s School Choice and Innovation Network to be a school associate superintendent in Region 1.
School associate superintendents are principal supervisors. Regional superintendents oversee school associate superintendents, among other responsibilities.
The human resources chief position had been open since late 2023.
The administrators begin their new roles March 4.
The role shifts are the first high-level reassignments under Interim Superintendent Brenda Larsen-Mitchell, who assumed district leadership after Jesus Jara resigned Friday.
“One of our most urgent needs is ensuring our students have qualified teachers in the classroom. RoAnn Triana has been a principal at the elementary, middle, and high school levels and understands the importance of efficient systems and processes for the hiring of all District positions,” Larsen-Mitchell said in a statement. “Additionally, the restructuring of Region 1 leadership and principal supervisory roles will streamline critical support to our school leaders.”
Art contest winners
Las Vegas’ Richard Harris Law Firm has chosen 12 winners for its annual statewide Spirit of Nevada arts awards.
The 14th annual contest recognized writing, artwork and video from elementary, middle and high school students. This year’s theme, “Heart of the Golden West,” encouraged students to showcase Nevada’s uniqueness, beauty and history.
The winners are:
- Angela Park, Las Vegas Academy of the Arts (Las Vegas): Artwork
- Aubree Sumrall, White Pine High School (Ely): Poem
- Jessica Young, White Pine High School (Ely): Video
- Cara Lee, Bishop Gorman High School (Las Vegas): Artwork
- Chloe Jang, Doral Academy Red Rock Middle/High School (Las Vegas): Artwork
- Isabelle Chen, Bob Miller Middle School (Henderson): Artwork
- Alyssa Chavez, Meadow Valley Middle School (Panaca): Poem
- Gemma Kim, Del Webb Middle School (Henderson): Artwork
- Yasmine Roseta, Nevada Learning Academy (Las Vegas): Artwork
- Giovanni Martinez, Ober Elementary School (Las Vegas): Artwork
- Jia Han, Pinecrest Academy Inspirada (Henderson): Artwork
- Gustavo Rodriguez Armas, Mater Academy Mountain Vista (Las Vegas): Artwork
All 12 winners were awarded $1,000 and an iPad. Their teachers received $500 Amazon gift cards.
Check out the winning entries at richardharrislaw.com/community/spirit-of-nevada/.
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