Board gives students chance to stay

Coronado High School students upset about being rezoned to Liberty High School have a slim hope of remaining in place next year.

After a two-hour discussion, the Clark County School Board voted 6-0 to allow an option for rezoned Coronado students living in the Henderson neighborhoods of Madeira Canyon and Anthem Heights.

The affected 250 students may remain at Coronado, near Coronado Center Drive and Horizon Ridge Parkway, if other Coronado students volunteer to attend Liberty, near Bermuda Road and St. Rose Parkway.

Meg Paulson, a Madeira Canyon mother, left Thursday night's meeting "emotionally exhausted." Her daughter, Sydney, 14, is a Coronado freshman and swim team member.

"I'm sure my daughter will be holding out for this thread of hope," said Paulson, who acknowledged that attendance zone swaps rarely work out for students who want to stay at their original schools.

Clark County School District officials said they might have to go to a lottery system if the number of Coronado students who want to leave do not match the number of Coronado students who want to stay.

The schools are only five miles apart, but Coronado is about 500 students over capacity, while Liberty is about 700 students under capacity.

Coronado families have resisted changing schools on the basis of fairness because they think their neighborhoods were singled out for the zoning changes. The families also have academic and social reasons for resisting the transfer.

Coronado sophomore Reggie Riggins, said he feared that switching schools would disrupt his education and affect his chances of getting into a military academy.

School Board member Carolyn Edwards said she could not buy emotional excuses as reasons against switching schools.

"I'm sorry," she told the audience.

The Coronado issue was the most heated zoning option of the night.

The School Board was presented with zoning options that could have affected as many as 34,300 students and cost as much as $115,000 to implement.

The board eliminated two options involving Sunrise Mountain High School, a new school near Carey Avenue and Feliz Street scheduled to open in the fall, and another complicated swap involving the Henderson high schools of Foothill, Green Valley and Coronado.

The overall effect of the school choice options was reduced to 7,600 students and an estimated mailer cost of $2,600.

Students have until April 3 to ask for transfers.

Contact reporter James Haug at jhaug@reviewjournal.com or 702-799-2922.