School Board faces $54M bond question

The Clark County School Board will decide next week whether to build new classrooms for Boulder City High School or replace Rex Bell Elementary School.

The Clark County School District’s Bond Oversight Committee last month recommended spending part of the nearly $54 million remaining from its 1998 bond program on the second phase of the high school’s four-phase replacement, which calls for new classrooms and administration offices.

Boulder City’s high school has had the same classrooms since the end of World War II. The improvements would cost roughly $16.3 million. Or trustees could choose to spend the bulk of the bond money — about $29 million — on Bell, near Rancho Drive and Sahara Avenue. It was built in 1963.

Depending on which project the board chooses, the remaining cash will be used for other school upgrades. For instance, if the board goes with the Boulder City project there still would be enough left to fund an $18 million elementary school building for West Preparatory Academy, near Lake Mead and Martin Luther King boulevards.

A rural school could also receive some attention if the Boulder City plan is chosen. Sandy Valley’s portable elementary classrooms would be replaced and the temporary gym would be replaced with a permanent one at a cost of $4.6 million.

Wynn and Ronzone elementary schools should benefit under either plan, as $4.5 million in additions is set aside for more brick-and-mortar classrooms at these crowded campuses.