CCSD wants new school in northwest Las Vegas Valley
Clark County School District officials proposed a plan to build a new elementary school in Skye Canyon, where enrollment trends are on the rise.
If approved by the Board of Trustees, the school would open in 2028.
Skye Canyon, home to a 1,000-acre master-planned community, is the only spot on a district map where enrollment is increasing, Assistant Superintendent Brandon McLaughlin told the district’s Bond Oversight Committee in a June 20 meeting. He proposed the Skye Canyon area as the site for a new school, part of the school district’s plan to build 10 new elementary schools. There is yet to be an exact location.
McLaughlin said that schools in Skye Canyon have been increasing in enrollment. Divich Elementary School, on Donald Nelson Avenue between Topaz Creek and North Jensen streets, saw a 9 percent enrollment increase in the 2023-2024 school year, exceeding 1,100 total students enrolled, McLaughlin told the committee.
The area is also home to two elementary schools off of North Skye Canyon Park Drive: Scherkenbach on Iron Mountain Road and Bilbray on Brent Lane.
McLaughlin said that new developments will continue to increase enrollment. The company that built Skye Canyon master planned community, Olympia Companies, has plans to build a master-planned community with more than 3,000 homes on land west of Centennial Hills Hospital near the 215 Beltway.
Matthew DeFalco, a member of the committee and government affairs and community relations director for Olympia Companies, said that he supported the new plan.
“I think we hit right on target. It’s exactly what we need to be doing,” he said in the meeting.
Elsewhere in the valley, enrollment is on the decline. The district expects to lose 5,000 students in total enrollment over the next three years, according to McLaughlin. The largest class to date will graduate in the 2024-2025 school year, and kindergarten enrollments continue to decline, McLaughlin said.
The committee also approved a proposal to open Innovation Academy, a magnet high school in the southwest part of the valley near Buffalo Drive and Cactus Avenue. It is set to open in 2028.
Contact Katie Futterman at kfutterman@reviewjournal.com