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Letters to the editor

Clark County data about cancer should be released

Thank you for your story on the Boulder City asbestos study (Dec. 4). I was amazed to learn that the Nevada Department of Health and Human Services denied the UNLV research team access to cancer data for Clark County. Why would DHHS refuse access to such basic information? Why are we paying DHHS to collect data they refuse to share?

I hope our state senator, Dr. Joe Hardy, can intervene and ensure that this state agency provides the information requested and the people of Boulder City and Clark County can have their concerns resolved quickly.

Nicola Collins

Not all teachers favor renovations at high school

This letter is written in response to the article “Timeline for BCHS renovations scheduled.” It contends that all of the students, teachers and graduates are in favor of demolishing, then rebuilding the first two corridors of classrooms.

The reporter states that “Facilities at Boulder City High had gotten so bad … because air-conditioning units were not working.” This argument is flawed and does not represent the actual condition of the classrooms and the school as a whole. What also is never mentioned is that the current phase of construction does not include replacing the current air-conditioning and heating systems. That’s right, the new classrooms will be cooled and heated by the same system that caused such “subpar learning conditions” at Boulder City High School.

We were at the meeting with our principal and a school board trustee when the question was asked by a teacher about replacing the system, and the answer was that such a replacement is not in the plans. How does that make any sense? Why can’t we solve the school’s major problem without replacing classrooms? When we asked why we can’t remodel the school instead, we were told that it was cheaper to demolish it and rebuild.

… We admit that the school is old and needs some repairs, but it should not be torn down and replaced with subpar classrooms. The original school that was built a decade before our school was built still stands and is being put to good use by the city (as the current city hall).

The school district has hired an architect, he has to follow codes, and we will get a school just like what they have in Las Vegas and Henderson. The rooms will be significantly smaller than what we have now, the windows will be limited to small ones that have to be above the door level, only one door per room, and Clark County School District will control the thermostats from a distance via computer.

During a recent meeting with a woman from instructional design and professional learning division for CCSD, she stopped our meeting several times to comment about how much better our classrooms are than any room she has visited in the school district. Most rooms have more than enough room to handle the 40-plus students we have in some classes. We have a SmartBoard, ceiling-mounted LCD projector and Apple TV, ELMO device (that allows us to show anything through the projector), iPads that connect to the Internet and school network and a sound system built into the ceiling and connected to our computers. Thus, we are still trying to figure out what the “subpar learning conditions” are.

Many of the teachers know exactly what the new rooms will be like because we have seen them at other CCSD schools. We know that we will not have the same tools to do our jobs at the level we and the students deserve. We picture our classrooms about two-thirds their current size…

We know our school is being forced to take a huge step backward. We embrace change if it is done with the best interests of the students in mind. This demolition and rebuild is not for the benefit of the students.

This letter speaks for quite a few teachers and students (current and former). A small minority of people are making some poor decisions that will not help BCHS. We hope that anyone who reads this will make his/her voice heard, whether in favor of the changes or not.

Bill Strachan, Cheryl Herr, Garth Schulz, Leslie and Joe Ringen, Jennifer Marchant and Canaan Petersen

Teachers at Boulder City High School

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