Las Vegas Review-Journal (Sunday)
$52 million in upgrades slated for Las Vegas Academy’s campus
The oldest and most iconic public school campus in Clark County is gearing up for a $52 million, nearly 10-year-long overhaul with eight new buildings to replace nine that are past their prime.
Las Vegas Academy of the Arts occupies buildings up to 90 years old on Seventh Street off Bridger Avenue, and is recognizable for its striking art deco main building and gym that are on the National Register of Historic Places.
But parts of the campus, including those original structures, need to be refreshed for contemporary students — especially those who need specialized creative spaces. TSK Architects, the local firm the Clark County School District selected to craft a master plan for the school, is treating it as a “legacy project,” or a long-term reinvestment in the site nestled in downtown Las Vegas. It has been working on the design since 2018, said Kevin Kenmer, a design principal for the firm.
“Part of that is to make this campus the premier academy for the performing arts and fine arts in the country,” Kenmer told CCSD’S Bond Oversight Committee on Thursday.
The work will be done in three phases, each about two and a half to three years long. The first phase, which is in the design stage, will focus on a parking garage and new gym.
Las Vegas Academy had operated from 1931 to 1993 as Las Vegas High School; today’s Las Vegas High operates in the east valley on Sahara Avenue off Hollywood Boulevard. Kenmer said most of the buildings being removed aren’t historic; one that is historic will be gutted and keep its historic facade.
Within the next nine or so years, the campus will get a modern gymnasium, a 542-space parking garage, administration building, student union with classrooms and lunchroom, a black box theater, spaces for dance, drama and music instruction, and a new central plant, which is a hub for physical operating systems like heating and air conditioning, according to plans Kenmer shared with the committee.
The campus will also get a new courtyard and grass field.
The oldest buildings on campus — the original gym, main building and adjacent Frazier Hall, which prominently faces Bridger Avenue — will be renovated.
The buildings coming down are the Knapp building, which is adjacent to the main building facing Seventh Street; the expansion on the old gymnasium; the
locker rooms; a cluster of portable classrooms; the visual arts and music buildings; the black box theater; the addition to the vocational building; the cafeteria; and the Post building just behind the cafeteria, plans show.
The parking garage is unusual for a CCSD school, Kenmer said, but is appropriate as Las Vegas Academy is a magnet school that does not have attendance boundaries, so many older students drive themselves. The school is also landlocked downtown. The district plans to maximize use of the garage by putting turf, and later, tennis courts on its rooftop.
The current tennis court location will house temporary portables later in the classroom renovation processes. After construction is complete, a grass playing field will be laid there.
Las Vegas Academy is one of about 50 schools CCSD says it plans to entirely or substantially rebuild between 2016 and 2031.
Contest winners’ art exhibited at arena
Henderson schoolchildren saw their sports and Nevada-themed artwork debuted on the walls of the Dollar Loan Center on Tuesday.
Jaycee Haag, her parents, and her art teacher found Jaycee’s drawing — a slot machine with a horse on it, rendered in colored pencil — on the vertical mural featuring 62 drawings by kids from around Henderson, replicated in a repeating wallpaper print over two stories in the stairwell near the arena’s Saddlery gift shop.
The horse was a nod to Lucky, the steed mascot for the Henderson Silver Knights hockey team. The Dollar Loan Center is the home of the Silver Knights, the AHL affiliate of the Vegas Golden Knights, and the Vegas Knight Hawks of the Indoor Football League.
Many of the drawings that the venue selected in a citywide youth art contest referenced the Las Vegas desert and skyline, all three teams — mascots and logos — or both, like jersey-wearing players taking slapshots in front of cactus.
Haag, a ninth-grader at Foothill High School, made her drawing last year in Melissa Wilkinson’s class at Lyal Burkholder Middle School.
Wilkinson said her goal as an educator was to get kids and their art out in the community. That accomplished with Jaycee, Wilkinson came to the arena to support her student and pose for photos with her in front of the mural.
Teacher wins grant
Carroll Johnston Middle School teacher Kimberly Collum received a $2,000 grant to build a classroom library for her English Language Learner students as part of the Voya Unsung Heroes awards competition.
Voya Financial, a nationwide financial, retirement, investment and insurance company, awarded 50 prizes across the country. Collum is the only winner in Nevada. She will now compete with the other winners for an additional $5,000, $10,000 or $25,000 from Voya.
With her prize money, Collum plans to purchase books for her middle school students that will improve their acquisition of English while allowing them to develop a love for reading.
Raiders urge kids to stretch, move
Las Vegas Raiders players stopped by Robert L. Taylor Elementary School in Henderson on Wednesday to encourage students to be physically active.
Defensive tackle Andrew Billings, safety Duron Harmon and wide receiver Mack Hollins led children through stretch, warmup and cool-down routines, football drills and games they can play at recess and at home. They also promoted the Play 60 message of being active for 60 minutes every day.
The Raiders teamed with the local Greater Youth Sports Association for the “Stretch & Move” program.