Summerlin welcomes news of new schools

Residents in the Summerlin master-planned community welcomed news of a future high school to be built at Charleston Boulevard and Desert Foothills Drive in Summerlin Centre. The 42-acre site was recently acquired from The Howard Hughes Corp. by Clark County School District and eventually will be home to the community's second public high school.

The school district also has an elementary school site in the Ridgebrook village at Desert Inn Road, west of Interstate 215. The district plans to build Judy and John L. Goolsby Elementary School on the site within a few years.

The sites would be the 10th and 11th public schools in the community when developed. The community is also home to seven private schools.

The community prides itself on educational choices, according to Daniel C. Van Epp, president of Hughes Corp., developer of Summerlin.

"In fact, The Meadows, a private college preparatory school, was the very first facility in Summerlin," Van Epp said. "When The Meadows opened its Summerlin campus in 1988, Summerlin existed only as a plan on paper. The school's opening in the middle of what was then the valley's northwestern desert signaled the beginning of a rich, educational legacy for Summerlin."

Van Epp said Hughes Corp. continued its support of education in its early years by helping to fund a break-the-mold design for a public elementary school. The company donated $250,000, which was used at the community's first public school, William R. Lummis Elementary School. Lummis opened in 1993.

"From the beginning, we recognized the importance of schools as keepers of the community's heart and soul," Van Epp said. "Schools are not only places of learning for our children, they unite residents and create a social bond within the community."

Hughes Corp. also helped establish the Summerlin Children's Forum. Founded in 1997, the nonprofit organization provides funding to schools, teachers and nonprofit organizations in the community for special programs and purchases.

Summerlin's public schools include five elementary schools, two middle schools and one high school. In addition, students living in the far north of Summerlin are zoned to attend Cimarron-Memorial High School, which is just outside of the community's boundaries, but enjoy the benefits of Summerlin Children's Forum scholarship and grant programs.

Private schools in the community include The Meadows School, offering preschool to grade 12; the Milton I. Schwartz Hebrew Academy, offering grades K-8; Faith Lutheran Jr./Sr. High School, offering grades 6-12; The Merryhill School, offering preschool to grade 5; Alexander Dawson School at Rainbow Mountain, offering grades K-8; St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Elementary School, offering grades K-5; and Lit'l Scholar Academy, offering private kindergarten.

Summerlin is being developed as a series of villages. It is home to eight golf courses, nearly 100 village and neighborhood parks, nearly 100 completed miles of trails, houses of worship, shopping centers, business parks, medical centers, and nearly 100 model homes.

To visit the home finding center, travel west on Sahara Avenue, past Hualapai Way, to Town Center Drive and turn north. Or, take Interstate 215 to the Sahara exit and turn north on Town Center Drive. The center is open daily from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

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