Silver State drops plans for new school

Silver State High School has dropped plans to build a new $10 million school near the Carson City Airport.

The Carson City charter school pulled its application to the planning commission Wednesday to build the school.

Principal Steve Knight said he knew the project couldn't get the needed approval with opposition from the airport authority over questions about student safety.

The airport authority recommended last week the city oppose the new school.

The project doesn't need approval from the airport authority, but the planning commission and board of supervisors consider the airport authority's recommendations.

Knight said the five acres next to the airport at 2222 E. College Parkway would have been a great place for the proposed 73,000-square-foot school. It would have allowed the school to more than triple its floor space, expand from 500 to 1,500 students and build its aerospace program through a partnerships with the airport and surrounding aerospace companies.

The school is looking at other places for the school, including land by the Minden-Tahoe Airport in Douglas County, Knight said.

"We're not going to pursue that piece by the airport because we're not going to go where we're not wanted," he said.

The airport authority was concerned about the safety of students in a school near the end of an airport runway, said Casey Pullman, airport manager.

He said the area where planes land and take off is the most common place for accidents.

The airport has no commercial flights, but Pullman said its many private flights would disrupt students.

"Schools and airports just generally don't make good neighbors," he said.

David McClelland, an airport authority member, said he knows of two crashes in the area where the school was planned.

But the location probably isn't any more dangerous than the school's current building two miles west of the airport, he said. That's why he abstained from the vote against the school, he said.

"I believe in what Silver State does for our community," he said. "I believe they run a very good school."

Silver State High School opened in 2003. It is a free public school with its own school board. It focuses on online learning. It is accredited and regulated under a contract with the Nevada Department of Education.