The Nye County school board will soon begin ongoing discussions about building a new high school at future meetings.

With Pahrump Valley High School already exceeding capacity with its current student population of 1,300 students and a projected increase to 1,600 students over the next three years, the school district construction committee has introduced a new high school plan of action.

The district expects to have approximately $58 million available for the project in three years.

The committee has put together three main options for the district to help address the future needs of students, although Superintendent Rob Roberts said those are not the only options that may be considered.

"It's not a decision that has to be made today," Roberts said.

He added that he would like to see the current high school expanded in phases, giving the district enough time and money to meet not only projected student needs, but possibly add a vocational and technical school as well.

"We have the land to do it," Roberts said. "And with expansion, you can do that every year and we would have the funds to do it every year."

The first option, and the one recommended by the construction committee, is to add to the existing high school and reconfigure Pahrump's middle schools.

Under this plan, Rosemary Clarke Middle School would only have seventh- and eight-graders and sixth grade would be moved back into the elementary schools.

A ninth grade academy would be created and a two-story building would be constructed on the current site that could hold about 800 students and approximately 32 classrooms.

The new building could also be a Career and Technical Academy under this plan.

The projected cost for this option is approximately $10 million for the building and another $10 million for the technical academy equipment, including computers.

The second recommendation is to build a new high school that would have a population of anywhere between 1,600 to 2,500 students.

PVHS would become a middle school, giving Pahrump two sixth through eighth grade middle schools.

This is the most expensive course of action, however, estimated to cost $65 million or more.

A final recommendation by the committee is to build a small high school (in addition to PVHS) for a student population of 1,200 students and reconfigure the middle school to only include seventh- and eighth-graders.

This option, however, is estimated to generate a cost of $50 million.

Roberts emphasized these were only recommendations, however, and the decision would ultimately be the result of a continued and on-going discussion.

One factor that may need to be considered is a state law that mandates high schools with a population exceeding 1,300 students must establish a high school academy.

The continued growth of the middle schools is also a weighing factor.

The good news is the district already has adequate water rights and land for school construction, so that's at least two less worries.