Principal awaits school opening

     By Tina Allen
     View staff writer
      There are pros and cons to opening a new school, as Lee Douglass, principal of the new Neal Elementary School, can attest.
      "The most difficult part is to leave your existing school and your existing staff and student body and community," said Douglass, who has spent the past four years as administrator of Gragson Elementary. "That was really very difficult."
      But on the flip side, Douglass said the opportunity to open a new school is the highlight of her career, and something she's dreamed of for the 27 years she's been an educator.
      "It's more exciting than I ever imagined it would be," she said. "I drive by the building at least twice a day. I'm so excited."
      Neal is one of eight schools in the Clark County School District scheduled to open this fall -- three high schools, one middle school and four elementary schools. Construction of the building, located at 6651 W. Azure Ave., is scheduled to be completed by Aug. 2.
      The school's namesake, Sen. Joseph M. Neal, moved to Las Vegas in 1954. He has been a member of the Nevada State Senate since first elected in 1972. His current term expires in 2000.
      In 1991, he was elected by the full Nevada State Senate (both Democrats and Republicans) as Senate President Pro-Tem. In that Constitutional position, he served as acting governor in 1991.
      He also chaired a legislative human resources committee dealing with issues regarding school and children throughout the state, and received numerous awards, including the Civil Libertarian of the Year award in 1984 from the American Civil Liberties Union in Nevada; the Elijah Lovejoy Award; and the Distinguished Service and Civic Affairs award from Phi Delta Kappa.
      The school, with a Mustang mascot, will draw pupils from Guy, Wolf, May and Rhodes elementaries, with the greatest number, 400 pupils, coming from Rhodes. It is predicted to open with 698 children; however, Douglass expects that number to increase because it is situated in a high-growth area. Neal will operate on a nine-month academic calendar.
      Douglass has already met most of the incoming children by visiting the four schools from which Neal is drawing, and sharing one of her favorite activities -- reading to them. It is a tradition she plans to continue in the courtyard of the new school each Friday.
      "I wore my `Cat in the Hat' hat and my `Cat in the Hat' slippers and I read the book by Dr. Seuss `Oh, The Places You'll Go,' " she said. "I related that to the kids to how they're going to a new place. It's going to be an exciting, new adventure."
      Douglass earned her bachelor's degree at Georgia State University and her master's degree at North Georgia College. She taught first grade for 14 years and has been an administrator for 13 years. Her first teaching job was in a first-grade classroom in Atlanta, before transferring to a school district in Virginia Beach, Va.
      In 1994 she moved to Las Vegas with her husband of 21 years, Jim, and came aboard the Clark County School District as an assistant principal at both Sunrise Acres Elementary and Tobler Elementary. A year later, she was appointed principal of Gragson.
      "I got into education because a teacher made all the difference in the world in my life," said Douglass, who attended high school in Warner Robins, Ga. "And I wanted to pay back what she did for me, so I went into teaching where I could make the same difference in children's lives that she made in mine."
      The teacher was her ninth-grade typing teacher.
      "It wasn't what she taught me, because I could have lived forever without knowing how to type, but it was that she reached me when no one else could," Douglass said. "And she cared about me, genuinely cared."