Relocating to Las Vegas | Las Vegas Day School

Las Vegas Day School (LVDS) was founded by Jack and Helen Daseler in 1961 and was the first nonsectarian, nondenominational elementary school established in the state of Nevada.

The school was started with 27 students in a rented facility and functioned as a one-room schoolhouse for the first year. The next year construction of a permanent facility began on five acres of land located at Jones Boulevard and Desert Inn Road. At that time Desert Inn Road was a dirt road, and the area was so undeveloped that there was literally nothing within miles of the school. As the kindergarten through eighth-grade program grew, buildings were added to accommodate the increasing enrollment, settling at 210 students. In 1980, under the direction of sons: Neil, Jack and Frank, the school began to enlarge to meet the needs of the community. In the ensuing years the school grew to an enrollment of 500 students in Grades K–8 and a staff of 50.

In 2001 the school started the first phase of its complete new campus master plan on five acres of land directly behind the original school. The plan included the LVDS Kinderschool facility for preschool, pre-kindergarten and kindergarten, four elementary classrooms for each grade level, music, art and computer rooms as well as a beautiful modern library. The state of the art middle school building opened in August of 2009 completing the campus master plan. The new school was built entirely off Red Rock Street with the original facility being demolished in June 2009 to make way for an additional playground area and parking. Today the school facility comprises 120,000 square feet on 17 acres with an enrollment of 900 students and a faculty and staff of 150 people.

Las Vegas Day School is proud to have touched the lives of thousands of children in the Las Vegas community. Today the school is educating numerous second-generation children whose parents attended the school. Las Vegas Day School stands in honor of Jack and Helen Daseler’s perseverance, hard work and lifelong dedication to education, but more importantly as a legacy of quality education for future generations to follow.