At a time when the elephantine Clark County School District (CCSD) has more than its share of big problems, you might think its embattled brain trust had better things to do than close tiny Earl B. Lundy Elementary School in Mount Charleston’s upper Kyle Canyon.

But you’d be wrong.

With 380 schools and more than 315,000 students, it’s the fifth-largest district in the nation. In recent years, the CCSD has been roiled by controversy with a fiasco in the superintendent’s office and petty political infighting elsewhere. Perennially understaffed, the district continues to underperform, ranking 49th in educational attainment. From foundering test scores to legitimate campus safety concerns, its deficiencies can’t be written off to growing pains in a booming metropolitan area.

Never mind all that. The district is preparing to squash one of its smallest schools, which was damaged in the severe flooding that swept down Kyle Canyon in August 2023. Lundy was closed for the 2024 school year, its students as young as 5 sent by bus to Indian Springs Elementary School in a 41-mile trip that takes about 50 minutes to complete. That’s about two hours spent on a bus each school day. Many of the parents found alternatives to strapping their youngsters with such a grueling schedule.

Now parents and members of the close-knit community are discovering, perhaps too late, that Lundy is slated to remain closed permanently with a vote coming as soon as the June CCSD Board of Trustees meeting. Although the agenda for the June 13 meeting isn’t yet out, in early May, parents were informed by letter of the impending closure.

More recently, the “families of Lundy ES” have also been invited by the CCSD to attend a meeting in the early evening June 7 in Indian Springs “to discuss the reasons for recommending the school’s closure.” Did I mention that Indian Springs is almost an hour’s drive from Kyle Canyon?

In an email to CCSD official Lindsay Tomlinson, longtime Kyle Canyon residents Deb and Dave Martin pointed out the minor absurdity.

“We do not understand why a meeting concerning Lundy Elementary School is being held at Indian Springs. The meeting is a two-hour car ride for every Mount Charleston Resident while you are driving an extra 45 minutes to Indian Springs: instead drive 20 minutes up the mountain to Lundy. We ask that this meeting be held at Lundy Elementary where everyone: past students, actual students and students who plan on attending Lundy, their neighborhood school, can easily attend.”

Is the school really so badly damaged that no one is allowed to unlock its doors? 

What the officials have yet to acknowledge is how much the decision affects the community itself. Setting aside property values, it serves as a rallying point and meeting place for residents who, for years, have participated in programs and fundraisers that benefit the school.

With word spreading, parents and residents are expressing their alarm with emails to interim Superintendent Brenda Larsen-Mitchell, CCSD construction facilities operations analyst Valerie Austin, and others at the district in an attempt to get some answers and have their voices heard.

Among the questions: Were members of the CCSD Bond Oversight Committee informed of the decision to close the school? How about the elected members of the board of trustees? Everyone onboard?

The district has long-standing policies and procedures when it comes to repairing and replacing schools. Were those steps followed this time? Want to bet they weren’t? 

After residents say they initially received assurances in the flood’s aftermath that the school would be repaired and reopened, county town advisory board member and 14-year mountain resident Brenda Talley says the board has been requesting construction status reports from CCSD for months. Perhaps now the board knows the reason why no one from the district bothered to attend even one meeting.

In a letter to Larsen-Mitchell, Talley argues that Lundy represents the best of what public school can be with high student performances, parental participation and community involvement. Most larger schools in the district can’t match its test scores and proficiency rates.

What’s more, she writes, it serves as a community center, caucus site, emergency gathering place, summer recreation center and an “all-around hub of our community. … There is no need for any of this. Keep Lundy Elementary School Open. It is the heart of our community … it is better for the kids all the way around, educationally, mentally, physically, emotionally and allows their parents and the community to be involved in their education.”

She’s right. As a former mountain resident, I experienced first-hand the importance of the school to the fabric of the community and cherished the years my daughter Amelia attended there.

Setting sentiment aside, I believe the residents are being hustled by a school district with myriad more pressing problems and far bigger budget concerns.

As 10-year resident Joan Lorraine Fassett wondered in her letter to CCSD, “What is going to replace this wonderful school?”

John L. Smith is an author and longtime columnist. He was born in Henderson and his family’s Nevada roots go back to 1881. His stories have appeared in Time, Readers Digest, The Daily Beast, Reuters, Ruralite and Desert Companion, among others. He also offers weekly commentary on Nevada Public Radio station KNPR.