(KTNV) — Parents on Mt. Charleston tell Channel 13 they received a letter on May 10, 2024, from the Clark County School District stating the district will recommend the permanent closure of Earl B. Lundy Elementary School.
The school has been temporarily closed since it suffered damage due to the remnants of Hurricane Hilary in August 2023.
Affected students have since been bused to Indian Springs Elementary, which is about 45 minutes away. However, several parents tell Channel 13 they've pulled their kids out of that school in recent months, citing the distance and opting for homeschooling or online school. One parent even told Channel 13their child was being bullied at the new school and having a hard time adjusting to the different environment.
In the letter to parents, CCSD Interim Superintendent Brenda Larsen-Mitchell wrote:
"After much review and consideration, we have made the difficult decision to recommend the closure of Earl B. Lundy Elementary School due to the expense of rebuilding the school from the storms and floods caused by Tropical Storm Hilary in August 2023. We recognize and understand the impact this decision will have on our students, families, staff, and community of Earl B. Lundy Elementary School."
In that letter, the interim superintendent went on to note that in June 2024, the Board of School Trustees will consider the recommendation to permanently close the school. It will be recommended that Lundy students permanently attend Indian Springs Elementary School.
"The Mount Charleston community would maintain a cohesive, feeder school alignment with the opportunity for siblings to attend the same school as the current middle and high school students assigned to Indian Springs Middle and High School," Larsen-Mitchell wrote.
The news confirms parents' fears. They say they were initially told the school would reopen in time for the 2024-25 school year, but hadn't heard any updates in months, despite repeated requests for information from CCSD. They say they worried the district would use the situation as an excuse to shut down the small school for good to save money.
Following the impacts of the remnants of Hurricane Hilary, on Sept. 14, 2023, school board documents indicate the CCSD Facilities Division entered into a design agreement with Ethos Three Architecture, in the amount of $124,500.00, for the emergency site assessment at Earl B. Lundy Elementary School. Then, on Nov. 9, the Facilities Services Unit entered into a construction agreement with Martin-Harris Construction, LLC. in the amount of $120,684.27, for the emergency temporary CLSM for earth shoring and debris haul-off at Earl B. Lundy Elementary School.
The school serves a small group of children — about a dozen — but parents say its existence was a big part of their decision to call Mt. Charleston home, knowing their child would get their elementary education just steps away from their house. Several parents previously told Channel 13 if the school did not reopen, they would move off the mountain altogether.
"We can't sustain a life for him up here if there's not some kind of a school," Sarah Hickam told Channel 13 in February.
She decided to home-school her child shortly after Lundy's closure, saying the commute to Indian Springs was stressful for her and her young child.
"For him, the day started at 6 o'clock, when we left the house, and he didn't get home from school until 3 or 3:30, and he's 7 years old," Hickam said. "I couldn't do it to him anymore. It was too much."
Channel 13 has reached out to CCSD for a statement and will update this story once we receive a response.
