Board members split on decision to build Moapa gym

The squeaky wheel gets a $6.6 million gym.

Moapa Valley residents learned that lesson Wednesday after a heated Clark County School Board meeting, when a member up for re-election initiated a vote on the issue while facing 100 of her frustrated constituents.

"Let's calm it down," Board President Linda Young told her colleagues at one point in the deliberation.

The Clark County School District has a long list of $1.8 billion in needed capital projects - replacing failing air-conditioning systems, fire alarms, leaky roofs and dilapidated schools. But board members just recently learned they had funding for some of the projects. More than $44.6 million became available because of unexpected savings from other capital projects and idle money that had been set aside to buy land for new schools.

Not all projects can be under­taken, so district staff and a committee recommended the highest needs be fulfilled to keep schools running, such as new air-conditioning systems and roofs and other things at 22 schools. The aging air-conditioners at more than a dozen schools had outages in May.

A new, full-sized gym for Moapa Valley High School wasn't on that short list.

However, School Board members ultimately added the project to the list in a 4-3 vote and made it a priority, which means other projects will have to be bumped. A local architect had already mocked up a design and estimated a $6.6 million construction cost for the gym, but the actual design and cost haven't been finalized.

"It is very disheartening to me the way this thing has gone," said board member Deanna Wright, who voted against the gym's construction.

Is Moapa's need greater than Boulder City High School, which is stalled in the phased replacement of its 1940s building, asked Wright, who represents the southeast area of the district.

If schools had known Wednesday's meeting would be a free-for-all, the Sandy Valley community would "be here in force," said board member Carolyn Edwards, who also voted against adding the gym to the project list. That school's gym is a tent, she said. Moapa Valley's gym is middle-school-sized but it's brick-and-mortar, she noted.

"It can't be a heartstrings, people-are-here decision," she said. "It needs to be in context. I know this community is well deserving, but others are well deserving."

Many of the comments were aimed at board member Chris Garvey, up for re-election in November. She made the motion to add the gym before a single member of the Moapa Valley group spoke to request it.

"I submit that this is not an unfair request," Garvey said.

Moapa Valley residents have been asking for a full-sized gym since 1998, when a bond was approved for district capital projects. The $44.6 million in question is the last of that bond, which generated $4.9 billion over 12 years to mainly build 112 schools for the country's fastest growing district.

"The community still holds fast to the promise made by the district in 1998," said Vernon Robison, parent and editor of the Moapa Valley Progress news­paper.

Others also asserted Moapa Valley was promised a gym. For that reason, board member Lorraine Alderman said the issue isn't just need-based but "moral."

"The perception in this community is that a gym was promised," said Alderman, who voted for building the gym, as did Young and newly appointed board member Rene Cantu.

Garvey alluded to Moapa Valley High School's 2008 graduation ceremony, where Ruth Johnson, a board member at the time, announced plans to build the gym.

But the School Board and district can't be held to promises that individuals made, Edwards contended.

"That promise does not hold for the board," she emphasized.

Promise or not, safety is the main concern, Garvey claimed. She said student-athletes have to drive home late at night on the narrow, rural roads because of late practices. Teams can't practice at the same time in the small facility but must stagger practice times. Plus, it's overcrowded during games.

It's also a matter of equity, said Dallas Larsen, teacher and Moapa Valley varsity boys basketball coach.

The school is moving up to the 4A Division, where most competitors have three full-length courts in their gym and an auxiliary gym. Moapa Valley's gym has one full court, a pair of three-quarter courts and no auxiliary gym, he said.

The three dissenting board members didn't disagree, but acknowledged the need for a full-sized gym.

"Other needs are critical," said Erin Cranor, the third dissenting board member.

Contact reporter Trevon Milliard at
tmilliard@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0279.