A storm damaged this Las Vegas-area school. Finally, it’s back open — PHOTOS

MOUNT CHARLESTON — Nearly two years after storm damage forced the closure of Lundy Elementary School, the Mount Charleston community celebrated the building’s reopening in time for the new school year.

Located down a road lined with mountain lodges and nestled among towering pine trees, the newly repaired elementary school will serve seven students this school year. Inside the school’s cabin-like dual-use gym and lunch room, Mount Charleston community members and Clark County School District officials gathered to celebrate the efforts to reopen Lundy.

“We are absolutely thrilled to cut the ribbon and officially reopen the doors of our cherished school,” Lundy Principal Chris Welch said. “This moment is a testament to the resilience of our community, the unwavering dedication of countless individuals and the enduring spirit of education.”

Lydia Dominguez, a School Board member representing the district containing Lundy, praised Mount Charleston’s community at the event for fighting to reopen the school. “This is more than just a reopening. This is a promise for our students that our community will not forget about them or give up on them,” she said.

Superintendent Jhone Ebert praised the district’s work on repairing Lundy and said the reopening is an example of CCSD’s investment in supporting rural schools.

“Our entire community is the Clark County School District,” Ebert said. “We are one school district and we are one team working together.”

Contentious decision

Lundy suffered major damage after rushing floodwaters from the remnants of Tropical Storm Hilary caused the campus to close in August 2023. Without a schoolhouse, Lundy’s students have attended Indian Springs Elementary School since the storm, which is about a 50-minute drive down the mountain.

The decision over whether to reopen the school became a heated topic at Clark County School Board meetings. Lundy parents and Mount Charleston locals repeatedly urged the board to reopen the school, while some board members showed reluctance to support costly repairs on a school with fewer than a dozen students.

Board members decided against repairing Lundy in a narrow vote last August and suggested that a nearby library could serve as a school facility. But after an election brought new faces to the School Board, they voted again on the decision and decided in December to repair the school. The board approved $7.8 million for construction in February.

New repairs

Outside on Wednesday, people gathered in the newly paved parking lot to eat food truck sliders and play carnival games. The storm washed out the former lot in 2023, according to CCSD chief of facilities Brandon McLaughlin, causing the construction team to raise the lot by 12 feet.

To mitigate future flooding, he said the district constructed a flood channel that runs along the south and southeast portions of Lundy’s property. McLaughlin said other upgrades to the building’s fire alarm and security systems were made to bring the building up to the district’s standard.

One Lundy mom, Kymberly Caroleo, said her daughter just started kindergarten at the school and is excited to continue learning.

When Lundy’s reopening was in limbo, Caroleo said she spent hours making phone calls to figure out where her daughter would start school.

She even considered moving away from Mount Charleston to live close to an elementary school. Now, Caroleo said her daughter can walk down the street to school every day.

“It’s great because it’s a lot of one-on-one learning because there’s not many kids in the class, so she has a lot of opportunities to go further in the school and be able to blossom,” Caroleo said. “It’s definitely a stress relief.”

More than a school

The campus often doubled as a place for Mount Charleston residents to hold community gatherings. Welch said he’s striving to keep the community-gathering tradition of Lundy in a new building.

“With any school, I like to see that the school becomes the central hub of the community … and that the kids become leaders in this community,” he said.

Brad Lundy, the grandson of the school’s namesake, Earl B. Lundy, said he remembers growing up on Mount Charleston and going to recreational sports games and holiday events that were held inside the elementary school. Lundy said he’s happy that the newly repaired building will continue to provide a space for the Mount Charleston community to thrive.

“It’s a good relief that we get to keep the name, the heritage (and) legacy of my grandfather alive,” Lundy said.

Contact Spencer Levering at slevering@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0253.