A/C Problems At Lyon MS Sends Kids Home Early

By JENNA RHUDE

Moapa Valley Progress

An emergency phone call went out to all parents of students at W. Mack Lyon Middle School on Tuesday morning, August 21. The phone call was to alert parents that their children were being sent home at 10:40 am. The reason for the early dismissal was that the air conditioning was out for the entire school.

Mack Lyon principal Ken Paul said that the issue had actually begun the day before.
“The unit needed repairs,” Paul said. “District staff ran the air conditioning all night in hopes that the rooms would stay cool enough to occupy during the repairs the next day.”
But the repairs turned out to be more complicated than anticipated. They did not have the parts on handed to finish the repair. So a search had to be made for the right parts, Paul said.

In the meantime the rooms became very hot. “I went to a math classroom and checked the temperature and it already read 87 degrees,” Paul said. “That was the last straw, I knew we were in trouble and couldn’t keep the kids at school. That is when we began the process to send the students home.”

Paul said that sending kids home early involves a rather involved process. He contacted his Associate Superintendent, Grant Hanevold to get guidance on the process.
“He was wonderful!” Paul said. “He made sure I had the right phone numbers and contacts to make it happen. I had to speak with the communications department and one of the most important was transportation. I must say I was really proud of transportation. They had all the buses here on time and ready to transport the students home.”

Students were actually encouraged to use their cell phones to contact their parents.
“We wanted to ensure that all the parents knew about the early release,” Paul said. “So we announced over the intercom to allow students to use their phones to contact their family and let them know they would be let out early. We wanted to ensure that no one went home to a locked house.”

It was anticipated that the air conditioning would be up and running again by 1:00 pm. BUt Paul was concerned about the heat in the interim. Plus, it would still take a good deal of time to cool the rooms down again.
“It was already unbearable,” said Paul.

“It’s a big deal to send kids home early,” Paul said. “I’m very proud of the entire Lyon staff and transportation. They worked efficiently and effectively to ensure the students were safe at all times.”
The school kept a skeleton crew on hand until the official end of school day to ensure there were no students unaccounted for and that everyone had made it to their destination safely.

Parents received a phone call at about 5:30 pm letting them know that the air conditioning problem had been resolved and classes would resume the following day.