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Rural Schools
AS THE NATION'S fifth largest and fastest growing school district, most Valley residents view the Clark County School District as one-dimensional—an urban monstrosity of a school system with large overcrowded schools housing hundreds, and in some cases, thousands of students, all literally bursting at the seams. Overcrowded schools with limited space may mirror reality in some heavily populated parts of southern Nevada, but that is not the norm for schools located in more rustic areas of Clark County.
 Under the state law enacted in 1956, each Nevada County comprises one K–12 public school district. Clark County, with nearly 70 percent of the entire state's population, also has the largest number of schoolchildren. Most of who live and attend school in the Las Vegas Metro area. Almost unnoticed though, are thousands of students who live in remote parts of Clark County, areas like Moapa Valley, Virgin Valley, Searchlight, Blue Diamond, Mount Charleston, Indian Springs, Laughlin, Sandy Valley and Goodsprings. All of these rather bucolic outlying areas have schools and are part of the district's Rural Schools network. Some rural area schools operate quite similar to elementary, middle and high schools in the Las Vegas Valley. But most of them have a customized way of delivering education to a much smaller numbers of students.
Perennially, the smallest rural school in the district is Goodsprings Elementary. To get to Goodsprings, take a short drive south on I-15. Exit on the highway west of Nevada Landing Casino and in just a few minutes, you will arrive first at the small rural community of Sandy Valley where the Sandy Valley Elementary School is located. Continue on and you will quickly get to Goodsprings. The distinctive one-room schoolhouse is visible from the main "drag," with it distinctive and still functional bell tower. If you're there when school is in session, you might get to hear the traditional school bell activated by a rope in the foyer pulled by a teacher. The quaint sound echoes clearly and distinctly through the sleepy desert air. Now, no longer a true one-room schoolhouse, Goodsprings Elementary has a partition separating students in grades 3-5 from those in the lower primary grades. The number of students who attend this, the district's smallest school, fluctuates between 6 and 15 students.
Some rural schools teach only elementary grades. In those cases, students may have to take a lengthy bus ride when they advance to the secondary level to attend middle or high school at the closest metropolitan Las Vegas area school
But Goodsprings isn't the only small rural school in the district. The Lundy Elementary School in Old Town at Mount Charleston is another one. Lundy is named for the late school custodian and support staffer who grew to be revered for his caring manner with children. Lundy Elementary may be the only district school with its own small tractor-trailer rig equipped with a snowplow. On snowy days, the equipment comes in quite handy to clear the street and parking area in front of the school for school bus access.
Traveling down highway 93 to Searchlight, you'll find a rural elementary school that used to be called the Searchlight Elementary School, but was renamed to honor a ranking and famous U.S. Senator, Harry Reid. Searchlight is, in fact, Senator Reid's hometown. Senator Reid and his wife Landra built a home not far from the school where they spend down time with their grandchildren in that quaint former mining town.
Another district rural school that was previously mentioned is located at Sandy Valley. The Sandy Valley Elementary School educates students through grade eight. When they get to the 9th grade they may choose to attend the Keystone Charter Academy or take the long bus ride into Las Vegas where they are zoned to attend Durango High.
Traveling down close to the Arizona border and the Colorado River, Laughlin, Nevada is home to the William Bennett Elementary School and the Laughlin Jr./Sr. High School, both small and rural by district standards.
Traveling in the complete opposite direction from Las Vegas, up I-15 North there is a network of several schools, none of which really quality as small schools, despite the fact that they are 40 to 60 miles away from Las Vegas. They include: Perkins, Joe Bowler and Grant Bowler Elementaries, Mack Lyon and Charles Hughes Middle Schools and Moapa Valley and Virgin Valley High Schools.
Despite the constant focus on building new schools in the Las Vegas Valley, the Upper Muddy communities such as Mesquite and Virgin Valley are also growing by leaps and bounds. Wherever there's growth, there's an accompanying need for schools. As warranted by growth, these communities are getting new schools and improvements to existing ones on a regular basis.
Indeed, the district is truly diverse in terms of providing educational experiences, services and facilities to students in all kinds of settings—urban, suburban and rural. 
Watch Ray weekly as he hosts the television newsmagazine TV show, "Inside Education," which airs Tuesdays at 7:30 p.m., Fridays at 4:30 p.m. on Cox Cable Channel 111, and Sundays at 6:00 a.m. on KLVX-TV Channel 10, now known as VEGASPBS.
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