LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — If you live in Spring Valley and live or work near Buffalo and Flamingo, you may be accustomed to seeing homeless encampments set up in various spots throughout the Spring Valley Community Park.

But the problem for Spring Valley High School principal Tara Powell is that it sometimes happens right next to her school, leaving trash and property damage behind.

“Children deserve better,” Powell said. “They deserve a safe learning environment, and right now that is a concern.”

Powell took us on a tour of the baseball field on the south side of campus, bordering the park, and said that’s where they run into the most problems.

“And here,” Powell said, pointing to a barracks at the baseball complex. “I’m over it and I’m trying to get in here and take shelter. Again, (the project) was fundraised by our baseball parents and it just got destroyed.”

Powell said one employee even found someone living in a press box built by donors to the baseball program.

“It contained human feces, alcohol and a meth straw,” Powell said. “It was disgusting and completely covered in urine.”

That’s why the shed had to be torn down: “They built it with their own hands with their hard-earned money, and now it’s gone,” Powell said.

This has always been a problem, according to Powell; He has been with Spring Valley since 2012 and becomes principal in 2021, but it got exponentially worse this summer.

“So we always try to be here, pick up our kids and be on campus,” Spring Valley parent Diana Gonzalez said.

Gonzalez said her child had no safety issues at Spring Valley and that she wasn’t aware of the campgrounds in the park until we told her. Still, he says it’s worrying to hear these things.

“We hope something gets done,” Gonzalez said.

Powell said the school district and CCSD Police have been responsive when a problem arises on campus property, particularly praising the officers on duty at the school, but they can’t do much at the park.

“We have multiple campus monitors and are highly visible, but you only worry about one of them infiltrating the campus,” Powell said.

Powell said he has spoken with Clark County parks staff in the past but has not heard back from county commissioners he recently emailed, including commission chairman Tick Segerblom.

I reached Segerblom via text message Friday afternoon, and he said he had seen Powell’s email and “we’ll fix it.”

Powell, meanwhile, said he wants to get to the root cause of the problem and be part of the solution.

“I always tell kids ‘don’t go to the park,’ we sent out the Parent Link message,” Powell said. “How do we address this issue in a respectful way that also keeps us all safe? Because we need to balance that.”