Month: September 2021

The Ed-Watch series is designed to increase access to information on what decisions are being made regarding public education in Clark County and Nevada.

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Clark County School District Board of Trustees 

What is the Board of Trustees & what are they responsible for? The CCSD Trustees are publicly elected decision-makers for the school district. They are responsible for providing oversight to the Superintendent and establishing District-wide policy. Trustees are accountable to work with their communities to improve student achievement.

Click here to learn more and see a list of current Trustees
Click here to find your Trustee District

How often does the Board of Trustees meet? Trustees meet twice per month (second and fourth Thursdays) at 5 pm both virtually and at the Edward A. Greer Education Center Board Room (2832 E Flamingo Rd, Las Vegas, NV 89121).

Click here for a full list of Trustees meetings and agendas
Click here to visit Hope For Nevada’s #NVEd Calendar

Can community members engage at Trustee meetings? Decision-making bodies benefit greatly from hearing public input and multiple perspectives. Currently, members of the public can submit comments on agenda and non-agenda items through email or voice recording. Public comment can be provided in person, via email, or via voice recording. Email comments should be submitted to Boardmtgcomments@nv.ccsd.net. To submit a voice recording on items listed on the meeting agenda, call 702-799-1166. Voice recorded public comment is limited to 1 minute 30 seconds.

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Thursday, September 9, 2021

Clark County School District Board of Trustees Meeting

Click here to see the meeting agenda

What happened at this meeting?

Public Comment on Non-Agenda Items: 

Members of the public submitted public comment on agenda items regarding: 

• Concerns around staffing issues and staffing related issues. 
• Concerns around class sizes.
• Concerns around dress codes.
• Concerns around lack of bonuses for teachers and support staff.
• Concerns around the district’s vaccine,mask, COVID-19 tracing policies, and other COVID-19 mitigation measures.
• Concern around racism and discrimination in schools. 
• Questions about the Teachers Health Trust and concern around issues and lack of support. 

Click here to view written public comment on agendized action items submitted online. 

Consent Agenda Highlights:

• Approval of MOA between CCSD and The Purposity Foundation to provide an online platform for donors to voluntarily fulfill the needs of students and families experiencing homelessness. 
• Approval of grant application renewal of the Teach Nevada Scholarship Program. 
• Approval of employment agreement for Donald Bordelove for Assistant General Counsel. 
• Approval of board policies and regulations around the CCSD board of trustees governance originally presented to the public at the trustee meeting on August 26, 2021. 

Members of the public submitted public comment on this agenda item regarding:

• Support of allocating funding to Hope Squad and the Teach Nevada Scholarship Program. 
• Concern around new board policies and regulations and possible effects on future board processes. 
• The stresses of being a teacher in the school district. 
• Request for better pay, benefits, and work environment. 

The consent agenda passed 6-1. One trustee requested that several agenda items around board of trustees governance be removed, and this request was denied. 

Trustees Heard Presentation on and Approved the Focus on the Future for Kids Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) III Update

CARES Act ESSER I dollars totaling $133,450,352 were spent on responding to the pandemic. CARES Act ESSER II dollars totaling $353,690,111 were spent on the ongoing pandemic response and relief efforts. The American Rescue Plan Act ESSER III dollars totaling $777,849,496 will be focused on continued pandemic relief and recovery efforts, and a plan for the spending of these funds was developed through the Focus on the Future for Kids community input process. The ESSER III dollars must be spent after meaningful consultation with stakeholders and have to comply with maintenance of equity requirements as mandated by the ARP. 20% of the funds will be spent to address learning loss, and 80% will be spent to address pandemic-related needs. 

The 90-day process to allocate ARP ESSER III funds consisted of: 

• Community input conversations from July 5 – August 18; approximately 2,200 community members were engaged via 60+ community input conversations.
• A Community Advisory Committee (CAC) synthesized input from August 18 – August 31; the CAC is composed of three community members from each CCSD region. 
• Budget development aligned to inputs began between late August and early September 2021.
• The CAC identified topics and themes from the information provided through the community input conversations, released a draft spending plan, and the community was able to provide their feedback via a survey from September 1-7, 2021. Over 13,000 responses were submitted. CCSD reported a positive reception of the draft plan from the vast majority of responses collected.

The district utilized guiding principles in order to align to the Focus: 2024 plan with projected spending priorities focused on the following areas:

• Student success: $533,167,909
• Teachers, principals, and staff: $11,476,765
• Balanced governance and leadership: $345,643ound fiscal management, parent and community support: $8,985,113)
• COVID-19 mitigation: $217,874,067 

Next steps: 

• Phase 1: Federal funds community input and report out (July 5 – September 30, 2021)
  • Board approval of plan at board meeting on September 9, 2021
  • CCSD staff submit plan to NDE on September 10, 2021 
• Phase 2: Implementation status and plan refresh (March 2022 – May 2022)
• Phase 3: What’s next in CCSD education? (September 2022 – November 2022) 

Members of the public submitted public comment on this agenda item regarding:

• Appreciation of work done by community advisory committee/ 
• Requests for all to lean in and support the district as they implement this plan. 
• Requests for more mental health services at all grade levels across the district. 
• Request for additional support for district’s arts program 
• Concern with the plan for allocation of ARP dollars and suggestions for how to spend the dollars differently. 
• Concern around equity and how the district plans to achieve equity.
• Requests for more time to review the proposed plan and provide feedback due to concern that the feedback loop was rushed. 

Click here to view written public comment on this agenda item submitted online. 

Click here to view the presentation and a more detailed breakdown of each spending priority. 

Click here to view CCSD’s draft American Rescue Plan spending priorities.  

Click here to view a summary of CCSD’s Community Input Process and Spending Priorities for American Rescue Plan Emergency and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ARP ESSER III) Funds 

Click here to follow progress on the Focus on the Future for Kids initiative.

Trustees Approved a Resolution to Amend the Establishment of Special Revenue Funds

Aligned to the changes in how student needs are funded based on the Pupil Centered Funding Plan (Senate Bill 439) that passed in the 2021 legislative session, the board approved a resolution to establish special revenue funds for the English Language Learner, at-risk, and gifted and talented weights. Due to the fact that separate funds are created for each weight, the district will be able to track each weight and the spending of funds separately from the general fund and ensure that everything is being funded appropriately. 

Click here to view the reference document. 

Trustees Heard Presentation on the Human Resources School and Department Recruiting 

In alignment with the Focus: 2024 plan, the CCSD HR department is tasked with recruiting and filling every school with qualified teachers, principals, and staff. The goal is to have zero vacancies. The annual progress measure for the 2021-22 school year indicates licensed teachers in classrooms have met 95.7% to goal. The district also noted an increase in critical labor support professional vacancies, currently totalling 134. 

Over the summer, the district hired 700 new teachers, but this hiring surge was not enough to compensate for the loss of teachers. In order to better understand fluctuations in hiring and recruitment, the district started monitoring daily hiring which allowed them to make immediate changes and set reasonable hiring goals and expectations. 

The district has launched the following recruitment and diversity initiatives: 

• School and department recruiting 
• Recruitment and retention commission
• Diversity and inclusion work group 

The district’s targeted recruitment plan had a goal of recruiting 2,000 teachers before the start of the 2021 school year but was unable to meet that goal, recruiting 1,665 teachers. 

Some of the new recruitment strategies and tools that the district has utilized include: 

• Tools and training to engage passive candidates: 
  • Partnership with Handshake, an organization that works to reduce the gap in engagement between current college students and recent college grads and prospective employers 
  • A new candidate relationship management (CRM) system 
• Strategies to increase workforce diversity: 
  • Initiating contact with 80 HBCUs to establish MOUs
  • Attending 25 virtual career fairs 
  • Direct campaigns with 26,153 messages 
  • Recruiting on diversity focused job boards (DiversityInED and HBCU Careers) 

Highlights of the Recruitment and Retention Commission: 

• Created a new position focused on social media recruitment and marketing 
• Developed program to begin hiring sooner in the season 
• Launched exit and transfer surveys 
• Developed and implemented new principal mentor program 

The Diversity and Inclusion Work Group has created several priorities, ranging from developing a vision and belief statement to standardizing the recruitment, application, and hiring process. These priorities are all still a work in progress. 

Members of the public submitted public comment on this agenda item regarding:

• Concern about the selection of the members of the teacher recruitment task force.
• Suggestions for recruiting and retaining new teachers. 
• Concern around the culture of the district and practices utilized to create a safe work environment. 
• Request for support in helping willing paraprofessionals become teachers. 

Click here to view written public comment on this agenda item submitted online. 

Click here to view the presentation. 

Trustees Submitted Requests for Future Board Items

• Future presentations on partnerships that currently exist with the district and community organizations as well as possible partnerships that could be launched in the future
• Student achievement data 
• Board self-assessments 
• More student interaction with the board at board meetings 
• GPA caps and input of student voices in all future discussions 
• Presentation around implementation of new grading policy and community’s response 

Public Comment on Non-Agenda Items

Members of the public submitted public comment on non-agenda items regarding: 

• Concerns with Dr. Jara and Dr. Larsen’s leadership this school year and request that they be held accountable.
• Concerns around the lack of support for teachers and support professionals and request that the district provide additional assistance.
• Concerns around culture at meetings and safety of attendees.
• Concerns around the treatment of district bus drivers.
• Concerns around the new grading policy.

Click here to view written public comment on non-agenda items submitted online.

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The Ed-Watch series is designed to increase access to information on what decisions are being made regarding public education in Clark County and Nevada.

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Clark County School District Board of Trustees 

What is the Board of Trustees & what are they responsible for? The CCSD Trustees are publicly elected decision-makers for the school district. They are responsible for providing oversight to the Superintendent and establishing District-wide policy. Trustees are accountable to work with their communities to improve student achievement.

Click here to learn more and see a list of current Trustees
Click here to find your Trustee District

How often does the Board of Trustees meet? Trustees meet twice per month (second and fourth Thursdays) at 5 pm both virtually and at the Edward A. Greer Education Center Board Room (2832 E Flamingo Rd, Las Vegas, NV 89121).

Click here for a full list of Trustees meetings and agendas
Click here to visit Hope For Nevada’s #NVEd Calendar

Can community members engage at Trustee meetings? Decision-making bodies benefit greatly from hearing public input and multiple perspectives. Currently, members of the public can submit comments on agenda and non-agenda items through email or voice recording. Public comment can be provided in person, via email, or via voice recording. Email comments should be submitted to Boardmtgcomments@nv.ccsd.net. To submit a voice recording on items listed on the meeting agenda, call 702-799-1166. Voice recorded public comment is limited to 1 minute 30 seconds.

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Wednesday, September 1, 2021

Clark County School District Board of Trustees Special Meeting

Click here to see the meeting agenda

What happened at this meeting?

Public Comment 

Members of the public provided comment regarding: 

• Support authorizing the Superintendent to establish a policy regarding mandatory vaccines for employees in order to protect the health and wellbeing of students. 
• Concerns that implementing a mandatory vaccine policy is an infringement on personal rights citing that federally and locally protected groups and objections would not be honored by a policy requiring employees to be vaccinated. 

Members of the public also submitted comments online: 

Public Comment A
Public Comment B
Public Comment C  

Trustees Authorized Development of Mandatory COVID-19 Vaccine Policy for Employees (5-1)

After hearing from representatives of the Southern Nevada Health District on health data and facts on vaccines as well as from CCSD staff on the intent of the resolution, the Board of Trustees approved a resolution providing the Superintendent with the authority to develop a policy related to the mandatory vaccination of CCSD employees. 

The resolution allows for the superintendent to direct staff to develop a policy, as well as engage with each collective bargaining unit to negotiate employment contracts. Without the resolution, CCSD and employee unions would not be able to engage in discussions or come to an agreement regarding rules, incentives, and protections for employees. The approval of the resolution does not mean any immediate changes will occur regarding employee vaccination requirements, rather it enables the process to occur.   

CCSD staff anticipates a high volume of accommodation requests and assured the board that they are preparing systems to efficiently process the requests while taking into consideration each employee’s specific circumstances. 

One trustee voted no on the resolution. One trustee was not present for the vote. 

Click here to view the resolution. 

Click here to read about this in The Nevada Independent 

Click here to read about this in The Las Vegas Review-Journal Click here to read about this in the Nevada Current.

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