Month: October 2021

Nevada Ed-Watch 10/28/2021

Posted on by Opportunity 180

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.

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.

Thursday, October 28, 2021

Clark County School District Board of Trustees Meeting

Click here to see the meeting agenda
Click here to see the meeting addendum

What happened at this meeting?

Public Comment on Non-Agenda Items

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

  • Concerns that safety protocols are not being enforced nor required and actions are not being taken to ensure the safety of students and staff.
  • The lack of resources and support for students with special needs. 
  • The wellbeing and physical and mental health of district educators and staff. 
  • Concerns around the CCSD trustee district redistricting process and issues around equity and communities of interest. 
  • Concerns around the district’s mask and vaccine policy and other COVID-19 mitigation and safety measures. 
  • Concerns around excessive force by CCSD police. 
  • Concerns around student documents not being provided to caregivers in their native language. 

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

Trustees Approved the Termination for Convenience of the Employment Agreement with The Superintendent of Schools (4-3) 

After an introduction of the item by board counsel, trustees immediately motioned to terminate the contract for Dr. Jesus Jara, Superintendent of Schools for the Clark County School District, for convenience. After brief statements by some Trustees, Trustees voted to terminate the contract 4-3. 

A motion to table the item failed 4-3. 

Dr. Jara provided a statement and was excused from the remainder of the meeting; 

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

  • Concerns around the lack of transparency surrounding this agenda item. 
  • Concerns around the climate and culture of the district and the role Dr. Jara has played in creating this climate and culture. 
  • Concerns around the timing of this discussion given that Dr. Jara’s contract is up for discussion in the near future. 
  • Concerns that this discussion distracts from matters such as student achievement, student social-emotional development, and overall student health and safety.  
  • Concern’s around Dr. Jara’s handling of recent events, including pandemic response efforts, contract negotiations with bargaining units, trustee district redistricting, educator health insurance, transportation issues, and teacher and substitute shortages. 

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

Trustees Tabled the Possible Rescission of the Election of Trustee Linda P. Cavazos as Board President (5-1-1)

Trustees voted 5-1-1 to table the possible rescission of the election of Trustee Linda P. Cavazos as Board President with one trustee not present for the vote.  

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

  • Concerns around Trustee Cavazos’ ability to continue to serve in her role as Board President. 
  • Support for Trustee Cavazos as the Board President.
  • Concerns around the timing of this discussion due to the fact that Trustee Cavazos’ tenure as president ends soon. 
  • Concerns that this discussion distracts from more pressing matters related to students.

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

Consent Agenda Highlights:

Consent agenda passed (5-0-2) with two trustees not present.  

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

  • Concerns around the use of federal funds to support homeless students. 
  • Support for the use of federal funds to support homeless students and students with disabilities. 
  • Concerns around the feasibility of the paraprofessional pathway project. 
  • Concerns around the lack of support for educators. 

Trustees Bypassed Presentation and Discussion On Proposed Policy 5139, Anti-Racism, Equity, and Inclusion and Amendment of Policy 5137, Safe and Respectful Learning Environment: Bullying and Cyberbullying

Trustees bypassed this agenda item as some CCSD staff who were anticipated to facilitate the presentation exited the board meeting following the vote to terminate Dr. Jara’s contract.

Click here to view the presentation deck. 

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

Trustees Approved Notice of Intent to Adopt Clark County School District Policy 5139, Anti-Racism, Equity, and Inclusion

Trustees voted to approve this agenda item with a 6-0-1 vote with one trustee not present. 

An officer’s meeting will be scheduled to work out language for a possible hybrid model with both Superintendent and Board of Trustee appointments. This policy will come back for final ​​approval by the board on Thursday, November 18, 2021. 

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

  • Support of the policy.
  • Concerns over the implementation of this policy. 
  • Concerns around violence against BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ students in schools and violence at board meetings. 
  • Concerns around the exit of CCSD staff at the board meeting and the bypassing of the presentation on the anti-racism policy. 

Click here to view the reference documents. 

Trustees Approved Notice of Intent to Adopt Clark County School District Policy 5137, Safe and Respectful Learning Environment: Bullying and Cyberbullying

Trustees voted to approve this agenda item with a 6-0 vote with one trustee not present. 

This policy will come back for final ​​approval by the board on Thursday, November 18, 2021. 

Click here to view the reference documents. 

Trustees Postponed the Vote on the 2022-2023 and 2023-2024 School Calendars for Staff and Students

Trustees moved to postpone the vote and did not take action on this agenda item. 

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

  • Concerns over the removal of the week off at Thanksgiving for staff and students. 

Click here, here, here, and here to view reference documents. 

Trustees Postponed the Vote on the ​​2021-2022 School Calendar for Staff

Trustees moved to postpone the vote and did not take action on this agenda item. 

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

  • Support for recognizing Juneteenth as a holiday. 

Click here to view reference documents. 

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

Trustees Heard Presentation and Approved the 2021 Summer Application Cycle for Proposed Charter Schools 

Pursuant to Assembly Bill 462 (2019), the State Public Charter School Authority (SPCSA) must notify the Nevada Department of Education (NDE) when they receive a Notice of Intent to submit an application to operate a charter school, an application to operate a charter school, and a request to amend a charter contract. SPCSA must notify the local school district when they approve an application to operate a charter school or amend a charter contract. 

Applications are assessed under six categories including Demographics, Academic Geographics, Social Emotional, Academic Learning Models, Financial Plan, Successful History. In order to be approved, an application must meet the standard in all six assessment categories. The SPCSA submitted eight applications for the 2021 Summer Application Cycle for CCSD to review and provided an overall rating for each:

  • The Village High School: Does Not Meet 
  • Pioneer Technology and Arts Academy: Does Not Meet 
  • PilotED Schools: Cactus Park Elementary: Does Not Meet 
  • Strong Start Academy Elementary School: Does Not Meet 
  • Rooted School Clark County: Does Not Meet 
  • Young Women’s Leadership Academy of Las Vegas: Does Not Meet 
  • Wallace Stegner Academy of Nevada: Does Not Meet 
  • Virtual Preparatory Academy of Nevada: Does Not Meet 

Over a six-year time period, CCSD anticipates that enrollment may be impacted by approximately 6,710 students if all eight proposed charter schools are approved to operate and reach full enrollment capacity. 

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

  • Concerns that CCSD’s general counsel has connections to the SPCSA. 

Click here to view the presentation. 

Trustees Heard Hearing and Approved Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) between the Clark County School District and the Education Support Employees Association (ESEA) Regarding the Transportation Needs of Students

The MOA addresses transportation needs for students and is designed as an incentive to hire and retain more bus drivers, special education bus drivers, transportation aides for students with special needs, and vehicle maintenance technicians by providing paid training. The MOA also acts as an incentive to every member of ESEA due to a referral system that provides compensation for recruiting support staff professionals for the district. The MOA does not have a financial impact (total cost around $3M) due to the absorption by the current absences of support staff. 

Trustees voted to approve the MOA with a 5-0 vote with one trustee not present and one trustee abstaining. 

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

  • Concerns around the pay rates of support staff in comparison to other roles.
  • An ask that support staff employees be compensated appropriately.  
  • Concerns that students cannot make it to school on time due to transportation issues and the related consequences including lost educational minutes. 

Click here and here to view the reference documents. 

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

Trustees Heard Hearing and Approved the New Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) between the Clark County School District and the Clark County Education Association (CCEA) Regarding the Negotiated Agreement for 2021-2022 and 2022-2023 School Years

This agenda item deals with a Memorandum of Agreement, not a fully negotiated contract. The MOA provides an additional salary of 3% and step increases over the next two years. Staff will receive their additional pay retroactively before Christmas. The MOA address several other issues, including the lower pay rate for extra teaching services (40% increase for these services), additional pay in year two for licensed professionals, and public accountability and presentation of all the facts around the Teachers Health Trust and a start to debt resolution with a hard deadline on paying what is owed for health care. The financial impact of this MOA is $205M. 

Trustees approved the MOA with a 5-0 vote with one trustee not present and one trustee abstaining. 

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

  • Concerns about the time it took to develop this agreement and what led to that lengthy process. 
  • Concerns around the flaws of the proposed contract and lack of accounting for the issues surrounding the Teachers Health Trust (THT). 
  • Concerns around the stresses educators are dealing with this school year. 
  • Concerns around the new incentives for special education teachers and how they will be implemented. 

Click here to view the reference documents. 

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

Trustees Heard Hearing and Approved the 2021-2023 Negotiated Agreement between the Clark County School District and the Clark County Association of School Administrators and Professional-technical Employees. 

This agreement increases pay for administrators (3% increase in year one and column advancement in each year of the contract), clarifies the legal protections from the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and military leave, provides for a 5% increase in health care coverage in year one and two, and grants principals a 12 month contract. The financial impact of this agreement is $11M. 

Trustees approved this agenda item with a 6-0 vote with one trustee not present. 

Click here and here to view the reference documents. 

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

Public Comment on Non-Agenda Items

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

  • Concerns around the Teachers Health Trust (THT). 
  • Concerns around teacher licensure. 
  • Concerns around district COVID-19 testing sites and procedures. 
  • Concerns around who will serve as the interim Superintendent and what the next steps will be for the district.

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Nevada Ed-Watch 10/14/2021

Posted on by Opportunity 180

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.

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.

Thursday, October 14, 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 about the future of the FACES family engagement program and appreciation for the programming. 
  • Concerns about the lack of support for teachers. 
  • Concerns around excessive force by CCSD police and a request to eliminate the use of pepper spray in CCSD schools.
  • Concerns around the CCSD trustee district redistricting process. 
  • Concerns around the plan for sourcing substitute teachers. 
  • Concerns around the district’s COVID-19 tracing policies and other COVID-19 mitigation and safety measures.
  • Concerns around the Teachers Health Trust (THT) and issues educators have been having with the health insurance program. 

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

Consent Agenda Highlights:

Consent agenda passed 7-0 with one trustee voting by phone with the revision of item 3.12 Purchasing Awards, item A deleted. 

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

  • Concerns around the lack of support for educators. 
  • Concerns and questions around the proposed solution and contract for sourcing substitute teachers. 
  • Request for the district to release information regarding the discipline of students. 
  • Questions around the drop in posted vacancies on the CCSD job board. 
  • Appreciation for the offering of telehealth based mental health services for students. 

Trustees Discussed the Open Schools Open Doors Program Policy 

The below reference document, a contract between Clark County and the Clark County School District, was provided as background information on the discussions that occurred in 2019 between the CCSD Board of Trustees and Clark County Board of Commissioners regarding a proposed Open Schools Open Doors program. The purpose of the agreement is for shared use of school buildings and district facilities during non-school hours by members of the community.  This agenda item was proposed after community members expressed interest in revisiting it during Focus on the Future community input sessions. 

The following concerns were raised by trustees about the proposed agreement: safety, cost, personnel, risk of damages, CCSD’s liability, and how CCSD would interact with local municipalities. 

The trustees did not take action on this agenda item, but there was discussion about bringing back this agenda item at a later meeting. No timeline was determined for when to bring the agenda item back. 

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

  • Concerns around the possible risk of damage to facilities and equipment if this policy is approved and the community begins utilizing district schools for programming. 
  • Questions about how the district facilities will be utilized by the community and who will be responsible for maintaining district facilities (staffing concerns) for these community events. 

Click here to view the reference document. 

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

Trustees Approved the 2022 and 2023 CCSD Board of School Trustees Calendar of Board Meetings 

Click here and here to view the reference documents. 

Trustees Heard Presentation on Focus: 2024 Strategic Plan 

Aligned to pre-pandemic practices, CCSD staff provided an update to trustees on progress towards goals outlined in CCSD’s Focus: 2024 Strategic Plan.

Food Service: Foodservice participation was off target due to distance learning, however, the food service department did celebrate several accomplishments during the 2020-21 school year. The district operated 291 food distribution sites, increased production of meals on Friday in order to assist families with weekend nutrition, and served 2.2M meals. 

The food service department plans to utilize the following strategies to work to reach the priorities outlined in Focus: 2024: 

  • Provide additional serving windows and lunch carts.
  • Increase menu choices offered, eliminate low performing options, increase the frequency of popular options, and survey students on the taste and appearance of menu items. 
  • Expand CEP implementation district wide by offering meals at no charge to all CCSD students for at least four years. 

Student Transportation: Transportation priorities outlined below were off target during the 2020-21 school year:  

  • reduce the number of buses placed out-of-service 
  • reduce service delays and
  • reduce bus driver absenteeism to improve service to students and ensure full instructional minutes 

In order to work to meet the above transportation priorities outlined in Focus: 2024, the transportation department plans to implement the following strategies: 

  • Continue to improve efficiency in routing and operations by consolidating some bus routes, collaborating with the Regional Transportation Commission (RTC) to launch the “RTC Ride On” program, and adjust mid-year bell times. 
  • Staff vacant mechanic positions and evaluate the pay range to ensure competitiveness.
  • Continue to expand bus driver attendance initiatives and professional training and create new hire and retention incentives. 

The purchasing department was slightly off target in achieving their priorities during the 2020-21 school year

In order to meet the goals outlined in Focus:2024, the transportation department plans to implement the following strategies: 

  • Work with Teaching and Learning Dept. to identify categories of instructional programs and services for potential competitive opportunities. 
  • Push hard-to-bid items and services to compete with national purchasing cooperative and other government entity contracts.
  • Leverage Ariba catalog system to implement mass catalog uploads from large suppliers and reduce manual line-by-line catalog entry where possible.  
  • Identify catalog alternatives to customers ordering off-contract materials.
  • Increase the catalog utilization by principals to lower costs.

The technology department dealt with issues in reducing the “on-hold” wait time for calls to User Support Help Desk but was able to provide effective and reliable network connectivity for schools and improve business process efficiency related to human capital management. 

In order to work to meet the above technology priorities outlined in Focus: 2024, the technology department plans to implement the following strategies: 

  • Maintain proactive replacement of aging network infrastructure gear and enhanced network monitoring to identify network infrastructure that may be failing. 
  • Evaluate call and ticket data to identify areas of need and adjust support resources to accommodate.
  • Increase self-service ticket avoidance options and technology ticket creation alternatives to reduce call volume, hold time and wait time.  
  • Reclassified technology leadership position to “Chief Information Officer” to better align with the needs of CCSD.

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

  • Concerns about transportation issues, namely bus driver shortages and the partnership with RTC, cutting of programs such as FACES, technology issues, and lack of support for educators. 
  • Questions around how current educators will be retained and future educators will be recruited. 
  • Questions as to whether there will be changes made to the Focus 2024 plan in alignment with new challenges. 
  • Appreciation for the district’s efforts to ensure students had access to food during distance learning. 

Click here to view the presentation. 

Trustees Discussed the Process for Trustee Redistricting, Including the Map Creation Process and Feedback Timeline 

Every 10 years, aligned to the release of new census data, CCSD must re-draw trustee election district boundary lines. The following limitations are defined in Nevada Law: Three factors that had to be considered in drawing the redistricting maps: 

  • The current sitting trustee must be kept in their district. 
  • Contiguous districts must be created, so that there are no breaks between districts. 
  • The population must be balanced within 5% of the county wide average.  

CCSD staff have provided three potential scenarios for redrawing boundary lines for the community and trustees to react to and provide feedback on.  Trustees discussed the process for trustee redistricting, including how the current three maps were constructed, and whether the timeline for feedback can be expedited to allow for additional maps to be created and submitted to the trustees. 

The district shared that no consideration was given to contracting with an outside consultant to draw redistricting maps. CCSD legal counsel confirmed that the three maps created by the district have been vetted for legal compliance. 

Trustee suggestions and requests for redistricting maps included: 

  • t the redistricting process allow for all students to attend high schools in the same district they attended elementary school. 
  • the process for creating new maps (if there is one) needs to be a fair, equitable process where the community is heavily involved, but an excessive amount of maps do not need to be created.o Schedule additional community meetings  to provide more opportunities for members of the public to provide input. 

Following a community meeting on October 19th, trustees directed staff to incorporate public input into the drawing of two additional scenarios.  If necessary, an additional two community meetings will be scheduled in a centrally located area. 

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

  • Concerns around how the three proposed redistricting maps were created. 
  • Concerns about the lack of representation for certain communities, including the Latinx, AAPI, and black communities, in the drawing of the redistricting maps. 
  • Request for additional redistricting maps to be drawn. 

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

Public Comment on Non-Agenda Items

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

  • Concerns around contract negotiations with the bargaining units and the district. 
  • Concerns around violence among students. 
  • Concerns around the district’s vaccine and mask policies. 

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

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Nevada Ed-Watch 9/30/21

Posted on by Opportunity 180

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

Nevada State Board of Education

What is the State Board of Education & what are they responsible for? The Nevada State Board of Education adopts regulations based on Nevada laws, which are passed down to individual school districts in Nevada to implement. The Board has 11 total (7 appointed and 4 publicly elected) members.

How often does the State Board meet? The Nevada State Board of Education meets once per month on Thursdays at 9:00 AM or 2:00 PM. Click here to see the 2021 Board Meeting Schedule. Click here to visit Hope For Nevada’s #NVEd Calendar.

Can community members engage at State Board Meetings? A time for public comment is provided at the beginning (for agenda items) and at the conclusion (on any matter) of each Board meeting. Members of the public may provide public comment in writing via email; public comment will be accepted via email for the duration of the meeting and shared with the State Board of Education during the public comment periods. Public comment may be emailed to NVBoardED@doe.nv.gov.

Click here for a list of all State Board Members.

Thursday, September 30, 2021
Nevada State Board of Education Meeting & Joint Meeting with the Clark County School District Board of Trustees

Click here to see the regular SBOE meeting agenda
Click here to see the joint SBOE & CCSD meeting agenda

What happened at the regular meeting?

Public Comment

Members of the public provided comment regarding:

  • A request to reexamine the per-pupil funding formula for rural schools, specifically around extra funding, due to concerns that funds will be shortened and, as a result, programs will be cut, for rural schools
  • Concerns around how assessment result narratives are presented

President’s Report

President Ebert expressed appreciation for and congratulations to the following Nevada educators recognized as Teachers of the Year in various categories:

  • 2021 History Teacher of the Year
  • 2021 Early Educators of the Year
    • Kaitlin Farley Cortes, a Pre-Kindergarten teacher, and Avis Moore, an infant-toddler teacher, both Washoe County educators, received Nevada’s first-ever award for Early Educator of the Year.
  • 2022 Teacher of the Year
    • Deanne Moyle-Hicks, an educator at Natchez Elementary School in Washoe County School District, was named the 2022 State Teacher of the Year. The mission of the Nevada Teacher of the Year program is to celebrate excellence and strengthen the teaching force by honoring and recognizing exceptional teachers on a school, district, state, and national level. 

Superintendent’s Report

  • COVID-19 Update
    • On September 13, the U.S. Department of Education approved Nevada’s plan for ESEA 2 funds and has released the final one-third of the ARP ESSER dollars to the state.
    • Nevada has been working to maximize and expand existing funding and initiatives. The Nevada Department of Education (NDE) will be allocating $8 million in Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funds to help K-12 public school educators. The funds will be distributed through DonorsChoose and used for classroom resources for teachers and students. This makes Nevada the first state to directly invest in educator projects on DonorsChoose.
  • Pupil-Centered Funding Plan Update
    • Guy Hobbs has been named the new Chair of the Commission on School Funding. Hobbs worked for many years directly in Clark County. The next meeting of the Commission on School Funding is October 8, 2021, at 9:00 am. NDE President Ebert requested that the community bring or submit public comment to the meeting.
  • The U.S. Department of Education has recognized three Nevada schools as National Blue Ribbon Schools for 2021:
    • Frank Lamping ES and Charlotte Hill ES in Clark County for closing the gap.
    • Charlotte Hill Elementary School, Clark County School District, for the “Exemplary Achievement Gap Closing” category
    • Frank Lamping Elementary School, Clark County School District for the “Exemplary Achievement Gap Closing” category
    • Pinecrest Academy of Nevada Inspirada, State Public Charter School Authority, for the  “Exemplary High Performing Schools” category.

Board Heard Presentation on State Assessment Results for the 2020-21 School Year

The Board heard a presentation regarding data from the statewide summative assessments that were administered during the 2020-21 school year, including Smart Balance Assessment (SBAC) and ACT results including:

  • Grade 3-8 students in English Languish Arts & Mathematics
  • ACT, 11th grade
  • English Language Arts & Mathematics for all high school students

The  2018-19 school year was the last school year for a normal assessment cycle. In accordance with the U.S. Department of Education ESEA waiver, assessments were not administered for the 2019-2020 school year and certain accountability requirements were also waived for the 2021-2022 school year in response to the COVID 19 pandemic. Specifically for the 20202-2021 school year, federal accountability and the 95% assessment participation mandates were waived, but states were asked to administer federal assessments. NDE reported the largest drop in assessment participation by Pacific Islander, Hispanic, and Black students. Assessment participation and percentages are impacted, in part, by a decrease in population size.

Note: The most recent year of complete and normal assessment testing cyicle is the 2018-2019 school year. In the updates below, “when compared to the most recent year of testing” refers to the 2018-2019 school year. The following SBAC proficiency rate trends compare results from the 2018-2019 reporting year and the 2020-2021 reporting year.

SBAC English Language Arts (ELA) Proficiency Rate Trends, Grades Grades 3-8

  • Average: ELA showed consistent average growth of 1.3 percentage points. The current rate represents just over 68% of students during the pandemic year.
  • Proficiency: Proficiency rates for the 2020-2021 school year are much lower compared to SY 2018-2019. The largest decreases are among Pacific Islander, Hispanic, and White students. 
  • Student groups: Student groups performed lower when compared to the most recent year of complete testing. Students with disabilities are relatively low, with only a 0.5% drop during the pandemic year.
  • Grade level comparison: There is a greater decrease among elementary grades with less impact on students in grades 6-8.

SBAC Mathematics Proficiency Rate Trends

  • Average: Assessment results reveal an 11.2%  percentage point decrease, with just over 68% of students tested during the pandemic year.
  • Proficiency: Proficiency is much lower when compared to the most recent year of testing. The largest decreases in proficiency are among Pac Islander, Asian, and White students.
  • Student Groups: Students with disabilities have a smaller impact between the two reporting years.
  • Grade level comparison: Results for elementary school students showed a greater decrease, with lower impact in middle school grades 7 & 8.

ACT Results

ACT is Nevada’s federally reported high school English Language Arts (ELA) and Math assessment. Participation in the ACT is a graduation requirement per Nevada Revised Statutes. The ACT was administered to all grade 11 students in the 2019-2020 school year prior to pandemic-related school building closures. NDE was thus able to compare results between the 2019-2020 school year and the 2020-2021 school year. 

High School English Language Arts (HS ELA)

  • Average: ACT data for 2020-2021 represents HS ELA proficiency only rather than proficiency and participation. HS ELA proficiency showed a 2.1% increase during the 2020-2021 pandemic school year. HS ELA proficiency dropped 2.1% in 2020-2021, compared to 2019-2020.
  • Race/Ethnicity: The proficiency rate for Asian students increased. The greatest decreases in HS ELA proficiency results among Pacific Islander, Hispanic, and Black students as well as students identifying as Two or More Races. Black students had to smallest decrease in HS ELA proficiency.
  • Student Groups:  English Learners showed the greatest decrease in HS ELA proficiency.

HS School Mathematics (HS Math)

  • Average: HS Math showed consistent average growth from 2017-2018 to 2019-2020. For the 2020-2021 school year, proficiency decreased by 3.4%.
  • Race/Ethnicity: The greatest decrease in math proficiency was among Asian students who dropped 5.2% points, followed by Two or More Races and White students. Pacific Islander, Black, and American Indian students show the smallest decrease in HS Math proficiency.
  • Student Groups: There is an overall decrease in HS Math proficiency. Students identified as economically disadvantaged showed the greatest decrease.

Presenters noted that participation assessment rates in Clark County, the largest school district in Nevada, were low due to remote learning since tests must be administered in person.

Board members expressed concern about how to interpret the results as many students were not in school buildings and therefore were not available to take tests in person. The board also expressed concerns regarding gaps in the data due to students that were not assessed; requests for more disaggregated data around proficiency, such as a comparison of students proficient before the pandemic year compared to the current school year; concerns about inequity related to the lower test participation rates for Black and other student groups; and concerns about low test scores in some of the assessment criteria. 

Click here to view the SBAC Assessment Results presentation.

Board Approved Teach Nevada Scholarship Awards

The Teach Nevada Scholarship (TNVS) was created in the State General Fund during the 78th Legislative Session (2015) via Senate Bill 511 and is codified in NRS 391A.550 – NRS 391A.590. The scholarship program was continued and slightly modified in the 80th Legislative Session (2019) through appropriations in Senate Bill 555 and Assembly Bill 219. The purpose of TNVS is to provide scholarships to new students pursuing initial teacher licensure programs through state-approved universities, colleges, or alternative routes to licensure (ARL) providers. Awards are granted by the State Board of Education to the extent that money is available within the Fund. 

The Board approved 250 Teach Nevada Scholarship Awards per the Cohort 2022 Table:

Click here to view the TEACH Nevada Scholarship presentation.

Future Agenda Items

Board members requested training for new board members to understand their roles as well as orientations for new board members to meet with key members of departments within the NDE to build relationships.

What happened at the Joint meeting?

Public Comment #1

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

  • Concerns about staff outsourcing.
  • The need for thoughtful consideration around how unused funds are reallocated as carryover dollars and concerns around how those dollars will be used.
  • The need to clarify ambiguous terms in the reorganization plan, such as “to the greatest extent.”
  • Concerns that the school district is not upholding its requirement to select effective licensed staff policies as outlined in AB469.
  • Concerns about the morale of CCSD staff
  • Concerns about the lack of focus on the needs of students, impacts, and improving outcomes for students.
  • Lack of care or concern by teachers toward students, classes with a lot of subs, lack of communication by teachers to families unless there is a challenge in the classroom.
  • Support and appreciation for SOTs
  • Concerns about whether new principals are sufficiently well-trained to lead schools with high ELL student populations.

Board Discussed the Implementation of Assembly Bill 459 (2017) in First-ever State Board of Education & CCSD Joint Board Meeting

Assembly Bill 469 (2017) required the implementation of a plan to reorganize Clark County School District following the passage of Assembly Bill 394 (2015) which provides principals with increased autonomy over schools and budgets. 

The State Superintendent of Public Instruction was given specific authority over monitoring the implementation of the reorganization. 

At the State Board of Education meeting held on April 15, 2021, the Board discussed components of the implementation plan to be addressed by CCSD as well as problems to be solved by CCSD related to specific criteria. Initial concerns related to the implementation of the bill included how CCSD was facilitating the placement of licensed and qualified teachers in vacant classrooms; purchasing of equipment, services, and supplies; and school carry forward of year‐end balances, in alignment with AB 469. 

In a first-ever joint board meeting between the State Board of Education (SBOE) and Clark County School District (CCSD), SBOE board members and CCSD trustees met to discuss the history of the bill, implementation concerns, implementation items to be resolved, and how to ensure the bill’s successful implementation. 

SBOE is currently reviewing the following items:

  • Principals are reporting they are not being provided with authority as outlined in NAC 388G.110-140 related to Service Level Agreements or the option/ability to carry out transferred responsibilities.
  • Clarification of the definition of “to the greatest extent possible.”
  • Clarification of the definition of “in good standing.”

SBOE is currently monitoring the following items to be resolved by CCSD:

  • Pla​​cement of Licensed and Qualified Teachers and authority to select staff.
  • Negotiating collective bargaining agreements with Clark County Education Association and Education Support Employees Association that are consistent with the law.
  • Addressing the Service Level Agreement (SLA) process in order to provide principals and SOTs with true authority to carry out responsibilities as outlined in NAC 388G.110-140.
  • Authority for purchasing of equipment, services, and supplies.
  • Defining “to the greatest extent possible” and “in good standing.”

CCSD Update on the Current State of the Reorganization

CCSD staff shared an update on the Report on the Organization of the Clark County School District.

Under NRS 388G.810, on or before October 1 of each year, superintendents of large school districts are required to prepare a report with information from the school year before the immediately preceding school year which includes:

  • A summary of the responsibilities for which authority to carry out was transferred to the local school precincts pursuant to NRS 388G.610
  • A summary of the results of the surveys administered pursuant to NRS 388G.800
  • An assessment of the performance of the local school precincts based upon specific measures of achievement which are established by the superintendent on or before January 1 of the immediately preceding school year
  • An assessment of the effectiveness of operating local school precincts and the large school district in the manner set forth in NRS 388G.500 to 388G.810
  • Any recommendations for regulations or legislation to improve the operation of the local school precincts and the large school district in the manner set forth in NRS 388G.500 to 388G.810, inclusive.

During the response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the implementation of full-time distance education and the subsequent return to face-to-face instruction, the District did not produce a report by October 1, 2020. Therefore, CCSD’s report also includes information from the 2018-2019 school year.

CCSD has analyzed AB 469 and shared their findings related to each section, provided in the Report on the Organization of the Clark County School District.

The State Board President shared that the State Board’s goal is to help CCSD achieve the full implementation of the bill; support with clarity, ambiguity, and language; mend the relationship between CCSD Trustees & SBOE; and prevent failure of the implementation.

CCSD Trustees and board members discussed the need to understand what is and isn’t working regarding SOTs. Trustees welcomed thorough training and oversight by the SBOE.

Click here to view the AB469 presentation. 

Click here to view the Report on the Organization of the Clark County School District.


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