Tag: food service

Nevada Ed Watch 10/17/19

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 5pm at the Edward A. Greer Education Center (Board Room): 2832 E. Flamingo Road, 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. Community members can sign up to speak after the agenda has been posted– by calling the Board Office at (702) 799-1072 at least 3 hours before the scheduled meeting, or signing up in-person at the beginning of the meeting. Prior to each agenda item being voted on, speakers can share their perspective after the Board’s discussion and prior to the vote.

Thursday, October 17, 2019

Clark County School District Board of Trustees Meeting

Click here to see the meeting agenda

What happened at this meeting?

Public Comment

Members of the public provided testimony to Trustees regarding:

  • Concerns about substitute teacher shortages
  • Teachers, staff, and parents at Global Community High School expressed concerns about a lack of updates regarding a new school facility
  • Gratitude for Trustees and CCSD staff for addressing support staff concerns at previous board meetings in a timely manner

Trustees Approved the Consent Agenda

Consent Agenda highlights:

  • Contract with Columbus Education Services for school psychology services
  • Fees for taking the International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma Exam and Advanced Placement (AP) tests to be covered by CCSD

Trustees Heard a Presentation about the 2018-2019 Nevada Educator Performance Framework (NEPF)

The annual performance of teachers and school administrators is measured by the Nevada Educator Performance Framework. Performance is measured against the three (3) categories listed below, varying by “weight,” or how much a categories will impact the overall rating. 

  • Instructional Practice Standards and Indicators
    • 2018-2019 weight: 45%
    • Updated 2019-2020 weight: 65%
  • Professional Responsibilities Standards and Indicators
    • 2018-2019 weight: 15%
    • Updated 2019-2020 weight: 20%
  • Student Performance
    • 2018-2019 weight: 40%
    • Updated 2019-2020 weight: 15%

Based on total scores in the above categories, teachers and school administrators are ranked overall as:

  • Highly Effective
  • Effective
  • Developing
  • Ineffective

Teachers and school administrators that have already received a rating of Highly Effective for the two previous consecutive years are exempt from evaluation (in accordance with NRS 391.690).

Teacher 2018-2019 NEPF Results

  • Exempt: 1% (209)
  • Highly Effective: 15%  (2,330)
  • Effective: 82% (12,380)
  • Developing: >1% (141)
  • Ineffective: >1% (24)

School Administrator 2018-2019 NEPF Results

  • Exempt: 2% (21)
  • Highly Effective: 23% (205)
  • Effective: 75% (684)
  • Developing: 0% (0)
  • Ineffective: 0% (0)

Trustees and the Superintendent discussed shifting towards a growth mindset to ensure the NEPF is an effective tool for teacher and school administrator development.

Click here to see the presentation.

Trustees Approved Funding School Building Improvements

Funds approved to go towards school building improvements totaled $112 million, which has no impact on the CCSD operating budget.

The funds will be used to address the following at schools:

  • Playground equipment and safety surface replacements (PESSR)
  • Carpet and flooring replacements
  • Field turf replacements and ancillary field equipment upgrades, such as field lighting improvement projects for energy efficiency savings
  • Asphalt replacements
  • Rooftop heating, ventilation, and air conditioning unit replacements (HVAC)
  • Emergency Management System upgrades

Trustees requested information about which schools are receiving improvements, and in which order.

Trustees Approved Updates to the Food Service Policy

Click here to see the updated policy.

Trustees Approved Updates to the School Naming Policy (4-1)

The new policy addresses the renaming of schools under special circumstances.

Click here to see the updated policy.

Trustees Adopted a New Process for Evaluating the Superintendent

Overview of the process for evaluating the Superintendent: 

  • Superintendent completes a self-evaluation
  • Each Trustee holds an individual meeting with the Superintendent and completes an evaluation.
    • Trustees are not permitted to discuss or share their evaluation notes with one another.
    • Individual Trustee’s preliminary evaluation notes will be shared with the Superintendent and other Trustees at the same time that it is released to the public.
    • Each Trustee has the right to change their evaluation notes based on discussion and input from constituents. 
  • Trustees will discuss the Superintendent’s evaluation at the December 5th board meeting. The Board of Trustees will complete a self-evaluation at this meeting.

Click here to see the Superintendent Evaluation policy.

Click here to see the Board Evaluation policy. 

Trustee reports:

  • Trustees have the opportunity to complete additional credits for their mandatory Professional Development hours at an upcoming National Association of School Boards (NASB) meeting in November.
  • Trustee Young announced that the Las Vegas Book Festival is on Saturday, October 19th from 9am-6pm.
  • Trustees are conducting the Community Linkage Meeting on November 4th or 6th, which is an annual meeting with Native American Community– at the Las Vegas Paiute Reservation.
  • Evaluation of the Superintendent will take place at the December 5th board meeting
  • January 24th is the Board Retreat. Trustees will discuss improving the Superintendent evaluation process and finalizing 2020 evaluation metrics.

Requests for Future Agenda Items:

  • Race and ethnicity breakdowns among CCSD teachers, administrators, and staff 
  • Discussion about the magnet school eligibility expansion and student recruitment, specifically for elementary students going into middle school magnet programs
  • Protocol for terminating or demoting staff
  • Process for becoming a substitute teacher
  • Update on what local higher education institutions are doing to contribute to addressing teacher shortages
  • Review of policies for service and emotional support animals in schools

Sign up to receive a notification when a new Ed-Watch post is published:

Nevada Ed-Watch 9/26/19

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 5pm at the Edward A. Greer Education Center (Board Room): 2832 E. Flamingo Road, 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. Community members can sign up to speak after the agenda has been posted– by calling the Board Office at (702) 799-1072 at least 3 hours before the scheduled meeting, or signing up in-person at the beginning of the meeting. Prior to each agenda item being voted on, speakers can share their perspective after the Board’s discussion and prior to the vote.

Thursday, September 26, 2019

Clark County School District Board of Trustees Meeting

Click here to see the meeting agenda

What happened at this meeting?

Public Comment

Members of the public provided testimony to Trustees regarding:

  • Concerns about students not getting enough physical activity, recess, and restroom breaks throughout the school day
  • Concerns about school safety and controlled access to school buildings
  • Appreciation for the district from a representative of the Education Support Employees Association (ESEA) for hearing support staff concerns while a Memorandum of Understanding was developed
  • Concerns about a student getting expelled for bringing foam toy nunchucks to school
  • Concerns about the process for hiring educators
  • Difficulty accessing pre-K for students who are not English Language Learners 
  • Concerns about a lack of training and professional development for support staff

Trustees Heard Updates on CCSD Focus 2024 Priorities

Below is a summary of the updates presented to Trustees related to the priorities of the CCSD strategic plan (Focus 2024).

Click here to see CCSD’s Focus 2024 online dashboard.

Teachers, Principals and Staff: Human Resources

  • Objective 1: Increase the percentage of licensed teachers in the classroom. 
    • Goal (2019-20): 100% 
    • Actual (2018-19): 95.4%
    • By 2024: 100%
  • Objective 2: Increase the number of qualified teachers recruited for the selection pool. 
    • Goal (2019-20): 3,649
    • Actual (2018-19): 3,098
    • By 2024: 3,649
  • Objective 3: Increase the percentage of Critical Labor Shortage support professionals hired and decrease the number of vacancies.
    • Goal (2019-20): 0
    • Actual (2018-19): 145
    • By 2024: 0

Click here to see the Human Resources presentation.

Members of the public provided testimony regarding funding for teacher pay and benefits to attract and retain teachers. Trustees discussed capturing teacher attrition data through an exit survey process. Trustees also discussed focusing on areas like school culture and professional development to support educator retention. 

Sound Fiscal Management: Out-of-Service Buses and Bus Driver Absenteeism

  • Objective 1: Reduce number of buses placed out-of-service to reduce service delays.
    • Goal (2019-20): 21%
    • Actual (2018-19): 19% 
    • By 2024: 3%
  • Objective 2: Reduce bus driver absenteeism to improve service to students and ensure full instructional minutes.
    • Goal (2019-20): 10%
    • Actual (2018-19): 14.3% 
    • By 2024: 8%

Click here to see the Bus Service & Driver Absenteeism presentation. 

Approaches to prevent chronic absenteeism of bus drivers included:

  • Recognizing employees quarterly for perfect attendance
  • Educating drivers and staff about how student achievement is impacted by their attendance.
  • To reduce driver absenteeism caused by health-related matters, the transportation department also implemented health and prevention initiatives, such as partnering with Medicine on the Move (over 118 transportation employees received treatment so far). 

Sound Fiscal Management: Purchasing

  • Objective 1: Decrease processing time, reduce costs, and increase the competitive procurement ratio. 
    • Goal (2019-20): 80%
    • Actual (2018-19): 91%
    • By 2024: 95%
  • Objective 2: Reduce requisition processing time by increasing SAP catalog utilization to 70% within the next five years.
    • Goal (2019-20): 60%
    • Actual (2018-19): 71%
    • By 2024: 70%

Click here to see the Purchasing presentation.

Trustees discussed direct, school-level purchasing versus centralized purchasing. Centralizing purchasing for the district tends to be more cost-effective.

Trustees Approved the Consent Agenda

Consent agenda highlights:

Trustees Heard a Presentation on the Eide Bailly Internal Controls Exam Report

A representative of Eide Bailly’s forensic department presented an overview of its report of CCSD’s Internal Controls examination. 

The primary examination method used was holding interviews with 409 CCSD employees within various business and finance units as well as some schools. 

Following the interviews, 13 recommendations were made for the district. 

Click here to see an executive summary outlining the 13 recommendations.

Click here to see the full report.

Trustees discussed staff training to ensure school-level compliance with updated policies and procedures. A request was made for Trustees to receive regular updates on each recommendation.

Trustees Heard a Presentation on Open Book Website

Open Book makes CCSD financial information easily accessible to the public. 

The Open Book website includes access to external audit results, the final budget of the fiscal year, and videos explaining topics related to the District’s finances. The site also has tools that show strategic budgets by school and accounts payable (payments to vendors).

There will be a Facebook Live video walk-through of Open Book on October 8th from 4:00-6:00 PM. 

Click here to see the presentation.

Click here to go to Open Book.

Trustees Approved a Memorandum of Agreement (MOU) Between CCSD and the Education Support Employees Association (ESEA)

One member of the public provided testimony in support of increased pay for support staff.

The agreement includes a 3% salary increase and a waiver for required fingerprinting costs.

The ESEA requested time to communicate the contract terms to the employees that will be impacted. Trustees approved the 2019-2021 MOU pending ratification. Once the ratification vote is made, it was requested that the pay increases be reflected in pay checks as soon as possible.

Click here to see the tentative agreement. 

Trustees Approved Changes to Food Service Programs Regulations

Trustees approved minor language updates to the Food Service Programs regulations. 

Click here to see the regulations.

Trustees Approved Changes to the School Facilities Naming Regulations (6-1 vote)

Trustees approved updates to the School Facilities Naming policy regulations. An eligible school that chooses to be renamed must conduct a survey of employees and families. At least 50% of the surveys must be returned, and greater than 50% of the surveys returned must agree to renaming the school.

Trustees approved the changes with a request for clarification that additional community input outside of the school community can be gathered for consideration, but will not be counted towards the 50% survey requirement. It was also requested to include examples of types of stakeholders that input could be gathered from. 

Click here to see the regulations.

Trustees Approved Changes to the 2021-2022 School Year Calendars for Students and Staff (5-2 vote)

The most significant change was related to how professional development is accounted for. Beginning in the 2016-2017 school year, schools were permitted to bank time for professional development in more flexible and frequent increments. Site-based collaboration was able to be banked and later utilized as time off during the week of Thanksgiving. This approach was approved by the Department of Education through the 2019-2020 school year. 

For the 2021-2022 school year, the Monday and Tuesday of Thanksgiving week are now in-school days, and there are four days spread out throughout the year that are dedicated to professional development.

Members of the public expressed concerns about:

  • Student absenteeism the week of Thanksgiving due to travel schedules
  • Students and staff having the full week of Thanksgiving dedicated to spending time with families.
  • A disproportionate amount of work days being taken away from 9-month support staff. 

Contingency days were also set for March 9th, April 13th, and May 21st. 

The calendar was informed by a committee consisting of over 25 stakeholders including principals, counselors, and other staff from other departments such as transportation and HR.

Click here to see the draft calendar for students and staff.

Trustees Approved Renaming Lomie G. Heard Elementary School, A Marzano Academy, to Lomie G. Heard Elementary School

The name change was to remove the “Marzano Academy” component of the name, since the school’s contract with Marzano is no longer active. 

Trustee Reports:

  • Trustee Wright hosted a Facebook Live parent meeting as a way to be more accessible to parents who cannot attend meetings at set times in person. 
  • Trustee Young announced an upcoming Cultural Food Festival for families in partnership with Vegas PBS this Fall. Additionally, October 18-19th is the Las Vegas Book Festival.
  • Trustee Ford holds monthly parent meetings and live stream videos on topics such as navigating meeting agendas. 
  • Cepeda announced that FAFSA releases on October 1st. 
  • NABSA strategic planning Friday and Sat to discuss collaboration throughout the stat and advocating for common sense policies.
  • Trustee Brooks served on a panel for Opportunity 180 that also included Superintendents Ebert and Jara, J.T. McWilliams Principal Womack, Caryne Shea from HOPE for Nevada– to talk about what it would take to make some systemic changes to focus on student outcomes. 
  • Trustee Young expressed concerns about 3 school principals that were removed for not meeting student growth benchmarks. 

Sign up to receive a notification when a new Ed-Watch post is published:

Nevada Ed Watch 7/11/19

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 5pm at the Edward A. Greer Education Center (Board Room): 2832 E. Flamingo Road, 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. Community members can sign up to speak after the agenda has been posted– by calling the Board Office at (702) 799-1072 at least 3 hours before the scheduled meeting, or signing up in-person at the beginning of the meeting. Prior to each agenda item being voted on, speakers can share their perspective after the Board’s discussion and prior to the vote.

Thursday, July 11, 2019

Clark County School District Board of Trustees Meeting

Click here to see the meeting agenda

What happened at this meeting?

Public Comment

Members of the public provided testimony both in support and opposition of the decision to eliminate the dean position in the Clark County School District.

Trustees Unanimously Approved the Consent Agenda

Consent agenda highlights:

Trustees and CCSD leadership also discussed accountability and a plan to scale the success of the eight middle schools that were designated as Innovative Schools.

Click here to learn more and see a full list of Innovative Schools.

Trustees Approved CCSD’s Annual Membership with the Nevada Association of School Boards

Trustees approved the annual fee for the Clark County School District to be a member of the Nevada Association of School Boards. Total membership cost was $29,874.23.  

Trustees Heard a Presentation on the Qualitative Budget Forecast

The presentation, led by CCSD’s Chief Financial Officer, covered the current budget forecast and a review of recent financial information.

Click here to see the presentation. 

Trustees Discussed the Decision to Eliminate the Dean Position

Trustees heard from members of the public both in support and in opposition of the decision to eliminate the dean position.

Specifically, members of the public provided testimony regarding:

  • Calling for teachers and administrators to work together to advocate for more funding at the county and state level
  • Requesting a forensic audit of the CCSD budget
  • Looking for other ways for the district to acquire more money

Trustees clarified that money could not come from the ending fund balance, and that they could not postpone the cuts until next year. 

Trustees did not vote on this decision because they do not have the authority to overrule, per board policy. However, Superintendent Jara committed to working with his cabinet and principals, with public input in mind, to identify alternative cost saving strategies. 

Click here to read about this in the Nevada Independent.

Trustees Approved a Partnership with Acceleration Learning

Acceleration Learning provides academic programming and support for students who have dropped out, so they can receive a high school diploma. Board discussion addressed concerns about staffing the program with out-of-state personnel, ensuring funding transparency, and getting clarification on enrollment expectations.

Click here to learn more about Acceleration Learning. 

Trustees Heard a Presentation on the CCSD K-12 Student Code of Conduct

The Equity and Diversity Education Department provided information to Trustees related to student discipline and an analysis of cultural inclusivity in schools. 

Click here to view the presentation

Click here to see the Culturally Inclusive School Analysis.

Trustees Heard a Presentation About Food Service 

The presentation was about increased participation and improved quality in meal services, which is part of the CCSD Focus 2024 strategic plan.

Click here to see the presentation.

Trustees Approve a Customer Service Agreement with Nevada Energy

Trustees approved a customer service agreement with NV Energy, who proposed an incentive program to retain CCSD as a full service customer over a five year term.

Click here to see the agreement.

Sign up to receive a notification when a new Ed-Watch post is published: