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, February 14, 2019
Clark County School District Board of Trustees Meeting
Click here to see the meeting agenda
What happened at this meeting?
Trustees Unanimously Approve the Consent Agenda
Consent Agenda Highlights:
- Contract approval to demolish old Bishop Gorman campus on Maryland Parkway to allow for building of new facility for Global Community High School.
- MOU between CCSD and Jewish Family Services Agency to implement a Foster Grandparent Program.
- Approval of a $1.2 million settlement to three families. No further details are provided. Click here to read about this in the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
Trustees Adopt Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) Assessment for Grades K-8 to be Administered Three (3) Times Per Year
Trustees voted to approve a contract to administer the Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) assessment for all students in Kindergarten through 8th Grade three times per year.
Teachers will receive professional development and training in test administration, data analysis, communicating with students about their progress.
The MAP assessment will takes 1-2% of instructional time to implement (98% of instructional minutes are not spent on testing).
Trustees noted in the discussion that this assessment data will follow kids if they move schools, and expressed support following conversations with teachers and principals.
Policy Language Updates
Trustees accepted $1,000 for the Board’s annual Susan Brager Occupational Education Scholarship.
Minor updates were made to two policies (click to see the updated policy language):
Trustees vote 6-1 to approve an MOU with Clark County to Discuss the Shared Use of Outdoor Spaces on School Properties for Events
The MOU will allow CCSD to engage in discussion with the County to implement a small pilot program of 5 schools to test sharing outdoor spaces on school property for use by the County. CCSD acknowledges that use of these spaces must be unique to each school in order to address safety and other concerns, rather than implementing uniform rules for all school involved. Some schools already have facilities use agreements with the community, and the superintendent stated that this would be a formalization of that process.
The district has set aside $35,000 to support the pilot program. Funds are set aside to cover any potential damages, and to provide stipends to schools for employees to conduct paid duties such as lock/unlock gates and/or supervise activities.
There were a number of concerns addressed by Trustees, based on conversations with principals and other staff. Those concerns included:
- Supervision
- Scheduling
- Liability
- Damage
- Trash
- Maintenance/upkeep of land
- Safety
Supt. Jara assured Trustees that each of these issues will be addressed on a school by school basis.
Five (5) Trustees voted to move forward under the conditions that principals are heavily involved in the process, and that Trustees remain informed about discussions and progress.
Public Comment:
- Member of the public hopes that West Las Vegas will be included, stating that there are few fields and parks to access in the neighborhood.
- Principal requested that the MOU not be signed in order to allow for more time to gather input from principals.
Click here to see the MOU.
Trustee Reports
Trustees voted unanimously on staff recommendations to reconstitute, including receivership, due to chronic low performance at two charter schools authorized by CCSD: 100 Academy of Excellence (Elementary School and Middle School) and The Delta Academy (Middle School and High School).
- The Florence McClure women’s prison program has started. Click here to see a summary of the November 8th, 2018 Trustees meeting, when they heard a presentation about the program.
- Harvard Doctoral Students in the Educational Leadership program students are studying magnet school diversity, improving recruitment and retention of students to magnet schools, the district reorganization, and Social Emotional Learning. They will provide Trustees with a report including the best research on these topics.
- Strategic reallocation of Title I funding: Superintendent Jara provided an overview of the strategic decision to shift the Title I funding eligibility from 40% to 60% FRL. The superintendent stated that the historical 40% allocation diluted resources and limited opportunities to intensify resources where they are needed most. States across the country place the requirement at 75%. Trustee concerns were raised about changing the requirement, but the discussion was tabled because it was not an agenda item.
- New regional superintendents introduced themselves. Click here to read about this in the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
Public Comment:
Members of the public provided testimony to Trustees regarding:
- Member of support staff thanked CCSD employees who helped resolve a previously raised concern, and Superintendent Jara for hearing from support staff and working on solutions to issues that impact them.
- Parent expressed concerns about a child’s exposure to mace at school, resulting in an ER visit and $10,000 in medical bills. The parent alleged that the police report was falsified.
- Concern about employees affected by the adjustment to Title I funding eligibility– from serving student populations of 40% poverty to 60% poverty.
- Community member expressed the need for more African American representation on committees that the Board of Trustees are appointed to.
- Educator expressed support of increased per-pupil funding, hopes to see Trustees advocate for it at the legislature.
- Concerns about the lack of diversity among the CCSD leadership team.
- Educator requests Trustees lobby for changes to the Nevada star rating system to alter how school performance is measured.
Potential Future Items:
- Discuss alignment between new regional superintendents and the district reorganization.