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, April 16, 2020
Clark County School District Board of Trustees Emergency Meeting
Click here to see the meeting agenda & Addendum
What happened at this meeting?
Public Comment
Members of the public submitted testimony online regarding:
- Concerns about the safety of students and faculty due to coronavirus (COVID-19)
- Concerns about salaries and health benefits for substitute teachers
- Concerns about the impact of COVID-19 closures on employee compensation
- Support for closing schools through the rest of the school year
- Concerns about the transition to distance education
Consent Agenda Highlights:
- The purchase of 46,000 educational computers for $13.1 million.
- $200,000 contract for the Public Education Foundation Teacher Leader Academy. As a condition of approval, trustees requested an MOU that includes measurable outcomes of the program, aligned to the Nevada Educator Performance Framework (NEPF) and the Focus 2024 strategic plan.
- $125,749.00 to the Las Vegas Review Journal, Inc for legal fees associated with a lawsuit regarding public records.
Trustees Denied the Extension of Emergency Authority for the Superintendent (5-0-2)
At the March 23rd board meeting, trustees approved a limited Grant of Authority permitting Superintendent Jara to approve contracts and purchase items that are essential to the operation of the District during COVID-19 school closures. This request would extend the emergency Grant of Authority through April 30th. Two trustees abstained from the vote, and five trustees voted against the extension.
Click here to see the resolution.
Click here to read about this in The Nevada Independent.
Trustees Heard Updates about the District’s Response to COVID-19
Presentation Highlights:
- CCSD has implemented three different modalities for students to engage in distance education: online learning, paper work packets that can be accessed at food distribution sites, and educational TV programming through Vegas PBS. During the week of March 30th, 258,361 students were engaged in some form of distance learning. There are about 325,000 students enrolled in CCSD schools.
- CCSD is encouraging parents to reach out to their child’s school counselor for resources on how to talk to their kids about COVID-19.
- CCSD is implementing two-way communication between teachers and families to track attendance. Parents who have not heard from their school are encouraged to call the school.
- 55,000 Chromebooks have been deployed to middle and high school students. 145,000 additional Chromebooks are in the process of being distributed to elementary school students.
- Considerations for the upcoming school year include exploring opportunities for summer learning, as well as front-loading quarter 4 academic content to the beginning of the 2020-2021 school year. District staff are also developing a balanced assessment system for the upcoming school year, and considering administering MAP Growth assessments (grades 3-8) to measure academic progress.
Click here to see the presentation.
Trustees Approved Collective Bargaining Agreements
Trustees approved agreements with the Education Support Employees Association (ESEA) and the Clark County Educators Association (CCEA) that temporarily allows employees to “donate” unused sick leave to other employees impacted by COVID-19. Additionally, Trustees approved additional pay for ESEA support staff who worked during the first week of closures (3/15/20 through 3/21/20). Additional pay will also be extended to employees that volunteered to work during closures and those who are actively serving the public, such as food service and custodial workers. The total cost of these agreements is $800,000.00.
Click here to see the ESEA additional pay agreement.
Click here to see the ESEA sick leave agreement.
Click here to see the CCEA sick leave agreement.
Superintendent Communications
Superintendent Jara has met with high school seniors, and is scheduled to meet with high school principals to make a determination about graduation for the class of 2020. The district will continue to provide information with families regarding any action taken in response to the coronavirus.
Requests for Future Agenda Items:
- A memo that outlines the financial impact of COVID-19 on the district.