Tag: legacy project

Nevada Ed Watch 5/9/19

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, May 9, 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:

  • Request for support of infrastructure improvements at the Las Vegas Academy of the Arts
  • Concerns about bullying in schools, working conditions for educators, and demotions for support staff
  • Concerns about School Organization Teams (SOTs) and parent voices not being heard in school hiring decisions, as well as the process for informing the school community about leadership changes

Trustees Unanimously Approved the Consent Agenda

Consent agenda highlights:

  • Agreement between CCSD and Alexander Dawson Foundation to provide a summer program and year-long mentorship for students.
  • Authorization to apply for the Indian Education Program, to provide American Indian and Alaska Native students with the opportunity to meet the same challenging state standards as all other students.

Click here to see the full consent agenda.

Trustees Approved Removing the E-2: Student Learning Governance Policy

The E-2: Student Learning policy relates to identifying strategies to improve student learning. This policy is being removed because the active Focus 2024 strategic plan addresses this.

Click here to see an overview of the policy.

Click here to see more details about the policy.

Trustees Heard a Presentation on the CCSD Balanced Assessment System

The Balanced Assessment System Framework outlines both formative assessments (that take place during learning) and summative assessments to measure learning over time.

Next school year, CCSD will be implementing the Northwest Evaluation Association (NWEA) MAP to measure growth of students in grades Kinder-9th in math, reading, and science. NWEA MAP is a nationally-normed growth assessment that measures what students know and informs what they’re ready to learn next.

Training  will be provided to educators to support the implementation of the MAP Growth Assessment.

The NWEA MAP assessment is also available in Spanish, which will be piloted next school year. There are also discussions underway to make the SAT assessment available in Spanish.

Click here to see the presentation.

Trustees Heard Legislative Updates

Trustees heard the following updates on legislation that CCSD is tracking:

  • CCSD Budget: Superintendent Jara has been in conversations with Governor Sisolak and Speaker Frierson about CCSD, the Governor’s office, and legislative leadership working in partnership.
  • Funding formula: Superintendent Jara expressed being encouraged by the work led by Senator Denis and Senator Woodhouse on the funding formula. The Governor’s office is seeking revenue sources across all agencies that can be reallocated to support education.
  • Fingerprinting (SB 185): This bill specifies that only the volunteers who will be unsupervised with students at schools are required to be fingerprinted.

Trustees Approved School Facility Name Changes

Trustees approved each of  the following name change requests:

  • Claude & Stella Parson Elementary School changed to Claude H. and Stella M. Parson
  • The 200s Hall at Lied STEM Academy changed to The Builder’s Hall by Nevada’s Contractors
  • The Library at Shelley Berkley Elementary School was named The George Levine Memorial Library

Trustees Discussed Updates to the School Naming Policy

Trustees discussed proposed updates to the school naming policy, including revised language around what could trigger the renaming of a school. Updates will also allow name change requests by elementary and middle schools whose names include a geographic reference or a historical figure.

Trustees provided feedback on the proposed policy that will be incorporated to the policy and brought back to the board for approval

Click here to see the policy (updates are on page 5).

Trustee Reports

Trustees reported on committee meetings, events, or activities they have attended since the last regular Board meeting:

  • Attended Vegas PBS’ interactive education tech experience at the Las Vegas Science & Technology Festival. Vegas PBS is also hosting a tech workshop on May 18th, and a job application assistance fair on May 24th for families.
  • Shared updates on the Florence McClure Women’s Correctional Enrichment program, which has received positive feedback from staff and inmates.
  • Congratulated new speech language pathologists and teachers who graduated from Nevada State College.
  • Held community meeting to discuss bullying and racism issues at schools.
  • Attended Do the Write Thing program event, which had around 32 student participants.

Board and Superintendent Communication

Superintendent Jara acknowledged community and business partners for participating in Teacher Appreciation Week and commending CCSD teachers.

Potential Future Agenda Items:

  • Updates on Reclaim Your Future program
  • Presentation on Florence McClure Women’s Correctional Enrichment program
  • Request for information on the Legacy Project and the bond oversight process

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Nevada Ed-Watch 3/28/19

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, March 28, 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:

  • Request for support of the Legacy Project at Las Vegas Academy of the Arts to improve the infrastructure of the school site.
  • Concerns about alleged racial threats at Arbor View, and a lack of ethnic and diversity content in instruction.
    • Request for Trustees to lead with conviction, integrity, courage, and as positive role models for kids.
  • Concerns about bias in the employee discipline process.
  • Request to put Sandy Valley back in the Capital Improvement Program.
  • Concerns about lack of African American representation in leadership roles and on committees.
  • Training for support staff to pursue other positions in the event of a surplus.
  • Concerns about funding.

In response to some of the public remarks, Superintendent Jara provided updates on resolutions in response to racist activity and safety threats. His comments referenced a district-wide code of conduct and a school justice partnership as actions taken so far to address the disproportionality of student disciplinary actions.

Superintendent Jara also discussed implementing cultural responsiveness and implicit bias training for CCSD staff, in partnership with national experts, to address racial issues across all schools.

Trustees Hear Updates From the Student Advisory Committee

The Student Advisory Committee Vice Chair shared updates with Trustees on their last meeting, which included:

  • Discussed mental health services and suicide prevention routines.
  • Discussed the role of school social workers in schools.
  • Proposed creating a conference to provide training on identifying signs of students needing emotional help.

Trustees Hear Presentation on Budget Forecast Updates

Trustees heard a brief presentation from CCSD’s Chief Financial Officer, which included highlights from the amended final budget, and an overview of revenue projections and current budget.  

Click here to see the presentation.

Public Comment: One member of the public expressed concern about a lack of engagement from school-level staff at the legislative session related to budget advocacy.

Trustee Reports

Board Members report on committee meetings, events, or activities they have attended since the last regular Board meeting.

  • School Naming Committee had a discussion on possible changes to school naming policy.
  • Trustees attended a recent trip to the capitol, where they attended workshops to learn about other large urban districts, education funding, and federal legislative updates that could impact local school districts.
  • BE Engaged (Business + Education) conference was reported to be informative and inspiring around the work of partnerships and programs like Closets in Schools (providing food and supplies for students) and Green our Planet (a STEM-based school garden program).
  • Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association (NIAA) held a couple meetings, where they elected a new President and Vice President, and had numerous parents and students attend to speak on behalf of their schools.
  • Southern Nevada Regional planning meeting, including presentations from Get Outdoors Nevada, Renewable Energy & Southern Nevada Strong. There is a planning session next week to determine future focus areas.

Board and Superintendent Communication

  • There will be a Council of Great City Schools conference held in June with staff, directors, and associate superintendents focused on reviewing what other school systems are doing. There has also been an effort from the Council to oppose the addition of questions on census 2020 related to citizenship.
  • Superintendent Jara shared a draft letter on the tentative 2019 school year budget. There will be a presentation on this led by the Chief Financial Officer on April 3rd. Trustees must approve a final budget by the end of May.
  • There is alignment between CCSD and the Governor around prioritizing employee salary increases. The tentative budget does not include salary increase funding, as they would require new funding or cuts to existing services. The Superintendent is working with Trustees to create a transparent process to develop options to allow salary increases to staff and teachers. The Superintendent is also working with the Governor’s office and Speaker Jason Frierson to identify potential solutions.

  • Two new members of the CCSD instructional team, Karla Loria and Sam Scavella, introduced themselves to Trustees.

Potential Future Agenda Items

  • Updates from the Florence McClure Women’s Cultural Enrichment Program
  • Updates from the Safety Advisory Committee
  • Review of response processes if schools receive safety threats
  • Review building specifications and efficiencies of savings (related to building costs)
  • Process to fix structural damage on school properties.

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Nevada Ed-Watch 3/14/19

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, March 14, 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:

  • Funding a Legacy Project at Las Vegas Academy of the Arts to improve the safety and infrastructure of the school site.
  • Discrimination concerns at Tarkanian Middle School
  • Employee morale and pay concerns
  • Introduction of new Associate Superintendent, Anne Hembrick

Trustees Unanimously Approve the Consent Agenda

Trustees pulled the following items from the Consent Agenda for discussion:

  • Approval of an Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between CCSD and the UNLV College of Education that will allow high school students to enroll in courses at the College of Education prior to graduating high school (the Rebel TEACH program). Schools will cover the $50 course fee (through Title I or general fund) for students eligible for Free or Reduced-Price Lunch (FRL). Click here to see the agreement.
  • Approval to pay $2,352,000.00 to cover Advanced Placement (AP) exam fees for over 19,000 high school students.
  • Concerns regarding disproportionality of minority students being expelled.

Trustees Unanimously Approve Guardrails and Expectations Agreement with the Superintendent

Trustees approved the Guardrails page of an agreement developed from multiple discussions at Board retreats to improve communications and set clear expectations with the Superintendent.

Trustees Approve Revisions to the Sex Education Advisory Committee Bylaws (6-1 vote)   

The updates were related to the composition and role of the Recommending Committee, as it relates to recommending members for the Sex Education Advisory Committee. Each Trustee will appoint one person from their district to serve on the Sex Education Advisory Committee. No more than two members from each Trustee district can be recommended to the Sex Education Advisory Committee.

The Sex Education Advisory Committee is responsible for reviewing the content and materials used in instruction related to the human reproductive system, communicable diseases, sexual responsibility, and Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS).

Click here to see the bylaws.

Trustees Approve April 22nd as Make-Up Day (5-2 vote)

April 22nd will make-up the snow day on February 22. The Superintendent will send an email to principals stating that teachers cannot be penalized for taking  a personal day on April 22nd. The Superintendent will also work with the support staff union to ensure they also receive make-up time.

The 2019 Spring Break schedule has been modified to run from April 13 to April 21.

Trustees Unanimously Approve Performance Pay for Principals Recruited to Eligible Schools (a 3-Year Pilot Program)

Trustees approved a Memorandum of Agreement (MOU) with the Clark County Association of School Administrators and Professional-technical Employees for principals leading targeted schools to receive recruitment and retention supplemental pay based on school-improvement criteria.

Supplemental Pay Criteria Highlights:

  • A recruitment stipend ($12,500) if the school’s star rating improves by 2 levels (from a 1-star to a 3-star), or if the rating improves more than 2 levels (to a star rating of 4 or 5).
  • A retention stipend ($12,500) if the school’s star rating improves from a 3-star to a 4- or 5-star.
  • An additional $5,000 if the schools star rating remains a 3, 4, or 5.

Eligible schools are:

  • Harold Brinley Middle School
  • Carroll Johnston Middle School
  • Jerome Mack Middle School
  • Mario C. and JoAnne Monaco Middle School
  • William Orr Middle School
  • Marvin M. Sedway Middle School
  • Ed Von Tobel Middle School
  • Preparatory Institute, School for Academic Excellence at Charles I. West (West Prep)

Click here to see the agreement.

Trustees Unanimously Approved a New Provision Regarding a Ready By Grade Three Full-Time Learning Strategist

Trustees approved entering a Memorandum of Understanding with the Clark County Education Association (CCEA) to exempt the full-time learning strategist position from the Read by Grade Three provisions.

Click here to see the agreement.

Potential Future Items:

  • Facilities Repair Index List
  • Guidance on NSPF changes
  • Contingency Days
  • Risk Management Plan

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