Tag: SOT

Nevada Ed-Watch 2/13/20

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, February 13, 2020

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:

  • Support for continued funding of the AVID college readiness program 
  • Concerns about pay and benefits for substitute teachers 
  • Support for the unionization of substitute teachers
  • Requests to modify magnet school lottery weights– with more weight allocated to honor roll and GATE students 
  • Support of increased accountability for public schools 
  • Concerns about the decision to remove prayer from Trustee meetings
  • Concerns about honoring the rights of School Organization Team (SOT) members, and a report that 49% of SOT members are unsatisfied, according to climate survey responses

Trustees Approved the Consent Agenda

The consent agenda included the Chinese guest teacher program.

A member of the public provided testimony to Trustees regarding barriers to obtaining teacher licensure.

Trustees Heard Updates on CCSD’s MAP Growth Assessment Results

NWEA MAP Growth is a formative assessment administered across all CCSD elementary and middle schools to measure student academic growth over time. A student’s MAP data can follow them to their feeder school or to other schools within CCSD they transfer to. MAP measures a student’s growth in comparison to similar peers, and is designed to help teachers identify instructional areas students are ready to tackle—whether they are on, above, or below grade level. 

The District is working with principals to phase other, less comprehensive formative assessments out of its Balanced Assessment model.

CCSD MAP Growth Assessment Results:

There were questions among Trustees about the validity of the MAP Assessment, and how it differs from the Smarter Balanced Assessment (SBAC)– which measures student proficiency. 

Click here to see the presentation.

Public Comment

Members of the public provided testimony to Trustees regarding:

  • Concerns about CCSD over-emphasizing student data
  • Request to conduct evaluations of classroom instruction to measure effectiveness
  • Concerns about differentiating student learning

Trustees Approved an Agreement with CCSD and the Clark County Association of School Administrators and Professional Technical Employees 

The agreement updates the deadline for completion of college courses that impact salary. 

Click here to see the agreement. 

Trustees Heard Updates About Student Achievement at CCSD Innovative Middle Schools 

Trustees heard from principals at schools designated as Innovative Schools. Principals shared their strategies to improve student achievement, as well as their MAP Growth Assessment data for Math, English Language Arts, and Science. It was noted by principals that MAP data provides important information about how quickly students are growing towards proficiency.

Click here to see each school’s 2019-2020 Academic Plan– including detailed MAP assessment results and strategies to reduce achievement gaps among students. 

Innovative Schools Strategy Highlights:

  • Initiation of state standards training to ensure instruction is delivered at the appropriate grade level 
  • Development of teacher grading calibration training for reading and writing assessments 
  • Implementation of tiered interventions for students who need intensive academic supports
  • Implementation of block scheduling for Math and English Language Arts 
  • Implementation of Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS)
  • Implementation of instructional rounds 
  • Incorporation of families and students in academic goal setting 

Trustees shared their appreciation for the principals’ focus on improving student achievement in high-need schools. Trustees also discussed the importance of social-emotional support, teacher incentives, and family engagement. 

Click on an Innovative School below to see its school performance profile from the 2018-2019 school year:

Superintendent Communications
Superintendent Jara provided an update that the CCSD Equity Report Blue Ribbon Commission is currently under development. Additionally, Superintendent Jara announced that a similar commission will be launched to study issues related to teacher vacancies, substitute teachers, and long-term substitutes.

Requests for Future Agenda Items

  • Review policies for support animals in schools 
  • Request that Trustees are informed of CCSD partnership events occurring in their districts

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Nevada Ed-Watch 8/8/19

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, August 8, 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:

  • Alleged bullying and harassment between employees
  • Concerns with the number of teacher vacancies 
  • Teacher salary increases
  • Concerns about changes to bus routes

Trustees Approved the Consent Agenda

Consent agenda highlights:

  • Facilities improvements
  • $100,000 settlement to the family of a teen that was shot at Canyon Springs High School
  • MOU with Fulfillment Fund to support students at Chaparral High School

Trustees Discussed Silver State Governance Training 

Silver State Governance (SSG) is an operating framework and coaching system that orients school board members to a framework that puts student achievement at the forefront of decision-making.

The Silver State Governance Accountability Framework is built around six research-inspired competencies that correlate with improvements in student outcomes: 

  1. Vision & Goals
  2. Values & Constraints
  3. Accountability & Monitoring
  4. Communication & Collaboration
  5. Unity & Trust
  6. Continuous Improvement

Trustees did not vote on this item, as it was changed to be discussion only. Trustees chose not to bring this topic back before the board as an action item.

Click here to see the Silver State Governance proposal.

Trustees Discussed Concerns with the Implementation of School Organizational Teams

To ensure they are conducting the appropriate level of oversight and fulfilling their fiduciary responsibilities, Trustees are requesting the following information from schools:

  1. Process for electing SOT members
  2. Number of applicants who applied to serve on the SOT
  3. Number of votes cast by the school community to elect SOT members
  4. Names of SOT members
  5. Number of years served by SOT members
  6. The process for making budget cuts (plus, what cuts were made)
  7. Average class size
  8. Staff to administrator ratio
  9. Student to administrator ratio
  10. Confirm all SOT meeting agendas and minutes are posted online in a central location (including budgets and a master calendar)

In the future, schools are to survey SOT members to learn how to improve the process and experience.

Public Comment: Members of the public expressed concerns about:

  • How parents are being selected to serve on SOT boards
  • Lack of transparency and fidelity in the implementation of the work of the SOTs

Trustees Approved Medium-Term Obligations

This bond money will be used for new and replacement school buses, special education, general education, and new schools. CCSD is proposing up to $35,000,000 to finance all or a portion of the cost of acquiring, improving, and equipping school facilities.

Click here to see the resolution.

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):

  • Employee Morale: Improve employee morale and engagement, and increase retention rates.
    • Measure 1: Individuals (employees, parents, community members or others) engage in recognizing employees
      • 2018-2019 Target: 2,000 Engagements
      • 2018-2019 Actual: 6,426 Engagements 
      • 2019-2020 Target: 2,000 Engagements
    • Measure 2: Employees are recognized
      • 2018-2019 Target: 1,600 Employees
      • 2018-2019 Actual: 7,171 Employees recognized
      • 2019-2020 Target: 1,600 Employees
    • Trustees discussed focusing on outcomes for a greater sense of whether morale is improving. 
    • Public Comment: A member of the public expressed a need to consider morale among support staff.
    • Click here to see the presentation.
  • Fiscal Transparency: Improve the quality, communication, and understanding of financial information of the district
    • Measure: Increase the percentage of financial survey respondents noting at least a 4 (on a scale of 1-5) on understanding the quality of financial information
      • 2019-2020 Target: 71%
      • 2018-2019 Actual: 66% of respondents noted at least a 4.
    • Click here to see the presentation.

Trustees Heard an Update on Facilities Improvements

The CCSD Chief of Facilities discussed the need to respond to maintenance emergencies and focus on preventative maintenance, rather than being reactive.

A pilot program to address facilities issues is launching– with 11 Building Engineer positions filled.

Other highlighted topics included:

  • Air Handler Coil Cleaning
  • Air Filter Replacement
  • Water Treatment for HVAC systems
  • Mobile maintenance – Paint, carpentry, and plumbing
  • Energy and Sustainability
  • Evaluation of New Construction to reduce school footprints and associated costs
  • Allocation of CIP funds to modernization
  • Third party cost estimates when construction bids exceed budgeted amount

Click here to see the presentation.

Trustees Approved an Employment Contract for New Chief Negotiator and Assistant General Counsel Position

The position will be filled by Luke Puschnig, the former counsel for the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.

Click here to see the employment contract.

Click here to read about this in the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

Potential Future Agenda Items:

  • Discuss a secure hotline for CCSD staff to report workplace bullying
  • The Executive Director of the State Public Charter School Authority (SPCSA) is attending the next CCSD work session– related to the SPCSA’s plan to manage the growth of public charter schools.
  • Superintendent Jara requested that Trustees review the draft agreement between CCSD and Clark County (the Open Schools Open Doors policy), and to provide feedback during their one-on-one meetings. This item will be on the next board agenda, contingent upon successful negotiations with the County Commission.

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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 11/15/18

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.

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 in turn 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 9:00AM. Click here to see the 2018 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. There is a time limit of three minutes per speaker. Members of the community providing testimony must fill out a visitor card, available on-site the day of the meeting.

Click here for a list of all State Board Members.

Thursday, November 15, 2018
Nevada State Board of Education

Click here to see the meeting agenda 

What Happened at This Meeting?

Superintendent Provides Update on School Safety Task Force

The Superintendent provided a brief update on the concluding work of the  Statewide School Safety Task Force. Established by Governor Sandoval, the Task Force is charged with developing recommendations for safety practices in all Nevada schools. The Task Force concluded its work this month and is due to provide a final report before the end of November.

The Consent Agenda Included Approval of:

  • 2-year licensing (written authorization to operate) for Greater Las Vegas Academy private school.
  • Dual credit request for courses offered by the College of Southern Nevada to the Leadership Academy of Nevada (LANV)

Board Approves Amendments to School Organizational Teams (AB 469)

The approved amendments:

  1. Establish a dispute resolution process for all School Organization Team (SOT) members, including teachers and parents.
  2. Establish provisions to streamline contract-based services that are provided by the school district to schools.
  3. Create a legal definition of the term “allocated” and ensures that SOT’s and school principals have authority over their dollars.

Click here to see the full regulations document

 

Board Approves Amendment to the Creation, Submission, and Approval of School Calendars

Board members updated the way that educators’ professional development time is aggregated. This allows professional development that occurs for a portion of a day, rather than a full day, to be counted towards the total number of required professional development days.

Click here to see the full school calendar regulations document

 

Board Approves Amendment to the Statewide Performance Evaluation System for Teachers and School-Level Administrators 

The amendment includes language updates for peer evaluations among teachers, and revisions to the data used to measure teacher performance.

Click here to see the full performance evaluation regulations document

 

Board Recognizes 2019 Teacher of the Year

Nevada’s 2019 Teach of the Year recognition went to Mr. Richard Knoeppel, who teaches Architecture at Advanced Technologies Academy HS (Clark County School District). As Teacher of the Year, he is reserved a seat on the Superintendent’s Teacher Advisory Council (STAC). Mr. Knoeppel also serves as one of the inaugural Fellows of the Nevada Teach Plus Policy Fellowship.

 

Board Discusses the Inaugural State Superintendent’s Teacher Advisory Cabinet (STAC)

The Board was introduced to the inaugural State Superintendent’s Teacher Advisory Cabinet (STAC), heard updates on the application and selection process, and reviewed the goals and vision for the 2018-2020 term. The purpose of the cabinet, consisting of 21 teachers, is to increase teacher voice in State-level policy making.

The board expressed concern about the group not reflecting the diverse student population.

Click here to see the full STAC presentation

 

Board Approves Tesla’s Nevada K-12 Education Investment

A representative from Tesla presented an update on current initiatives that support robotics and STEM learning– with the goal to directly support the development of Nevada’s future engineers.

The Board accepted $6 million to the education gift account as part of Tesla’s ongoing commitment to invest $37.5 million in education.

Click here to see the Tesla investment letter

 

Board Discusses Report to Reassess Public Education Funding Methods

The Board discussed a report created by Augenblick, Palaich and Associates– the independent consultant contracted to study the funding method currently used for Nevada Public Education. The study team recommends replacing the existing funding approach with a more student-centered formula that:

  • Shifts from an expense-based model (determined by historical spending) to a costs-based model (determined by the resources needed to meet state standards and requirements).
  • Is responsive to student needs through weighted funding (additional resources allocated to students based on need, such as being an English learner or a special education student). There are currently some resources available for these students that are allocated through categorical funds. A weighted formula would ensure ALL students that have these needs receive the same resources, regardless of their school.
  • Is responsive to unique district characteristics.

The Board expressed support of a new funding model, with the need for strong accountability and transparency, and to create concise marketing materials to share the proposed model with the public.

Click here to see the presentation deck

Click here to see the report

The proposed new funding model is included in the Department of Education’s Bill Draft Requests for the next legislative session.

 

Board Approves Alternate Summative Evaluation Rating Tool for Evaluating CCSD Teachers

The Board approved recommendations by the Teachers and Leaders Council requesting use of an alternative tool to evaluate teacher performance for the 2018-19 school year.

Click here to see the Teacher Evaluation Rating Tool

 

Board Discusses the Statewide Teacher Performance Evaluation System

The Teachers and Leaders Council presented the Nevada Educator Performance Framework (NEPF) scores for teachers and administrators from the 2017-18 school year, as well as their recommendations for score ranges for the 2018-2019 year. Board members expressed concern that the current rating method does not accurately reflect teacher performance and is not a tool that fosters continued professional growth.

Rather than approving the 2018-2019 score ranges as proposed, the Board requested a “set of recommended changes and actions needed to improve the overall accuracy of the category assignments.”

Click here to see the full presentation

 

 

Public Comment

Members of the public expressed gratitude to the Board for approving the alternate teacher evaluation tool. Other comments focused on advocating for school districts to receive additional funds from local municipalities (county governments).

Potential Future Items:

  • Role of the Board to support the transition of Nevada’s new Governor.
  • Review Bill Draft Requests that were supported by outgoing legislators.

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