‘Education’ articles

LAS VEGAS — The Nevada Commission on Ethics has summoned Carolyn Edwards, president of the Clark County School District board of trustees, and Joyce Haldeman, CCSD’s top lobbyist and head of the district’s Community and Government Relations department, to answer for alleged violations of the Nevada Ethics in Government Law.

Edwards and Haldeman are to appear before the Commission on July 17 and 18 to answer allegations that they used taxpayer resources to push for passage of the November 2012 “Question 2” ballot initiative to raise Clark County taxes.

Question 2 was a ballot question submitted to voters to decide whether to permit CCSD to levy an additional property tax of up to 21.2 cents, per $100 of assessed valuation, to finance CCSD capital projects, including school improvements and replacements, and acquisition of new school sites.

The possibility of ethics-law violations was first reported by Nevada Journal last October.

Continue reading »

LAS VEGAS — Two Clark County School District employees face possible criminal charges over allegations that they possessed, sold and/or exchanged handguns on a high school campus recently.

The case — turned over by school police to the District Attorney one month ago — appears, however, to be stalled in the DA’s initial “screening phase.”

“We’ve requested additional information from school police,” a representative of the DA’s office told Nevada Journal. “A decision [regarding charges] can’t be made until we receive that.”

Continue reading »

LAS VEGAS — In a state where thousands of public school English-language-learner students fall out of the system every year, a charter school dedicated to those students’ English acquisition, credit retrieval and graduation would seem sure to thrive.

But for one such charter school in Nevada, New America School-Las Vegas, board members aren’t focused on how to grow or expand the school.

Instead, the question of the day is: “How do we keep from shutting our doors — even before they open?”

It’s Nevada’s challenge with English-language-learner students that led a group of concerned community members to propose a charter high school with a unique mission. Its focus: Clark County students at risk of not graduating, or who have already dropped out of school.

Continue reading »

LAS VEGAS — Dwight Jones came to Clark County assuring people of his “set of mid-western values.” They made him “always want to do the right thing — all the time — even if nobody’s listening,” he said.

But over the course of his two years in Las Vegas, did Jones himself see his own idealism eroding?

During his 2010 job interview with trustees, he told them that doing “business in a transparent way” and being upfront with the community was part of what made Colorado — where he was the state’s education commissioner at the time — one of the leading states in the country.

Continue reading »

LAS VEGAS — When Clark County School District Superintendent Dwight Jones suddenly announced his decision to resign recently, he attributed his decision to his mother's illness.

"The decision,” Jones assured the community, “doesn't have to do with any other factors outside of just wanting to do what I think is right for my family," he told local news media.

The public is familiar, by now, with situations where personal or family reasons are initially offered to explain a public figure's departure.  "I want to spend more time with my family," for example, is frequently heard. Later, however, more facts emerge. The individual may have been facing other, more active incentives — or pressures — to leave.

Continue reading »

LAS VEGAS  —  The Teachers Health Trust’s financial situation could grow even more precarious due to fees associated with the Affordable Care Act, says CEO Peter Alpert.

“There will be fees. There will be cost increases,” said Alpert. “[The Affordable Care Act is] a subject [on which] I’ll keep the rest of my comments to myself.”

Alpert’s remarks came during a March 19 news conference where he presented THT’s updated financial report and discussed the organization’s overall financial health.

THT, the main health insurance provider for Clark County School District teachers, has had its financial viability questioned over the past two months since Nevada Journal reported that a teacher union representative told members in a Jan. 29 closed-door meeting that the trust would go “belly-up in 60 to 90 days.”

Continue reading »

LAS VEGAS — Is the Clark County School District School Performance Framework weighted to make schools look better than they actually perform?

That’s what six new Transparent Nevada charts suggest, using the district’s own data but employing traditional letter grades.

The new charts, for the 2011-12 school year, graphically portray CCSD’s relative performance rankings of all district elementary schools, middle schools and high schools, as well as the district’s relative growth rankings for its elementary, middle and high schools.

The Transparent Nevada presentation shows that when CCSD’s actual data scores are translated into traditional letter grades — rather than the district’s “star” ranking system with its automatically free five “focus goal” points — 198 of the district’s 329 schools, or 60 percent, scored “D” or “F,” while the 131 remaining schools, or 40 percent, scored “C” or better.

Continue reading »

LAS VEGAS — The Teachers Health Trust may not be going “belly-up” in 60-90 days, but if it doesn’t get a premium increase from the Clark County School District, it will “at some point” run out of revenue, says CEO Peter Alpert.

“Can I tell you when, exactly?” asks Alpert. “No. There’s lots of moving parts in this business. If we don’t receive [premium increases], will we be faced with some tough decisions? Yes.”

In a wide-ranging interview with Nevada Journal, Alpert discussed the trust’s financial health as well as its relationship with the Clark County Education ...

Continue reading »

Part 2

As detailed in Part 1 of this report, parents of a high-school honor student — a senior and a member of the Army National Guard — have accused CCSD police and administrators of illegally searching and detaining their son.

While Nevada law and CCSD-PD general orders require that school police “shall” contact parents “without undue delay” and must release a student to his parents, CCSD police did neither.

Instead, according to district records, they used high-school Principal Kimberly Bauman as their agent in an official police investigation that detained the Northwest Career and Technical Academy student for over three hours …. without ever informing his parents.

Continue reading »