Assemblyman Listens To Local SOT Members

By VERNON ROBISON

Moapa Valley Progress

Members of local School Operational Teams (SOT) were able to discuss their challenges and concerns about the Clark County School District (CCSD) reorganization process during a meeting of the Moapa Valley Community Education Advisory Board (MVCEAB) on Friday, December 1.

In attendance at the meeting was State Assemblyman Chris Edwards whose district includes the southern portion of Moapa Valley. Edwards, who sits on the Legislative Committee on the

Implementaton of the Reorganization of CCSD had expressed a desire to hear from SOT members at the various schools in his district to get an update on the reorganization process. In response to Edward’s request, the MVCEAB had invited representatives from each SOT to make a report at Friday’s meeting.
The SOTs, along with the school principals, are charged with the oversight of the school’s budget and operation under the reorganization.

Each of the reports from the four local schools had common elements running through them.
One of the concerns raised by all four schools was a problem with transparency in the budgeting process. Each representative stated that the budget numbers were not being made available by CCSD central to the schools in a timely manner for adequate local planning to take place in the SOT.
“There is a total lack of transparency with our budget,” said Grant Bowler SOT member Karen Jensen.

“In our pamphlet of instructions for the SOT, it says that we have the responsibility over the budget, yet no one ever knows what funding we will have. And when we finally do get it, it is late in the game and we are always having to make do with less.”

Mack Lyon Middle School SOT member Terri Holzer agreed that budget numbers were not released in a timely way by the district.
“There has not been enough time between the district finally releasing our budget numbers and the time that we have for the SOT to put together what we want to do with what is left of the funding,” Holzer said. “Last year, our principal got the numbers after hours late in the process and we had to spend a real crunch time for just a week or two to get things together at the last minute. That’s no way to make careful and informed decisions.”

Holzer added that the Middle School has suffered due to the pulling back of rural unit allocations. These additional teaching units had traditionally been supplied to preserve comprehensive education programs in small rural schools.

She pointed out that the school has lost its entire art program due to a cut to the allocation. This has had a major impact to students, she said. In addition, Lyon has lost its credit retrieval program which provides remedial service to kids who need help to pass grade standards in core subjects. The school has also had to downsize its special education staff because of its small student population.

“In prior years as things have been cut little by litte, we have managed to get grants to get us through,” Holzer said. “We have also bought out prep periods from teachers to keep programs alive. And a lot of community involvement and volunteerism has made up for a lot of it, but we can only do so much. This year, we are really hurting, to the point where I honestly don’t know where we are going to stand next year.”

Moapa Valley High School SOT member Lisa Cornwall also listed budget as one of the main concerns at the school.
“We have things drag along in uncertainty,” Cornwall said. “Do we have a dean? Do we not have a dean? Will we get a Vice Principal? Those things are slowly getting solved. But the uncertainty in our being able to plan has pulled us away from what we are really supposed to be doing which is improving education.”

Another concern that was common among the four local schools was the subject of autonomy to make decisions at the local level.
“There is all this talk about autonomy, and that we are going to have power to make decisions,” said Ute Perkins SOT member Kylie Bundy. “But nothing has changed still. Whether it is the control of transportation or school staffing or lights or utilities or curriculum; it still gets dictated from above. The district is still deciding what is going to be allowed. It is not our choice.”

MVHS Principal Hal Mortensen gave an example of not having control over the utilities and lighting of his building at the local level. He said that MVHS is currently scheduled for a new HVAC unit. He went down and spoke to the head facilities staff at central CCSD and asked, since the units and thermostats all had to be changed out at the school, could the local controls to those units be also installed. He was firmly told that this was not possible.

“I don’t even have control of our parking lot lights,” he added. “If we have an event or something in the evening, I have to call ten different people and hope that someone answers the phone, to get the parking lot lights on.”

Holzer raised a separate issue about the makeup of the SOT. The law requires that the teachers serving on the SOT must be members of the union. But in Moapa Valley schools, few teachers are union members. So it forces a very small pool of eligible teachers who can serve on the SOT.

Cornwall echoed the same issue in her report. She pointed out that only five teachers and two service workers were members of their respective unions at the high school. “Those seven people are the pool for the SOT,” Cornwall said. “What about the other 35 people in the building?”

Edwards listened closely to each of the reports and encouraged those present to be involved in the legislative process for change in education.
“What I need is this kind of input at the legislature; for you all to say ‘Here is where we are getting shorted’,” Edwards said. “But you can’t just go with a problem. You also need to propose a solution. Then we can fight together for the solution.”

Edwards talked about the importance of SOT members and other community residents coming to testify before the legislature. “When we see 50 or 60 people in the audience and everyone testifies about a problem they are seeing, that makes legislators really perk up and say, ‘This is something that I really need to pay attention to!’,” Edwards said.

“I will do my part to bring positive change,” Edwards added. “But I only ask that you all continue to do yours. Together we can at least stop some of the insanity and stupidity that has gone on for too long. Hopefully that will make the progress that our kids need.”