More Public Meetings Held On Proposed N.E. Education District

By AMY DAVIS &VERNON ROBISON

The Progress

More public meetings were held last week to inform local residents and to receive feedback about the ongoing efforts to form an independent school district out of the eight schools in the northeastern Clark County communities.

Back-to-back meetings were held in both the Virgin Valley and Moapa Valley communities on Thursday evening, April 6. In Moapa Valley the meetings were held in the Old Logandale School, while Virgin Valley residents attended their meetings in the Bunkerville Community Center gymnasium.

The first meeting at both locations was specifically devoted to members of the support staff at local schools. The second meeting invited parents to attend and have questions answered.

In all of the meetings, members of an ad-hoc committee made up of residents of both valleys opened with a brief presentation about the work that had been done thus far. This committee, which includes a number of retired CCSD administrators, teachers, parents and education advocates has been working for over a year to investigate the possibility of splitting the local schools off from the Clark County School District (CCSD) and put them, instead, under new local oversight.

Assembly Bill 420
Last year, the group began meeting with state legislators to discuss the possible presentation of a bill to accomplish this. In the last couple of weeks, Assembly Bill 420 has resulted.

The bill would require the Nevada State Superintendent of Instruction to create the Rural Northeastern Clark County Regional School District and hire a superintendent and administrative staff for the district. The State Department of Education is then tasked with conducting a feasibility study on the financial viability of the new district. A total of $6 million would be appropriated by the bill to perform the study and set up the new district under a pilot program.

In addition, the bill would change long-standing state law which currently allows for only one public school district per county. Instead, the bill authorizes the board of county commissioners in Clark County to establish by ordinance a regional school district that is independent of the county school district.

Virgin Valley meetings
The Virgin Valley meetings were led by AB420 committee members Cathy Davis, former principal of Virgin Valley Elementary School, and Jodi Thornley, Chairwoman of the Virgin Valley Community Education Advisory Board.

Only a small number attended the first meeting for school support staff members. But nearly every seat was full for the parent meeting which followed it.
Parents asked a number of questions which were fielded by Davis and Thornley.

Financial feasibility
One question was whether a new northeast Clark County school district could be financially viable. The response was that projections have been made that appear to be reasonable for a district of this size. Through applying per pupil formulas and comparing to similarly-sized school districts in the state it has been estimated that the new district could have a budget of as much as $104 million.
“It appears that we could financially support a local school district,” Davis said. “Some people have worried that we would need to rely on money collected from property taxes and this is simply not true.”

The difficulty comes in getting hard budget numbers from the CCSD for the local schools. “CCSD either will not give us that information or doesn’t have it,” Thornley said. “Our committee has contacted the financial offices at CCSD and it is a no-go.”

But she also pointed out that the bill funds a feasibility study that would be done first, to determine whether the finances would actually work for the new district. No further action would be taken if this independent study did not show feasibility.

Another parent asked whether the new district would give the communities more control over what is taught in the classrooms.
“We still have to follow the state law,” Davis said. “But we can write policy that determines what our kids’ needs are and the best curriculum for them.”

Where does the City stand?
The women were asked where the Mesquite city government stood on the issue and whether the city would advocate for this cause.
“We have talked to a lot of the City Council members and most of them are very amiable to it,” Davis said. “They like the idea of the feasibility study so that there is something on paper that shows whether or not this can work; as well as the fact that it is a pilot program.”

Thornley added that the matter has been placed on the agenda at the Tuesday, Apr. 11 Mesquite City Council meeting. “So we also need you to show up at City Hall on Tuesday for a show of visual support,” she said.

‘What can we do to help?’
It was asked in the Virgin Valley meetings what was needed from the public in order to move the cause forward. Thornley responded that progress on the bill is fluid. The pace is fast at the state legislature she added.

Thornley added that the bill needed to be taken up by the Assembly Education Committee in order to move it forward. To gain headway there, the public needs to get involved, she said.
“It is a bit of a popularity game,” she said. “We need this to get a hearing. So what we need for you to do right now is submit public comments on the bill at the state legislature website. We need to see 1,000 comments on there and we currently only have 28.”

A QR code published with this article can be scanned to go directly to the bill where comments can be made.

Moapa Valley meetings
In the Moapa Valley meetings the crowds in attendance were somewhat smaller. About a dozen people came to each meeting.

In the first of the two meetings, a group of support staff from Perkins Elementary School in Moapa posed a number of questions to committee members on what the bill might do to their positions and careers. They expressed a variety of concerns, each of which was fielded by the handful of committee members present.

Salaries and seniority
Most of these concerns centered around what might happen to current salaries and seniority systems if this change should take place. Support staff in attendance wanted assurance that their pay-grades would remain the same and that they wouldn’t lose seniority status with CCSD if the new district should not be found viable during the pilot program and should be returned under the CCSD umbrella.

Committee members responded that the bill included language that would keep current collective bargaining agreements regarding salary structure and seniority in place.
“That was important to us,” said committee member Dr. Larry Moses, a former principal at Moapa Valley High School. “It was vital that you be kept whole. We want to keep existing staff and faculty because that is working well. We are not trying to flush anyone out and bring in new personnel from somewhere else. That would be pointless.”

Moses said that the committee had poured through the 119-page bill to ensure that its language would keep current faculty and staff whole.
“We have found a couple of passages that seemed a little weak and so we have drafted amendments to strengthen those things,” Moses said.

Same union, same agreements
Committee member and local education advocate Lindsey Dalley reinforced this. He said that the plan was to simply transfer all the current employment agreements over to the new district.
“Nothing will change there unless you guys want it to,” Dalley said. “You’d keep the same union, same agreements, same structure. There is nothing that we will change there.”

Moses added, however, that the door would also be open for faculty and staff of the new district to eventually negotiate their own agreements with the district’s board of trustees.
“There is nothing keeping you from changing it by forming your own collective bargaining group out here,” Moses said. “Then you would meet directly with the school board. But this way, you would be dealing with a school board that knows you. They are neighbors and friends who see you in the community at the grocery store, at church or who live next door to you. That makes a big difference.”

Small town worries
One meeting attendee pointed out that, in a small town, these close relationships may not always be favorable. She expressed a preference for having those in control being at a safe distance.
“I don’t think that it is always going to come up roses to work with people you know and go to church with,” she said. “I think we have to be careful what we are asking for. I am going to be afraid that you can’t go to the grocery store without being approached with these issues. Do we really want parents to be the ones to make the decisions? I’m not so sure.”

“The district doesn’t make me do anything I don’t want to,” said another support staff attendee. “And I get that the central office draws away a lot of money, but quite frankly I don’t care. I have a job. I get paid for what I do and that is what I’m hired for. I understand that we really should get more out here, but I can’t control that.”

About the kids
Moses responded to these comments by saying that the sole focus of the committee’s work has been to improve education for local kids.
“That is really the bottom line: Can we do this better than it is being done right now?” Moses said. “It is not focused on the support staff or the teacher’s level. But if we can solve your problems, and bring you aboard, it will accomplish the goal for our kids.”

Parents and community members can read the entire bill by scanning the QR code with a mobile device. A brief login process is required to leave a comment. One comment may be made per email account.