From left, US District Court Judge Richard Boulware and new Clark County School District board members Romana Esparza-Stoffregan, Adam Johnson, Lisa Satory and Dane Watson wait to be sworn in at Las Vegas City Hall, downtown, Tuesday, Jan. 2, 2024.
Saturday, April 27, 2024 | 2 a.m.
Lawyers for the Clark County School District Board defended its policy barring nonvoting board members from making motions at meetings by saying that if the Nevada Legislature meant for nonvoting members to be able to make motions, the law creating those positions would have explicitly said so.
The argument was in response to a lawsuit by the cities of Henderson and North Las Vegas challenging the restriction on the municipality-appointed nonvoting board members that a majority of the voting members put into place earlier this year, not long after the appointees were sworn in.
“If the legislature truly wanted to vest motion-making authority with a nonvoting trustee, it was incumbent on the legislature to use express language to address motion-making rights. But it did not do so,” said the board’s response, filed Thursday in Clark County District Court. “And it is not the place of a court to second-guess either the legislature or the Board of Trustees on this internal policy issue.”
Last year’s Assembly Bill 175 — a bipartisan legislative effort to add four advisory members to the seven elected members of CCSD’s often-fractured board — said the appointed members cannot vote or serve as board officers. But, although motions and seconds are predicates to voting, the bill did not say anything about making or seconding motions; it said that aside from not voting or serving as officers, appointees “shall have the same rights and responsibilities as voting members of the board of trustees.”
The Clark County Commission, along with the city councils of the county’s three largest cities — Las Vegas, Henderson and North Las Vegas — each appointed one member to the board.
The board’s response said that voting has two integrated procedural components – proposing a vote, which means making or seconding a motion, and actually casting the vote.
“The statutory term ‘nonvoting,’ when properly construed, entails an inability to make motions,” the filing said. “In other words, the motion making restriction on the appointed trustees is an ingredient that is baked into the very substance of AB 175.”
The district also said the cities lack legal standing to sue, that the appointees are the school board’s members and not agents of the cities, and that the municipalities based the lawsuit on public interest but not direct interest.
The case is set for a hearing in May.
State names military-friendly schools
The Nevada Department of Education named 14 public and private schools as Nevada Purple Star Schools this month for their commitment to the educational and social-emotional needs of military-connected children.
The local honorees are Advanced Technologies Academy, Divich Elementary School, Northwest Career and Technical Academy, Scherkenbach Elementary School, Shadow Ridge High School, Fertitta Middle School, Legacy Traditional School-North Valley Campus, Faith Lutheran Academy, Faith Lutheran Preschool, Innovation Academy, Mojave Springs School, and Mountain View Christian Schools.
Carson High School in Carson City and Dayton Elementary School in Lyon County also earned the designation.
April is the Month of the Military Child.
More than 40 schools around Nevada have received the award since the program began in 2021.
CCSD recognizes employees
CCSD named its top 10 educators at the district’s annual Starlight Awards this month.
The winners are:
- Elementary Teacher of the Year: Johana Quintero, Wynn Elementary School
- Secondary Teacher of the Year: Isaac Pineda, Mack Middle School
- Support Professional of the Year: Dwayne Young, Roundy Elementary School
- Licensed Specialist of the Year: Sarah Garcia, Valley High School
- Assistant Principal of the Year: Missy Shipp, Shadow Ridge High School
- Principal of the Year: Maurice Perkins, Hughes Middle School
- Central Office Administrator of the Year: Rob Hutchinson, Facilities Management Director
- Elementary New Teacher of the Year: Alexa Ching, Stanford Elementary School
- Secondary New Teacher of the Year: Jenna Preszler, Mannion Middle School
- New Licensed Specialist of the Year: Amanda Burk, Lummis Elementary School
The district honored the Starlight Awards winners at the Evening of Excellence gala at the South Point.
More top honors for CCSD magnets
West Career and Technical Academy Principal Amy Dockter-Rozar has been selected as the national Principal of the Year by Magnet Schools of America, CCSD recently announced.
The honor, which came during Magnet Schools of America’s national conference this month in New York, follows up on the organization naming Dockter-Rozar as one of its six Regional Principals of the Year. Magnet Schools of America says it honors principals who promote equity and diversity among students and staff, provide equitable academic opportunities for all students, implement and sustain innovative magnet programs, and show evidence of leadership within the school district and the magnet community.
Additionally, Roger D. Gehring Academy of Science and Technology was awarded MSA Elementary School of the Year and Walter Bracken STEAM Academy was presented with the MSA President’s Award, the organization's third-highest honor.
Magnet Schools of America regularly recognizes CCSD’s schools with its Magnet School of Merit Awards. The organization honored 35 CCSD schools this year.
