School Board’s dissident is MIA

By Emily Richmond

Tuesday, July 1, 2008 | 2 a.m.

Shirley Barber’s stint on the Clark County School Board doesn’t end until the start of 2009, but she has been half-gone for at least a year.

Of the 50 board meetings held since June 2007, Barber has missed 25, including the three most recent meetings.

Her frequent absences have left the board largely without its voice of dissent. Barber was typically the lone holdout whenever the School Board posted a 6-1 vote. She dislikes “policy governance,” the speak-with-one-voice management style adopted by board members in 2000, and does not believe it has improved efficiency or accountability.

Critics of the School Board have also missed Barber at meetings because they have long counted on her to grant them an extra two minutes at the podium, when the rest of the board members would be just as happy to shut off the microphone.

In her nearly 12 years as a member of the School Board, Barber has hardly shied away from speaking her mind, whether it was refusing to approve the superintendent’s evaluation because she believed the process was flawed, or criticizing her colleagues for perceived slights or discourteous treatment.

But on those rare occasions in recent months when she has shown up for meetings, longtime School Board observers have seen a change in Barber’s demeanor. It’s as if she’s lost the will to fight and is just marking time until her tenure comes to a nonconfrontational end.

Barber told the Sun most of her absences have been related to illness, which included fatigue, headaches and seasonal allergies. Doctors have been unable to pinpoint the source of the problem, and one physician suggested the stress of her School Board work might be a contributing factor, Barber said.

Barber is not running for reelection but said she has never considered resigning from the School Board. Her district includes West Las Vegas and portions of North Las Vegas, and she said she is still getting the job done for her constituents because she is able to field the daily calls she receives from parents and School District employees seeking guidance and assistance.

“I’ve thought a couple of times of giving it all up, but I’m just not a quitter,” Barber said.

She said she does miss visiting schools. “Not seeing the children, that’s what’s been difficult for me,” she said.

The only other board member who comes close to Barber’s record for absences is Larry Mason. He has missed 17 of the past year’s 50 meetings.

Mason was diagnosed with leukemia in 2006, and participated in several meetings via telephone from his hospital room while undergoing treatment. He said he sometimes has trouble attending daytime School Board meetings because of his job as a College of Southern Nevada administrator. Mason is the only member of the board who is employed full time.

Still, Mason said, “obviously, attendance (at meetings) is important. I take my responsibilities seriously.”

There is, however, no district regulation governing School Board member attendance. The School Board’s policy calls only for members to strive for “well-attended meetings, and well-prepared participants.”

Barber and her fellow board members are paid whether or not they show up for the meetings, thanks to a change made in the 2007 Legislature. It mandated that each of the School Board members be paid $750 per month. The salary started in September. Prior to that, most of the School Board members received $80 per meeting attended, with the board president and clerk receiving $85.

Even under the prior pay system, however, the School Board members were counted as present at meetings as long as they showed up at any point, or even if they participated by phone.

Barber was already known for leaving meetings early and for retreating to the private anteroom, where the proceedings are shown via closed-circuit TV.

In October 2004, when she was seeking her third term on the School Board, Barber was publicly confronted about her absenteeism. At a School Board meeting, Mary Jo Parise-Malloy, of the activist group Nevadans for Quality Education, told Barber her absences and early departures were unacceptable. Barber and Parise-Malloy later had an angry exchange in a hallway outside the School Board meeting room.

“Her attendance has always been horrible,” Parise-Malloy said last week. “As an educational organization, we’ve been concerned about it.”

There’s little point in Barber’s stepping down now, however, Parise-Malloy said. “She hasn’t represented her constituency in a long time,” she said. “The time to quit was four years ago.”

But Barber still has fans in her district. Beverly Mathis, principal of Kermit S. Booker Elementary School, for example, said Barber has been a powerful advocate and will be sorely missed.

“Mrs. Barber’s No. 1 focus has always been the children,” Mathis said. “Those decisions that she made, they were all based on what is good for children.”