Surprise special meeting catches some School Board members off guard

By Ian Whitaker

Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2016 | 9 p.m.

Despite agreement that they would discuss the issue next year, some members of the Clark County School Board appear to be mounting a last-ditch effort to appoint an outside consultant viewed by some as a way to sidestep Superintendent Pat Skorkowsky.

According to an agenda posted on the school district’s website, trustees will meet in an unprecedented special session on Monday night to discuss the possibility of appointing former Las Vegas mayor and current Caesars executive Jan Jones Blackhurst as a pro-bono consultant to the board. They could also vote on the hiring of a lawyer who would serve just the School Board.

However, at least one trustee and the superintendent himself are scheduled to be out of town for the meeting, prompting concerns that a contingent of trustees are taking advantage of a lull in public attention during the winter break to vote on the controversial proposal.

“I’m frankly shocked,” said Trustee Carolyn Edwards, who is leaving for a family trip to Maryland this weekend. “This is really like pulling a fast one.”

The proposal, which was the subject of a heated discussion last week, was to appoint an “agent” to serve as the board’s representative specifically on the ongoing reorganization of the district and the upcoming rollout of a state charter school authority. That caused strong pushback from Skorkowsky, who said it would violate his contract with the district, as well as from some trustees and community members.

When the issue came up at a meeting last Wednesday, Skorkowsky told the board that he had heard rumors that some trustees had talked with Public Education Foundation President Judi Steele about appointing Jan Jones to the role.

“This may create some conflict in the future,” he said, noting the PEF’s ongoing partnership with the district. “I’d really like to hear how this rumor got started.”

Trustees, including Chris Garvey and board President Linda Young, who appears to have scheduled the meeting, warned Skorkowsky against repeating the rumors at the time, implying that they might not have been true. But Trustee Patrice Tew, currently in a lame-duck period as Trustee-elect Lola Brooks prepares to take her seat, on more than one occasion used the word “she” when talking about a possible outside consultant.

Young, Garvey and Tew appear to be the main supporters of the plan. None of them returned requests for comment.

The trustees only need one more vote to pass Monday’s proposal. Trustee Kevin Child, who has long been critical of the reorganization, could be the swing vote.

Child, who is currently battling his own controversy regarding threatening behavior aimed at district officials, said he wasn’t behind the move but didn’t see anything wrong with the meeting as long as it didn’t violate the law.

“As long as it’s notified, we can do a meeting anytime we want,” he said. “I’m willing to listen to what they have to say.”

News of the special meeting slowly trickled down to trustees Tuesday night. The consensus among board members last week was that trustees would hold off on discussing or voting on the issue until January, when Brooks would be in office and able to vote on the issue. Brooks could not be reached for comment.

“It’s not aligned with the preference that I expressed at the meeting,” said Trustee Erin Cranor, among those who expressed skepticism toward the plan. “I don’t remember anything like this happening before.”

A district spokeswoman confirmed that Skorkowsky was scheduled to be out of town on vacation next week, winter break plans that had been at least a month in the works.

“I think it hurts the public’s perception in terms of what are we doing and are we being reasonable,” Edwards said. “I just don’t see the urgency for a special meeting during holiday break.”