Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Student-run forums for School Board candidates elevate the dialogue

Flipping the Script: Student-Led Education Candidate Forums

Participants are shown in this screen grab during a “Flipping the Script: Student-Led Education Candidate Forum” Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2020.

Clark County high school students showed their knowledge of issues impacting education at a student-led candidate forum this week.

“What role will technology play in post COVID-19 education?,” one high school student asked a candidate running for the Clark County School Board.

The virtual event, “Flipping the Script: Student-Led Education Candidate Forums,” was one in a series of discussions led by high school students with candidates running for the School Board and the Nevada State Board of Education. Four have taken place so far, with different students hosting each event.

The forums are sponsored by area nonprofit organizations seeking to engage students in the politics, management and administration behind their education. The series, conducted over Zoom and aired on Facebook, is also intended to give students a voice in who is chosen to make critical decisions about their education.

Matthew Parungao, a Canyon Springs High student, directed one of the forums and ensured his peers knew their assigned tasks — introductions, naming the sponsors, asking questions or for closing remarks. The forums ended up being more organized than some of the adult-run election debates that consist of candidates digressing, yelling over their allotted time, and speaking out of turn.

“I just want to make sure everyone knows what they’re doing, so it’s not like, ‘Oh, I thought you were doing that,” Parungao said.

Students gave candidates a rundown of how the event would proceed and told them they would be cut off if they went over the two minutes they were allotted to answer each question.

“Sorry, your time is up,” one of the student moderators said promptly interrupting a candidate’s speech with a nervous chuckle.

Parungao joined Taylor DeGourville, a Rancho High student, and Nicole Torres, a Shadow Ridge High student, in hosting the forum for School Board District C candidates — Jeffrey Proffitt, a business manager with Sheet Metal Workers Local 88, and Katie Williams, a U.S. Army veteran.

The students began with asking the candidates what qualities they would bring to the board and what made them decide to run.

“I understand how to get things done in our political system,” said Proffitt, who touted his experience serving on the boards of community organizations including Workforce Connections, the Nevada State Apprenticeship Council and the Moapa Valley Fire Department.

Williams said she decided to run because she saw areas where School Board governing could achieve more and wanted to contribute to that improvement. “Not that everyone is doing a terrible job,” she said.

The sessions revealed the students’ familiarity with issues in the school district such as racism, bullying, mental health and problems with distance education.

DeGourville, who is Black, asked the candidates about schools in low socioeconomic areas being underfunded.

“Do you believe that is racism?” she asked, prompting a discussion about systemic and institutional discrimination.

“CCSD has done a bad job at promoting and (employing) Black and brown administrators and teachers,” Proffitt said.

The student moderators asked candidates how they would ensure CCSD students are competitive in their academic performance on a national scale, talking about large disparities in academic achievement across the district and below average graduation rates.

“Every student is their own individual. How can the School Board support every student including those who don’t excel in school?,” Torres asked.

When students asked candidates for their opinion on how the school district handled the pandemic and what they might have done differently, Proffitt said teachers should have had more time to prepare for the fall semester. Williams said she didn’t think schools should have ever been shut down due to the sheer number of students without connectivity across the district.

Proffitt said all rural schools should open full-time and self-contained special-needs classes should go back to the physical classroom. He said schools should then open in phases starting with elementary schools followed by middle and high schools.

“We can be fully opened Jan. 1, if not sooner,” he said.

The candidates also talked about giving individual schools more autonomy, decreasing class sizes and increasing funding for mental health and social services.

“I want to give you guys everything you ask for,” Williams told the students.

The event was hosted by nonprofits Opportunity 180, Nevada Partners, Teach for America, Leaders in Training, Guinn Center for Policy Priorities, New American Leaders, HOPE for Nevada, Democracy Prep at the Agassi Campus and Nevada PTA.

"The students worked hard and did everything on their own with little oversight. Probably one of the highlights of my career," said Athar Haseebullah, director of strategic initiatives at Opportunity 180.