The Clark County School District and the state board that oversees charter schools have taken few measures to improve academic performance at struggling charters. Are they being held to a different standard that traditional public schools?
Amelia Pak-Harvey
Amelia Pak-Harvey’s On Education column appears every other Saturday.
apak-harvey@reviewjournal.com … @AmeliaPakHarvey on Twitter. 702-383-4630
As they deal with a spate of students bringing guns to school and a fatal on-campus shooting, district officials also are trying new approaches to discipline to steer problematic students away from prison.
The Clark County School District last year identified 15,019 homeless youth among its students. The number includes children living with friends, in a hotel or motel or in a shelter.
The teachers, who already put in long days and take work home, will see their caseloads grow from a maximum of 22 students to 24. That will require more paperwork that will take them away from the classroom, they say.
Longstanding animosities hang over the Clark County School District, but there are also signs of a new sense of hope as a new superintendent seeks to harness energy, support and excitement “for CCSD and for the children.”
What drives people — particularly support staff and teachers — to leave? Or maybe the better question is what makes them stay?
The dispute between the Clark County Education Association and the new National Education Association of Southern Nevada has become a back-and-forth mud-slinging fight.
New Superintendent Jesus Jara pledged to comb through the organization to spot inefficiencies — but then he brought in two new higher-ups. Does the district need to reorganize or simply cut the fat?
Despite efforts to narrow the gap between its highest- and lowest-performing students, proficiency and graduation rates for blacks still lag behind the highest-achieving subgroup. One community leader says that’s because the district lacks a strategy.
Trying to follow education funding in the Silver State can leave you cross-eyed, but look hard enough and you’ll see that money sold as a win for education isn’t always that.
Admiration and support for Chief Academic Officer Mike Barton were almost universal, but in a twist that could have come from a Shakespearean tragedy, Barton’s supporters may have caused his downfall.
A nine-page bombshell letter filled with accusations of discrimination and favoritism triggers an investigation that could become an unwelcome distraction for the next Clark County School District superintendent.
Clark County school employees “have never before in their CCSD life seen it this bad,” according to the head of the the administrators union.
On Education columnist Amelia Pak-Harvey reflects on her move two years ago from Massachusetts — which loves to tout itself as best state in the nation for public education — to Nevada, where education often seems like an afterthought.
Recent Clark County School District meetings on a gender-diverse policy drew big crowds, but public discussions of the superintendent search or the recent budget deficit were sparsely attended.
