Clark County School Watch

Eric, Seems like you were better off in good ole G...

2009-11-19T20:50:49.304-08:00

Eric, Seems like you were better off in good ole GC. Talk about out of the frying pan into the fire!

Wow Impressive! Your blog is very informative. How...

2009-11-13T20:42:10.600-08:00

Wow Impressive!
Your blog is very informative. However, it is pretty hard task but your post and experience serve and teach me how to handle and make it more simple and manageable.
Thanks for the tips… Best regards.
dissertations

Wonderful article,thanks for putting this together...

2009-11-12T23:36:16.708-08:00

Wonderful article,thanks for putting this together! "This is obviously one great post. Thanks for the valuable information and insights you have so provided here. Keep it up!"
speech writing

Anyone who voted to have this proposal even consid...

2009-11-11T13:54:40.350-08:00

Anyone who voted to have this proposal even considered needs to be fired or removed. This is a disgrace to the institution and shows the lack of creativity in the leadership. So choclates didn't work? Try selling something else...how grades was seriously considered reveals the corrupt mentality present on that council and administration.

Dear School Board - In the federal case of Lavoni ...

2009-10-25T02:57:29.744-07:00

Dear School Board - In the federal case of Lavoni T. Kidd (a Las Vegas parent), the ACLU won a favorable judgment for Mr. Kidd. That is, government immunity no longer exists in matters where government employees (elected, appointed, hired) do not conduct verification of internal investigations. That is, if due to a government agent's lack of due diligence, a crime occurs to a person, the person can collect damages. Then, in a landmark decision by the federal courts in the same matter, the person can sue the government agent individually.

This is significant! We have complained to the CCSD, including board members, for years. Now, because of their neglect (lack of due diligence), we get to sue them personally.

CCSD employees,YOU ARE HEREBY NOTICED - Do not transfer, hide, conceal or act in any manner of neglect or fraud to transfer, hide, or conceal public, private, and personal assets.

It appears as though from what you say, CCSD staff...

2009-10-02T11:56:20.367-07:00

It appears as though from what you say, CCSD staffers operate in a culture of fear also and are afraid to speak publicly. This was a similar situation in the school district I lived/worked in/covered while in North Carolina, where teachers could not speak out for fear of their jobs.

49th in the nation demands action. I look forward to opening the door of communication so we can go from worst to first.

Article on time to speak at the board. At least on...

2009-10-01T22:35:24.841-07:00

Article on time to speak at the board. At least one of the reasons why this web site exists is that in 2007 the old board decided that i had not cared to hear so much public input. Obviously they realized that cutting maximum time down to five minutes eliminates much of what can be proven. tough to prove anything in 5 minutes. Near imposable to make a sufficient statement in 2 or 3. So the "Off topic" items give the public 2 minutes now.
The fight to keep Trustee email secret continues at taxpayer expense. If you sit through enough Board meetings you begin thinking that either the board members are omniscient or there is some way that they are getting an understanding outside the public view. Of course they would be able to meet/talk privately within the limits of the open meetings law but it feels like they have come to some agreements when they vote. The only way you can come to wonderment about this is to have been to the prior board meetings and know that there was no prior agreement meeting. If you were just at the one meeting then you could think that maybe it was discussed at a prior meeting. But it was not. So when did the agreement come? Surely they were smart enough not to use the emails? http://www.lvrj.com/news/52636352.html
Interestingly I wrote the paragraph above in about early September 2009. During the last week of September an article was published http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2009/sep/28/rule-works-try-keep-comments-meetings-civil/ regarding the lack of civility during the Board meetings. I think that the article is balanced except that it ignores one fundamental issue. That issue is that the Board meetings are set up so that if the Trustees don't want to hear what you have to say then you don't get enough time to make a coherent explanation. However, if they do want to hear it then the chair frequently allows you to prattle on forever. Being allowed to speak at length does not mean that they agree with you. They will let you babble on if you are obviously an idiot too. But if you get up to the mike and start presenting hard evidence of wrong doing then you are cut short before you finish.... Just my opinion. Perhaps there would be more decorum if the Trustees actually voted with the audience occasionally. But the Trustees vote as a block following through on the back room deals of the bureaucracy almost 100% of the time. So after a few dozen meetings the audience gets pretty fed up with being ignored. I do think that some of the new Trustees don't recall the record on public speaking on the issues that they are voting against and so don't understand why the audience is so frustrated. The audience can tell that the bureaucracy is not telling the truth or telling the "Truth and a half." followed by the board voting on that misinformation.
K
TalkToCCSD.com

Hi Erik In reply to your contact on my blog.... We...

2009-10-01T22:06:05.062-07:00

Hi Erik
In reply to your contact on my blog.... Welcome Erik
My issue is that we are 49th in the nation. Seems like doing anything right would have a pretty good chance of moving us up. Downside risk being minimal from here. While I spend almost every school board meeting talking about the shenanigans of the Facilities department there are plenty of things not working beyond that. I set this site up about one month ago to reach out to any school board members or Bond Oversight members who were interested. It also addresses the teachers who are afraid to speak out and many of whom have contacted me anonymously in the past. Maybe they will speak out or maybe they figure it's a put up job from the district.

I will add a link to this blog on the TalkToCCSD.com web site.

Ken
TalkToCCSD.com

I haven't read about Obama's plan, but I&#...

2009-09-28T17:48:36.113-07:00

I haven't read about Obama's plan, but I'd personally like to see a 200 day school year. That would leave all the current days off during the year as well as a two-month summer vacation, and I do think most students would benefit from an increase in the number of school days...as long as they were filled with quality instruction.

Although not directly on point re No Child Left Be...

2009-09-27T13:15:32.389-07:00

Although not directly on point re No Child Left Behind, chk out my latest piece, "We Try Harder." http://tinyurl.com/ybbrep7

It's amazing that the Triad had the quasi-mono...

2009-09-27T13:14:52.571-07:00

It's amazing that the Triad had the quasi-monopoly which it did for so long. It was bound to happen.

good luck with this, i am sure you were itching to...

2009-09-22T20:47:54.960-07:00

good luck with this, i am sure you were itching to get back in.