Good morning, and welcome to the Indy Education newsletter. I’m Rocio Hernandez, The Nevada Independent’s K-12 education reporter. 

This newsletter provides a recap of the latest education stories and highlights interesting educators, students, programs and other events and resources throughout the state. Click here to subscribe to the newsletter and receive it each week via email.

I want to hear from you! Send questions, comments or suggestions on what I should be covering to [email protected]. 

News briefs

🏫 Washoe County superintendent finalists make their case before school board — The Washoe County School Board had the opportunity last week to grill the five finalists vying to become the district’s next superintendent — who will be the district’s fifth in the past 10 years. 

Some of the questions centered around whether the candidates would commit to staying with the district “for the long haul” and what it would take to keep them. The district’s most recent superintendent, Susan Enfield, resigned less than two years after she was hired. 

The district is inviting community members to share their thoughts on the finalists in an anonymous online survey. The survey will be open through May 3, with the results made public on May 8. 

The school board is expected to make its selection in mid-May, and have the new superintendent start on July 1. 

✏️ City of Las Vegas accepting school supplies in lieu of parking fine payments — Drivers will be able to pay off certain parking infractions issued by the City of Las Vegas between May 1 and June 14 by donating school supplies. The supplies, which can include pencils, rulers and scissors, must be new and have a cash value equal or greater than the amount of the fine. 

Qualifying citations include overstaying paid time on a parking meter, taking two spaces or parking a vehicle in the same place for more than 72 hours. Other citations may also be eligible.

The supplies must be dropped off at the city’s Parking Services Offices located at 350 S. City Parkway within 30 days of the citation date. A purchase receipt for the donation is required. The supplies will be donated to the Public Education Foundation’s Teacher Superstore. 

The Big Story

Washoe teachers union endorses two of four incumbents in school board races

The Washoe Education Association is signaling its desire for a shift on the school board by supporting two candidates whom the teachers union’s president says demonstrated a willingness to work with his group during recent interviews. 

During this election cycle, the union is backing Board President Beth Smith and Trustee Alex Woodley, as well as challengers running against Trustees Jeff Church and Diane Nicolet. 

WEA President Calen Evans said the union was impressed with Perry Rosenstein, one of the six candidates running against Nicolet for the at-large District G seat. According to his biography on the county’s elections page, he has experience starting and growing two technology businesses and currently works as a substitute teacher. 

Evans said Nicolet, who recently retired as the director of the Truckee Meadows Community College’s E.L. Cord Foundation Child Care Center, has been hesitant to engage with the union and doesn’t appear to be a strong supporter of the union. Nicolet said in an emailed statement that she supports the district’s teachers and has worked diligently to ensure that she’s not beholden to any one employee group. 

Evans said the union is supporting Christine Hull over Church and a third candidate in the District A race because of Hull’s past experience as a teacher and her current work as the program director for the Nevada Center for Civic Engagement, which focuses on bringing civics and history education to K-12 classrooms. 

“Overall, we want trustees who we believe truly support public education and value the voices of our educators, and so we feel that Christine Hull is clearly the best candidate for District A in that regard,” Evans said. 

Church, who’s known for his conservative views and has had a controversial tenure on the board since he joined in 2021, wasn’t surprised he didn’t receive the union’s support. 

“Dog bites man is not news,” he said in an emailed statement. “If the WEA endorsed a conservative, that would be front page news.”

School Spotlight

Catholic school’s work study program providing high schoolers with experience, tuition subsidy

When 17-year-old Evelyn Saldana graduates from high school next year, her resume will include work experience in a casino human resources department, a law firm and a radio station. 

Saldana was able to get a taste of these different workplaces through the corporate work study program at Cristo Rey St. Viator College Preparatory High School in North Las Vegas, which exposes students to career opportunities with partner employers such as UnitedHealthcare, Henderson Libraries and Southwest Gas. The school is currently accepting student applications for next school year.

In turn, these partners pay the Catholic school an annual fee that goes toward subsidizing students’ tuition, which can be anywhere from $25 to $250 a month depending on family income. 

“So students are literally earning their education here while also being exposed to a variety of different career paths,” said Lisa Burkhead, the president of the school and the state’s former lieutenant governor.

The school, located near the College of Southern Nevada’s North Las Vegas campus, is part of the Cristo Rey Network, which includes 35 schools across the country and aims to support students from low-income households. Nearly all of the North Las Vegas school’s 220 students are students of color, and predominantly identify as Hispanic or Latino.

The work study program is similar to an internship program. Saldana, who works at the Ellis Island Casino & Brewery’s human resources department, said she’s learning about how benefits work and what to look for in resumes as well as soft skills such as communication. 

“I've learned so many transferable skills, like phone calls, emails, some things that seem so simple, that really aren't, that I feel like I need for a future job,” Saldana said. 

She said her experiences working at Ellis Island and other work sites have also helped the once-shy student come out of her shell. Saldana said she now wants to study criminal justice and psychology in college.

“I didn't really want to talk to anybody. I was very closed off. I knew what I liked, and I was very set on that,” she said. “But now I learned that public speaking is something that I'm really good at and [I wouldn’t have] learned that if I hadn't gone through the process of answering phones on my first day of work.” 

Have a student or staffer who we should feature in the next edition of School Spotlight? Share your nominations with me at [email protected].

Viewing Assignment

Schools show off fruits of their labor at Vegas student farmers market

Check out our video on the Giant Student Farmers Market in Las Vegas a few weeks ago, which was featured in last week’s edition. Spoiler: there are cute chicks 🐤

Extra Credit

CCSD retirees allowed to fill ‘critical’ teaching jobs

The Clark County School Board voted unanimously Thursday to seek to offer vacant jobs to qualified retirees if the district can provide proof, under a state law, that it has exhausted attempts to recruit nonretirees, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported. 

Tennessee advances bill that will allow teachers to carry firearms in schools

Tennessee teachers and school staff may soon be able to carry handguns on campus because of a bill passed by the General Assembly, Nashville Public Radio reported. 

Events   

🍎 Subcommittee on Education Accountability — Wednesday, May 1, 9 a.m. 

The agenda includes a discussion on the Commission on School Funding’s 10-year plan to meet optimal funding for K-12 education and presentations from school districts on how the increased K-12 funding approved during the 2023 legislative session has affected students, teachers and support staff. 

🍎 State Board of Education meeting — Wednesday, May 1, 2 p.m.   

The agenda includes a presentation on the board’s planned high school start time survey.

🍎 Clark County School Board work session — Wednesday, May 1, 4 p.m.   

The agenda includes a discussion on the tentative timeline for the superintendent search process.  

Featured social media post

This feat was made possible through a 2023 bill, AB519, which appropriated $64.5 million to build a new school for the Duck Valley Indian Reservation community after tribal members told lawmakers their current school was in “unacceptable” condition. 

This story was updated on 4/30/24 at 12:04 p.m. to change the school's location in the headline.