The Clark County School District took a baby step toward reopening when trustees approved a plan Thursday that will allow schools to bring back high-need students in small groups.

The group's priorities for the 2021 legislative session are centered on the health and access to health care for children of all ages, including those not yet born.

The Clark County School District saw a sharp uptick in the number of failing grades issued during the first semester, bolstering evidence that distance education has challenged students learning through a computer screen.

Lance West returned home several years ago to serve as principal of Schurz Elementary School, which sits on the Walker River reservation. He has made it his mission to improve education for Native students. But the pandemic has added a new wrinkle to that quest.

Several rural counties across Nevada have started offering the COVID-19 vaccine to school employees, spurring hope among educators amid the pandemic.

UNR President Brian Sandoval announced new details Tuesday outlining just which faculty and staff would fall under Tier 2 of the state’s coronavirus vaccination plan, a move that comes as higher education officials statewide anticipate the first widely available doses of the vaccine later this month — and amid lingering confusion over who will get the vaccine first.

“Thanks to the unprecedented response of the Connecting Kids coalition, every single Nevada public school student participating in digital learning – no matter where they live or go to school – now has the tools to connect to school from home,” Nevada Superintendent Jhone Ebert said in a statement.

On Monday evening, the new trustees and one returning board member took their oaths of office. The group projected an air of unity and a fresh start.

For Emily Driscoll, 2020 has been the year of “Zoom law school.” 

Tyler Swick doesn’t consider himself a news junkie in any sense. He doesn’t watch much television, subscribe to a newspaper or regularly read news online. The way he looks at it, there’s a “real treasure” in not paying attention to the doom and gloom that often makes headlines.

Board of Regents Chair Mark Doubrava announced in a statement late Friday that two board meetings this year “fell below” standards for “applicable rules of decorum and treating all who participate with respect,” according to an independent review of those incidents by an outside attorney.

The college experience was already one fraught with stress, from financial hardship to worries about jobs to concerns over grades. Now, the pandemic has only compounded these stresses, all while most learning has gone remote.

The Clark County Education Association has reached a tentative agreement with the Clark County School District for a reopening plan that would bring the youngest children back to brick-and-mortar classrooms first.

How does the Clark County School Board of Trustees view Superintendent Jesus Jara’s performance this year? Somewhere between “minimally effective” and “effective.”

County officials verified 148,605 of the 201,935 submitted signatures for the gaming tax increase petition, or about 73.6 percent, and 137,791 of the 190,192 submitted signatures for the sales tax increase petition, about 72.4 percent. The county-level signature verification process is one of the last stops before initiative petitions are deemed successful or unsuccessful. The secretary of state’s office will next certify the results and transfer them to the Legislature, assuming no legal challenges are filed.

A chance conversation with a Silicon Valley CEO years ago changed longtime educator Bob Rodrigo’s view on student success. The business executive shared what kind of skills he looks for in new hires. The first three didn’t necessarily surprise him: people who embrace creativity, believe in being lifelong learners and see opportunity in failure. But it was the fourth trait — empathy — that really started the gears turning in Rodrigo’s mind.

Across Nevada, 82.6 percent of students in the Class of 2020 graduated, down 1.5 percentage points from the prior year, according to data released Thursday by the Nevada Department of Education.

Cox Communications, which is involved in a public-private partnership to bridge the digital divide, announced that it’s doubling the download speed for its low-income internet service called Connect2Compete.

School districts knew many children faced mental health struggles before the pandemic triggered long-term remote learning. Now, educators and mental health professionals are tasked with delivering support to students with issues such as anxiety and depression even as physical classrooms largely remain empty.