Clark County Superintendent Jesus Jara announced Wednesday that he is making some executive cabinet changes after an external review team found numerous weak spots in the school district’s business operations.

A Clark County Education Association-backed campaign will be spending millions on social media and television ads during the upcoming legislative session — a bid to pressure lawmakers into additional education funding.

Clark County Superintendent Jesus Jara on Friday delivered a raw critique of the school district he inherited seven months ago, identifying a laundry list of problems related to student achievement, business operations and funding.

An evaluation of the programs’ performance was a key condition of lawmakers approving funding for the initiatives and for a tax package to support the new spending. A similar review was released in 2017.

Clark County Superintendent Jesus Jara rattled off a number of problems facing the large school district and then offered a glimpse of his forthcoming strategic plan, which he hopes fixes some of them, during a town hall in Mesquite on Tuesday afternoon.

The Clark County School Board of Trustees has welcomed its new members, making it an all-female governing body for the first time in at least a decade. Board newcomers Irene Cepeda and Danielle Ford were sworn in alongside Trustee Linda Cavazos during a special board meeting Monday evening.

“I remember the governor calling and saying, ‘When we are 75 and in our rocking chairs, I don’t want to look at you and say “I could have done more for education.” So tell me what you need,’” said former state Superintendent Dale Erquiaga.

In the fall, Clark County Superintendent Jesus Jara formed an advisory committee focused on school safety. The group unveiled its wide-ranging recommendations in December and among the proposed infrastructure enhancements and gun safety campaigns was something called a virtual expulsion program. The latter is being considered as a way to change behavior among expelled students and potentially give them a second chance at attending their original school.

Federal aviation officials have predicted that the fleet of commercial drones in the U.S. could quadruple in size from 2017 levels by 2022. It’s one of the big reasons UNLV is introducing a certificate program this winter that, over two weekends, will offer an internationally recognized training program to set them apart in the field.

The holidays can bring out more sneers than cheer. There's the stress of shopping. End-of-year workloads. Long lines everywhere. Frenzied travelers. And the list could go on. Take a peek, though, in a local elementary school, hospital or charity, and human kindness is on full display.

Jayla Scott's life could have been headed toward trouble given all she endured as a child — poverty, foster care and abuse. But the 17-year-old East Career and Technical Academy student didn't let her circumstances define her. She found her happy place at school, where she has excelled and now has multiple universities courting her.

UNR spokeswoman Kerry Garcia confirmed Friday that the school had been classified as an “R1” or school with “very high research activity” by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Ed. Carnegie had listed 120 such schools on Wednesday, when UNLV announced its promotion, but the list had grown to 130 schools by Friday.

Unlike most teens her age, you won’t find Ginger Gould tapping away on a tiny screen to pass the hours. She doesn’t own a cell phone, nor does she want one. The eighth-grader has taken a philosophical stance against the palm-sized devices.

Johnson, who was officially appointed to the university’s top leadership role in 2012 after stints as interim president and provost, told The Nevada Independent on Monday that he’s focused on providing stable leadership to bolster the school’s research programs amid rising enrollment.

UNLV had been explicit since at least 2013 about its goal of getting on the list, which includes the top 2.5 percent of higher education institutions. In 2010, it was designated as Tier 2, or an institution with “high research” that encompasses about 4.5 percent of institutions in the U.S.

More than half of the first-year teachers hired by the Clark County School District ahead of this academic year wound up working in one- or two-star schools. That means new teachers like Julieta Perales must navigate the normal challenges of leading a classroom for the first time while also working with many students who are behind academically.

Nevada’s graduation rate continued its upward climb with the class of 2018, hitting 83 percent and setting a new state record. The statewide graduation rate marked a 2 percentage-point increase over the prior year, according to data released Friday by the Nevada Department of Education.

Andrew Clinger, who was hired by Sandoval prior to the 2017 legislative session after leaving his position in Reno amid sexual harassment allegations, will become the Nevada System of Higher Education’s CFO on Dec. 26, according to an email sent by system Chancellor Thom Reilly earlier this week.