Now that the dust has settled on the legislative session (which ended four weeks ago), Team Indy is looking back at key issues that stood out to us, including K-12 education, as well as what promises Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo was able to keep and which ones he fell short on. 

In other news, the State Board of Education welcomed a new student member last week — Evana Lan, a rising junior at Reno High School. 

And Clark County School Board President Irene Bustamante Adams announced at the board’s latest meeting that the district’s Chief Communications Officer Tod Story is moving on. Story, who previously led the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada, said his last day is Monday, but couldn’t say yet where he’s headed next.  

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

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News briefs

🗳️ State education board member running for Henderson City Council — Nevada State Board of Education member Annette Dawson Owens announced last week she’s running for Henderson City Council Ward 3 against the incumbent, Carrie Cox.

According to her campaign announcement last Tuesday, Dawson Owens has the endorsement of Henderson Mayor Michelle Romero and Councilmembers Dan Stewart, Jim Seebock and Monica Larson. 

Dawson Owens was appointed to the board in March by Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo. Dawson Owens, a former Nevada educator, also works as the community engagement manager for the Children’s Advocacy Alliance of Nevada. 

In 2024, Dawson Owens unsuccessfully ran for Assembly District 29 as a Republican, but lost against Assm. Joe Dalia (D-Henderson).

⚠️ Vegas making road safety improvements following student’s death — The City of Las Vegas is adding overhead pedestrian-activated flashers and other road safety enhancements near Arbor View High School in Las Vegas this summer after student McKenzie Scott was killed in a crash involving a suspected drunk driver weeks before her graduation. 

After Scott’s death in May, the city conducted a traffic study near the school, located on Buffalo Drive between Grand Teton and Whispering Sands drives, which found all of the traffic safety devices on Buffalo, including the crosswalk, signage and school zone flashers, were functioning properly and are appropriate for the traffic and pedestrian patterns on the roadway. 

After the study, the city decided to add overhead pedestrian-activated flashers and signage and repaint the crosswalk on Buffalo this summer.  

The city and the Clark County School District will also be adding a new crosswalk on Whispering Sands between Buffalo and Tenaya Way, as well as installing permanent concrete roadway dividers.

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School spotlight

Sparks graduates say Paiute languages classes brought them closer to their culture

Before she started high school, recent graduate Cecilia Gossett said she only knew a few words in Paiute. 

During her junior and senior years, Gossett, who is Northern Paiute and Washoe and is a member of the Reno-Sparks Indian Colony, decided to take the Paiute language classes offered at Spanish Springs High School to get closer to her culture. She said they were the best classes she took in high school. 

“My teacher brought in other people who spoke the language in other dialects, and taught us traditions all around Nevada,” she said in a Tuesday interview. “We made baskets, we made our own ribbon skirts, we did some traditional dances, we ate traditional food. It's the experience I'll cherish for the rest of my life.”

Jayla Ramirez, another recent Spanish Springs graduate, had a similar experience. Ramirez, who is from the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe, had learned a little bit of Paiute from her family members, but not enough to fully converse. 

Earlier this month, Gossett and Ramirez became the first two students to earn the new State Seal of Biliteracy in Northern Paiute. 

“It’s really nice just to have knowledge of the language and possibly pass it down to later generations,” Ramirez said. 

The State Seal of Biliteracy Program was created from a 2015 bill, AB166, to recognize students who have attained a high level of proficiency in speaking, reading and writing in one or more languages in addition to English. The State Seal of Biliteracy is affixed to their diplomas and their receipt of the seal is noted on their transcript.

Northern Paiute — one of Nevada’s native languages — was added to the list of 57 languages recognized through the State Seal of Biliteracy this school year through a collaboration between the Nevada Department of Education, the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe, the Reno-Sparks Indian Colony and the Washoe County School District (WCSD). 

More than 2,000 students earned the seal during the 2023-24 school year, the latest data available. The majority of those seals, 88 percent, were in Spanish. Other languages include Japanese and French. 

WCSD is one of four school districts — including Elko, Humboldt and Mineral — that offers Northern Paiute or Western Shoshone language classes at some of their schools. In addition to Spanish Springs, Paiute language classes are offered at Wooster High School in Reno and Reed High School in Sparks. 

Last year, WCSD was awarded a three-year, $1.2 million federal grant to provide Northern Paiute language instruction at Natchez Elementary School, located on the Pyramid Lake Paiute Reservation. 

But prior to this school year, there was no state exam that students could take to prove their proficiency in any of the Great Basin languages. 

“The Seal of Biliteracy is very important as far as the language revitalization, the culture and keeping that heritage, which was once spoken fluently within our communities and then lost through boarding schools,” said WCSD Native American Culture and Education Program Coordinator Fawn Hunter.  

Hunter said she hopes that students who earn the seal will further their education in the Paiute language and pass it on to the next generation. 

“I really hope that they are able to bring it, not only in their own home and teach their own families later as they grow into mature adults, but also bring it back to our school district … into our classrooms and teach other students that want to learn the same,” Hunter said. 

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

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Reading Assignments

A property tax proposal aimed to fix Nevada's chronic school shortfalls. Why did it die?

Lawmakers this session were hesitant to pass a measure that advocates said would have helped the state improve its K-12 education funding. 

Events

🎒Back to School resource fair — Saturday, July 19, 10 a.m.-2 p.m. 

Location: 3225 S. Rainbow Blvd, Suite 101, Las Vegas

The first 30 students at the Asian Community Development Council’s event will get a free 10-pound sack of rice (student ID is required).

Featured social media post 

🏀 Looking forward to seeing the opening of this new facility.