Running head: CCSD BOARD MEETING 1

CCSD Board Meeting

Monica Chavez

Education 210: Nevada Law

Ms. Herington

8, April 2016
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CCSD Board Meeting

Meetings are a great opportunity to hear about what others think of the school education

and what the district can do to enhance our education. People and students from Nevada come

and express themselves in these meetings and are given the chance to be heard by the district.

These are regular meetings with a reasonable amount of people that attend them. On January 14,

2016 s a Board Meeting was held. During this Board Meeting issues such as: Holiday

Observances, Anti-Bullying Policies, Least Restrictive Environment and Scope of Negotiations

were presented.

To start off the discussion, a young woman from Desert Pines High school talked about

how her school raised $1,150 towards a holiday at her school called Wishmas. She cried how

this made the school feel more like a community because of everyone participating and the

feeling of raising the money for those in need was rewarding. Although the school Board

declines schools of religious symbols in public education because it remains

controversial. (McCabe, 47) she said that this could be helpful in raising money for the school.

This topic is to be used outside of school but if there is a good cause to the event then the school

should embrace the thought of Observing Holidays in certain situations such as this one.

Next was a man referring to the Anti-Bullying Policy. He has been to previous meetings

about Anti-bullying and aided in ways to stop bullying. He worked with the Superintendent and

his staff regarding the reporting of bullying incidents and parental notifications. In July

SB504, Haleys Law came into effect. It consists of a 24-hour Bullying Prevention Hotline that

contains a texting system. While talking he gave a suggestion to the Board. On the school
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website there is a No Bullying Zone section, yet nothing to help those who are being bullied.

This man thinks if the link and number of the 24-Hour Bullying Prevention Hotline were under

that part on the website, parents could see and help their children.

After he was finished speaking, a woman who is an autism teacher at an elementary

school spoke to the Board and explained how she is concerned with her classroom needing more

assistance. For the Least Restrictive Environment there are two adults in the classroom with her

eight children. These children are required to take grade level tests, but she does not feel that she

has the help to get each student to be at that level. She believes each student needs one on one to

reach their full potential. As (McCabe, 155) states a general education classroom with

various support services is not being met. For these classrooms more people are needed

because each student is different and requires more attention to reach their peak.

Lastly a woman discussed the Scope of the new contract for teachers and substitutes.

From her experience of being with the district for 24 years she has seen and been through hard

times and freezes in pay. When she first started with the district, she made more money than she

has the last five years. She was pondering where is this money coming from if there was a

freeze? Her input was part of negotiating because a public employee argues meaningful

negotiations. (McCabe 224) As she is letting out her thoughts she is trying to negotiate while in

respect to wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment. (McCobe 224)

While watching this Board meeting I learned new information. What took me by surprise

was that students as well as people in the community have an opportunity to voice their concerns

and tell the Board how they feel about their experiences. I expected a Board meeting to only
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have Board members discussing District issues. This was a turn of events that I enjoyed because

students, teachers, and parents are given a chance to express their personal insights on what is

going on in schools. Learning about how Holiday Observances, Anti-Bullying Policies, Least

Restrictive Environment and Scope of Negotiations are faced still is interesting. With more

people expressing their thoughts on what could improve education, the Board members could

help make education the best that it can be.

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References

School Board Meetings | Clark County School District. (14, January 2016). Retrieved April 07,

2016, from http://ccsd.net/trustees/meeting-agendas/