CCSD School Board Meeting 1

Jasmin Senn

Dr. Warby

EDU 210 – 1002

15 March 2019
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Clark County School District Board Meeting: February 14, 2019

Participating in the CCSD School Board Meeting on February 14, 2019 was an

interesting experience. Lola Brooks, the president of District E, was the lead speaker in this

meeting. Before the meeting started, the room was asked to stand for the flag salute led by

ROTC before reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. Proceeding this, Brooks asked the court room to

take a moment of silence for the lives lost in the recent school shootings. What happened next

really caught my attention. A prayer was held, thanking God for our teachers while also

addressing the families who lost loved ones in school shootings. This completely relates to a

court case I came across in my chapter eleven assignment. In the court case Marsh v. Chambers,

the court was left to decide whether or not the Nebraska Legislature had violated the First

Amendment by opening each session with a prayer. The link between this school board meeting

and that court case lies with a quote stated by Chief Justice Warren Burger who said, “In light of

the unambiguous and unbroken history of more than 200 years, there can be no doubt that the

practice of opening legislative sessions with prayer has become part of the fabric of our society”

(Bill of Rights Institute, 2019). Religion has been around for hundreds of years, forming our

country into what it is today. Even in education, the concept of religion has entwined its way into

modern life as a social norm.

During the first 30 minutes of the CCSD School Board Meeting, I enjoyed listening to the

several public speakers who spoke about non agenda items within the jurisdiction of the board.

Each of the ten speakers was given approximately two minutes to say what they needed to say. I

personally felt that the first speaker, Josh Randal, related to the court case scenarios we have

been given throughout the semester. Josh Randal is a father who has two sons that attend

Canarelli Middle School in Las Vegas, Nevada. After dropping his sons off at 8:15 in the
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morning, he received a call at 12:55 in the afternoon informing him that mace had been released

in one of the classrooms. Randal’s son who happened to be in the adjacent classroom of the room

with the mace was affected, resulting in $10,000 worth of hospital bills. To make matters worse,

doctors had told Randal that his son was allergic to the mace, which is why his eyes were very

red and he had trouble breathing. Randal concluded stating that had the school evacuated the

adjacent classroom before using mace, this situation would not have happened. When

considering the several court cases I have come across while completing the assignments in the

modules, I believe that the court would rule in favor of Randal for this particular case. Randal’s

son was innocently affected and had no involvement in the situation that took place. At the very

least, the son's hospital bills should be paid for in full considering he had no involvement and

suffered through an allergic reaction.

One of the most interesting things I witnessed when observing this meeting was the

voting system put in place. This voting system allowed trustees to vote whether or not they want

a motion to pass. I felt that this related to the court case rulings, giving me a clearer

understanding of how decisions are made by majority rule. These motions allow important

matters to be introduced and considered by the group of trustees on the school board committee.

For example, CCSD’s Superintendent Jesus F. Jara talked about the measures of academic

progress for kindergarten through grade eight. Jara wanted to resurface his ideas about having

what he called a “K8” balance assessment system. He informed the committee that they do not

have an evaluation system that shows the progress of all their students across the entire district,

and that is a problem. Jara was able to address these matters because the committee passed the

motion to discuss it, which follows the same process used in court cases such as the ones we’ve

covered in our assignments throughout the semester.

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Reference Page

Bill of Rights Institute. (2019). Religious Liberty: Landmark Supreme Court Cases. Retrieved

from billofrightsinstitute.org/cases/.