School Board Meeting 1

School Board Meeting Assignment

Shelby R. Olson

College of Southern Nevada

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Abstract

In viewing my first school board meeting I was shocked to hear some of what was

brought up by concerned teachers. I viewed the Oct 17th meeting livestream, and mainly focused

on the points brought up by the teachers who spoke. Issues that I had no idea about were being

repeated and emphasised with passion and concern. I had a hard time following along with most

everything else, as they built off of previous motions and used terms I have never heard.

However, despite getting lost several times, it was extremely eye opening to see such a

discussion among educators and board members.

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Your Full Title of Your Paper

Clark County School District does not have the best reputation in my experience, so

going into my first view of a school board meeting I had no idea what to expect. I was shocked at

times, concerned and found myself full of questions quite often. However, the biggest thing that

stood out to me was the passion and genuine care that our teachers have for their students and

each other.

Right off the bat, having just covered religion in schools, it astounded me to see that a

Chaplain had been brought in to say a prayer at the beginning. I assumed that since there can’t

even be prayers recited at graduations or student led prayer before sports games without violating

the establishment clause, that there wouldn’t be any prayer in any educational setting. Especially

since it wasn’t a general prayer that could be for multiple religions, it was specifically Christian.

In my opinion, that could definitely be considered school endorsement of a specific religion, but

since it is not a school sponsored event I suppose it doesn’t count.

Autumn Tampa spoke first and brought up several points that stood out to me. First, she

emphasized how she feels that teachers need to be viewed and treated in a more professional

light. She also brought up how she is grateful for the three percent raise that teachers in the

district are receiving, as well a four percent increase in regards to insurance coverage. She also

mentioned how teachers must complete at least five years of teaching before receiving a raise.

I’m not sure if I understood what she said or meant because I thought that correlated with tenure

which happens after around three years of teaching.

The next speaker was Vicki Crydell who spoke with a level of passion and anger that

surprised me. She focused on the “crisis” of an extremely diminished substitute teacher pool and

how it is negatively affecting both students and teachers. She mentions how teachers are having
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to make decisions that put their students, themselves, as well as their own children at risk. When

their child is ill, they have to make the choice of whether they make their class suffer by possibly

being split or send their sick child to school or daycare. She mentions how she has spoken to

many individuals who have applied for substitute positions but never get contacted do to lack of

processors. This is one of the main issues involved in Clark County’s teachers leaving.

Alexis Salt was an additional speaker who focused on the lack of substitute availabilities.

She mentioned how fellow teachers have coined the term “hypothetical benefits” which are

benefits that teachers have in theory, but not in everyday practice. The main one being the ability

to take a sick day. She supports her argument with anecdotal evidence from other teachers who

have expressed being pressured into not taking any sick days by other faculty members as well as

other teachers claiming to have hundreds of sick days piled up. I’m not sure how this relates to

any laws we have read about in the text, but I feel like there is a definite overlooking of this

issue. It is dangerous to be having teachers subject their students to illness or to be forced to

work with less than perfect mental health day. Teachers should be pressured into taking care of

themselves for the sake of the students, not the opposite.

The last main issue that was brought up by four speakers, Michelle Rasmasin, Melissa

Cabatta, Estella Serrano and Claudia Navan was the overcrowding at Global High School.

Global provides english language learners a specialized education to help them transition into

speaking english and meet other school requirements. They all mentioned how their school was

on a plan that was going to award them with a new building that could hold all of their students

and more, since they have been having to turn away families needing their help. They were

concerned and rightfully angry since they are not being included in the conversation of what will

happen with their school and students. Especially in such a diverse city I feel like providing an
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adequate education for english learners is a high priority and should be considered a lawful duty

of our school district. A duty that is currently being breached.

After the speakers made their points, I got extremely confused and lost. The board started

discussing other issues that I didn’t recognize as something I have any knowledge on so I

stopped watching. However, I feel like I have a completely different understanding of how our

school district views the opinions of its teachers as well as how it treats them voicing their

concerns. It worries me how a board that is elected by the community can seem so out of touch

with the issues our teachers face daily. I can only hope with new teachers and perspectives that

change can be made and teachers can apply all of their focus to teaching their students instead of

worrying about sacrifices they have to make.

References

Underwood, J. L., & Webb, D. L. (2006). School Law for Teachers Concepts and Applications.