Why are you running for CCSD Trustee? What is your vision of success for this role? 

I am running for CCSD trustee because I am a former elementary school teacher in the district, an alumni of the district and the mother of a toddler. Between 2018 and 2019 I worked as a long term substitute and a certified temporary tutor for a Title 1 school (low income), additionally I have worked as a substitute at all levels, elementary, middle and high school. From 2019-2021 I worked as a licensed teacher and made the extremely difficult decision to leave the classroom after losing my father to COVID and giving birth to my daughter within a 72 hour period. Even though I stepped away from teaching, I never stopped fighting for our teachers, staff and students. My experiences a teacher and a student have opened my eyes to the needs of our students and staff. My siblings and cousins are all CCSD alumni, I graduated in 1997 and I am sad to say that many of the issues we had then still persist and many have gotten worse. I believe that enough is enough and it’s time to move our students away from 49 out of 50 in funding and 47 out of 50 in academics.

My vision of success in this role is to be transparent with the public, include community feedback and opinions when it comes to policy and make the best decisions for our students. Our current school board operates on model of secrecy and if I am elected that will be one of my priorities, people deserve to know what decisions are being made and how. Success also means working with our state legislators and all stakeholders, our students need to be college and career ready, right now they are not. In a city with so much money, success means spending more on our students per head every year. It’s an embarrassment that Mississippi and Alabama fund their students more per head that Nevada does. It’s time to put students and staff first.

How do you define student success? What experience do you have and what role do you intend to play in advocating for student success?

Student success is defined by students reaching their full potential, not just academically, but intellectually too. Because so many of our students are behind in reading and math, the definition of student success for me is getting the larger majority of students up to par on a national level. Unfortunately, in my experiences teaching in our district I realized that there is very little access to mental health care and social services for our students. The city of Las Vegas has a high poverty rate and many of our students don’t have basic necessities to survive. Student success means that children are fed, they have clean clothes to wear to school and someone they can talk to outside of their homes, school is the ultimately safe haven for a child, our havens need to be stronger.

Advocating for student success means providing more licensed educators, access to mental health care and social services, having a school board that listens and working with our community members to give our students and staff all the support they deserve.

On the 2022 National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP), fourth-grade students, in Nevada, scored 6 points lower in math and 7 points lower in reading when compared to 2019. If elected, how can you use your position to ensure Nevada stops following this national trend and starts leading the way for student outcomes?

Statistics are incredibly important to see where are and where we have been. The lower scores in 2019 compared to 2022 omit the reality of COVID and the impact it had on education. Leading the way to better student outcomes starts with access to mental health care and social services. The lockdown and pandemic had a serious impact on everyone, children lost parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles. I taught online from 2020 to 2021 and each month at a minimum one student lost a family member. Many students are still battling depression and parents in low income neighborhoods are still working non stop to recover from the impacts of the pandemic. I have been learning from educators in New Orleans as Hurricane Katrina in 2005 caused a major disruption in education, I believe in learning from the past and not repeating mistakes. Additionally, working with community groups and finding more resources for tutoring students individually or in small groups will also be a way to close the learning gaps caused by the pandemic.

What, if any, barriers currently exist to educational excellence and equity for every student? If elected to the Board of Trustees, how will you help eliminate these barriers?

The barriers that currently exist for educational excellence and equity for every student are extremely different based on the zip code the school is located, the race of the parents and students, family education and income. To put it in simple terms, the schools in Henderson and Summerlin have access to more technology, resources and teacher retention. Many of the schools in East Las Vegas and North Las Vegas don’t have the same amenities. As a trustee, I have no control over home life, but I can make sure to get our schools on the lower end of the income scale are up to par with the schools in the more affluent sides of town. Equity in education to me is students having access, giving ALL students access to a high quality education regardless of race or income is a priority for me. We have some of the best schools in Henderson, I want to make them better and use that model to bring up the other schools in our district.

What do you believe are the top three most persistent challenges facing the CCSD Board of Trustees? What is an example of a bold approach you would propose to address one of those challenges?

The top three most persistent challenges facing the CCSD Board of trustees:

1) The board is completely split, it seems the can’t agree on anything.

2) The firing and rehiring of superintendent Jara made a complete joke of our school board, people have lost respect and hope in our leadership.

3) The lack of transparency regarding the work the board does, adds the the disappointment that constituents feel toward the board.

A bold approach I would take is to show the public the issues that the board is reviewing, give people the OPTION to have their faces recorded during board meetings if they so choose and apply the recommendations that are being made by community members as best as possible.

In January four appointed members were added to the Board of Trustees. How will you leverage the expertise of these appointed members to best serve students? Do you think the appointed members should be voting members? 

I think the best way to leverage their expertise is to make sure that their recommendations are being heard and included in decision making. In order for appointed members to have voting rights, they should be voted in by the public.

By giving “appointed” board members the same powers as elected members, it completely diminishes the power and purpose of the school board. If the county wants to have more than 7 voting members then the bylaws should be rewritten and the people deserve to have a vote on those other members.

Research suggests that more than 50% of a board meeting should be focused on student outcomes. How would you ensure the board allocates this amount of time to student outcomes?

I would work to structure the meetings so that the first 50% of the board meeting is focused on student outcomes and the rest of the agenda is followed after this has been covered. We could also offer a variety of ways for people to add public comment after student outcomes are discussed. Far too much time and energy has been spent on higher ups and administration, that’s why I want to put students and staff first.

If elected to the Board, how would you approach challenging conversations and/or criticisms that might arise from fellow Board members, stakeholders, and the broader community?

As a former school teacher I have been blamed for many things that were not my fault, I listened to the concerns, made changes that were within my scope and treated everyone with respect. I intended to do the same in my position as a board member. I will be open to discussions, suggestions and criticisms, but my priority will always be the students. If it doesn’t serve the students highest good, I won’t entertain it. It’s just that simple.

What key indicators would you use to assess the performance of CCSD’s Superintendent? How would you hold the Superintendent accountable?

After the first year, the first thing I will look at is teacher retention. Happy teachers stay in their classrooms and it’s a huge indicator of district leadership. In that time frame I will also look at testing scores, however, specifically the tests that monitor student progression (MAP). There are standardized test like SBAC that we have here in Nevada that are simply a cash cow for contractors, they are a waste of time and resources for our students and a huge source of unnecessary stress for all involved.

I will look at how our superintendent either removes these excess expenses or chooses to maintain them, that will also be a telling factor of performance.

I will hold the superintendent accountable by having a contract that allows us to fire him and NOT return to the same job. It’s critical that a contract that is fair for the superintendent and the district is drawn, the saga of Jesus Jara must NOT be repeated.

In a recent survey, 77% of Nevada residents agreed that parents should be able to send their children to the public school they feel is best for their child, even if it is outside of their neighborhood. Do you agree? Please explain your reasoning.

I completely understand the impulse to send our students to the schools we want, however, this model is not sustainable. This impulse has caused our under performing schools to collapse and our high performing schools to be over crowded. I spoke to high schools students from Coronado HS who told me that some classes have over 50 students. There were not enough desks in Biology class and students were sitting on the floor using clipboards, I believe this is unacceptable.

It’s crystal clear that the current system this isn’t working for all of us, we need to fix it and change it, that’s why I am running.

I believe that we can make CCSD into something what we can all be proud of and I intend whole heartedly in making that happen, I believe we can make every school desirable to all regardless of geographic location.

The following question was submitted by a current public high school student: How will you ensure students are put at the forefront of the decision making process as a member of the Board of Trustees, and what accountability measures would you put in place to make sure this happens? 

In my years as a classroom teacher putting students first was always my priority as an educator, this is what is driving me to run for office. I feel that our students have not been prioritized and under Jesus Jara and the current administration, I can tell you first hand that our students were turned into numbers. Our students are far more than just numbers, their mental health is just as important as academics. I have spoken to students who served on committees for the school board and they felt that they were simply paraded around and their suggestions were never implemented, the students didn’t’ feel that their concerns were ever taken seriously. I think one accountability measure that can be taken is surveying the students themselves, spending time at the schools in my district, being in their space and listening. We need to take student feedback and make sure that their voices are being heard, not just as a gesture, but actually honoring their needs. This is a way to show that we are listening to student concerns and addressing them.