Over the past two years, upwards of 18,000 young children in the Las Vegas metro area have received free monthly books in the mail as part of an early literacy program started by country icon Dolly Parton. But that ends this month.

Storied Inc., the Clark County-based nonprofit partner for Parton鈥檚 Imagination Library, last week announced to parents and guardians that its October books would be the last until additional funding for the program is secured. The program, when funded, provides a free, age-appropriate monthly book to children 0 to 5 years old.

According to Meredith Helmick, executive director of Storied, the nonprofit sought funding from the Nevada State Legislature earlier this year to keep the program going after an initial two-years of state grant funding ended, but they came up empty handed.

Assembly Speaker Steve Yeager sponsored a bill to appropriate to the United Way of Northern Nevada and the Sierra, which currently runs the Imagination Library for Washoe County residents, to expand the program statewide. The bill was referred to the Assembly Committee on Ways & Means, where it languished until the end of the regular session without a hearing or even a mention, according to the legislature鈥檚 website.

Helmick also hoped the nonprofit program might be able to secure funding through , Senate Majority Leader Nicole Cannizzaro鈥檚 omnibus education legislation.

An early version of that bill appropriated $50 million for early childhood literacy readiness programs, but an amendment reduced that to $0 for the fiscal year beginning July 2025 and $12 million for the fiscal year beginning July 2026. Helmick says lawmakers chose to prioritize expansion of preschool seats, a Cannizzaro priority.

SB460 was heavily negotiated and amended to include many of Gov. Joe Lombardo鈥檚 education priorities. Those priorities included setting aside $7 million in grant funding for charter school transportation.

It appears those other priorities came at the expense of existing innovative programs that were working.

Helmick says a survey of her families last year found 62% of them had fewer than 20 children鈥檚 books in their homes before enrolling their children in the program.

鈥淭his program is such a low cost, high reward program,鈥� she added.

Helmick is hopeful the program can return to the Las Vegas area. She says Storied is having conversations with large companies and other nonprofits, reaching out to elected officials at all levels of government, and urging their supporters to do the same.

鈥淲e鈥檝e heard rumors of a special session,鈥� she adds. 鈥淐an we rewrite SB460 to include the language that it took out? Are there other funds that we could add or tap into that we could fit under? Maybe that鈥檚 an avenue.鈥�

鈥業t isn鈥檛 just about the books鈥�

Meredith Helmick and her husband, Kyle, were inspired to start Storied Inc. after attempting to sign up their daughter for Imagination Library only to learn the nationwide program didn鈥檛 serve their area.

Dolly Parton launched Imagination Library in 1995 and the program has since given out more than 250 million free books to children in the United States and four other countries.

Storied Inc. is one of several partners running the program in Nevada. According to Helmick, the other partners have managed to continue their programs, either in whole or by scaling down the number of kids served.

The sheer size of Clark County鈥檚 population makes that a tougher task for Storied. According to the Imagination Library鈥檚 website, nearly 29,000 Nevada children are enrolled, the vast majority through Storied.

Helmick says that before they even had a chance to market the program or figure out stable funding, an intrepid stranger found the sign up form and shared it on a social media group for parents in Las Vegas.

鈥淚n 48 hours, we had 3,500 kids registered,鈥� she recalls. 鈥淚t was, like, 鈥業 guess we鈥檙e doing it now.鈥� But it all worked out beautifully.鈥�

From there, the program quickly grew just by word of mouth. It was funded from June 2023 to July 2025 by a grant from the state鈥檚 Early Childhood Innovative Literacy Program. Participation fluctuates each month as kids are signed up or age out at 5 years old, but Helmick says it stays in the range of 18,000 or 19,000 thousand children spanning most of Clark County.

(Boulder City residents have a dedicated partner, Reading to Z, which currently serves fewer than 200 kids. Rural Clark County residents who live in Valley Electric Association鈥檚 service area can sign up for a program run by the energy cooperative鈥檚 charitable foundation.)

Over the summer, with the funding drying up, Storied stopped accepting new kids into the program.

鈥淲e didn鈥檛 want to disappoint families鈥� by starting to send them books only to stop sending them a few months later, said Helmick. 鈥淥ne thing that sets (Imagination Library) apart is these books are sent directly to their home. I am a huge proponent of libraries. I鈥檓 there practically every week. But not everybody is able to do that. That is a barrier.鈥�

Additionally, the books arrive addressed to the child.

鈥淕etting it in the mail, the label with their name, it gives them ownership of the book,鈥� says Helmick. 鈥淚t makes a huge difference. I didn鈥檛 realize it until I heard it from families.鈥�

On the inside of each book cover is a note from Imagination Library with tips for parents on conversations they can have with their child about the book, or questions they can ask to boost critical thinking and early reading skills.

鈥淚t isn鈥檛 just about the books and the words and the stories you鈥檙e reading with your kids,鈥� said Helmick. 鈥淚t鈥檚 sitting together side by side. It鈥檚 having conversations with them.鈥�

is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Nevada Current maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Hugh Jackson for questions: info@nevadacurrent.com.

The is a compromise , one sponsored by Democratic state Sen. Nicole Cannizzaro and the other supported by Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo. It passed unanimously in the Senate on June 1 and with a 38-4 Assembly vote June 2.

Lombardo said in a June 3 that the Legislature 鈥減assed historic education choice and accountability, so that every Nevada student can graduate career or college ready.鈥� The bill was sent to his desk June 6. 

More than allow interdistrict open enrollment, according to the nonprofit Education Commission of the States. Nevada鈥檚 new system will let students transfer to schools outside their residential zone if there鈥檚 room in their grade.

It will also provide transportation subsidies for students trying to leave low-performing schools. Many states don鈥檛 require transportation to be provided for open enrollment students, as it is for residents, according to . In New Hampshire, for example, lawmakers recently passed an that places responsibility for transportation on parents. Families can drive their child to a bus stop on an existing route if they are attending a school outside their attendance zone, according to the bill.

Multiple times a year, districts will be required to publish open enrollment data online, including school vacancy numbers and the total number of students who transferred in and out of their attendance zones.

Nevada school boards will have to create a method, such as a lottery, to determine which open enrollment students are accepted into a grade that reaches capacity. 

Schools that deny a student’s application will have to explain why. The bill prohibits districts from considering factors like disability, English learner status, athletic ability and residential address when evaluating applications. Schools will be required to create a priority lottery for students who have low academic scores.

Students can be denied if they were expelled or suspended for 10 or more days during the previous school year. Parents can appeal a rejection to the district superintendent.

The Nevada Department of Education will have to provide transportation for students who want to transfer from a low-performing school but have no way to get there. According to the bill, the department will award grant funds 鈥渢o the extent money is available鈥� to local organizations that provide transportation.

The bill will also create a for districts and charter schools. The department could intervene in persistently low-performing districts by replacing leadership or assuming state control.

鈥淲e implemented open zoning so our children can attend the school that best fits their educational needs, and we provided resources to allow those children trapped in underperforming schools transportation to attend the school of their choice 鈥� regardless of their zip code,鈥� Lombardo said in his statement. 鈥淪imply put, we have instituted more educational accountability measures than during any legislative session in the history of Nevada.鈥�

Teenagers could be protected from working late-night shifts before school days, thanks to a bipartisan trio of lawmakers and a group of high schoolers who say businesses are exploiting them.

would prohibit high school teenagers from working between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. before a school day. Teens aged 14 and 15 are already prohibited by from working between 7 p.m. and 7 a.m., but the Nevada proposed law would put in place restrictions for 16-, 17- and 18-year olds who are enrolled in public or private school.

Emancipated teenagers, lifeguards, arcade workers, farm workers, and theatrical performers would be exempt from the hourly restrictions. Additional exemptions could be granted on a case-by-base basis.

The bill would also lower the maximum number of hours a child under 16 can work: from 48 to 40 hours per week.

鈥淓very single day in my classes I have kids who are too tired to participate,鈥� said Matt Nighswonger, a teacher at Shadow Ridge High School on the northern edge of the Las Vegas Valley. 鈥淲hen I wake them up and ask them why they鈥檙e so tired, they tell me they had to close, or had to work late last night. Many of them have to work until 1 or 2 in the morning.鈥�

The business community, he said, is taking advantage of vulnerable teenagers.

鈥淎s a government teacher, I try to teach my students that the government is here to protect its citizens,鈥� he added. 鈥淎B215 helps to protect our exploited high school workers.鈥�

Karissa Murdoch was one of those teens. The Shadow Ridge senior began working at a local ice rink at 15. She started with a reasonable workload, then she asked for more hours because she wanted more money, then she was asked by her bosses to stay late after her official shift to do extra work.

That鈥檚 how she found herself regularly working until midnight Monday through Thursday. After the commute home, eating and showering, she was going to bed at 1 or 2 a.m. and sleeping a paltry few hours before school started up again at 7 a.m.

Her grades slipped. She says she went from being a student who 鈥渁lmost never turned in an assignment late鈥� to a student who couldn鈥檛 stay awake in class and turned in everything late. Murdoch said she came to her senses on her own and now wants to advocate for her younger self.

鈥淎t 15, I was nowhere near mature enough to prioritize school over money,鈥� she told Assembly members during the bill鈥檚 first hearing, which she traveled to Carson City for over spring break in March. 鈥淚 wish the adults around me would have thought about more than just using me for business gain.鈥�

Teagan Clark, another Shadow Ridge student, testified that working closing shift meant driving home late at night tired 鈥� a potentially dangerous scenario for anyone but especially an inexperienced driver. It also resulted in her skipping breakfast in order to get an extra few minutes of sleep, drinking too many caffeine-filled energy drinks, and feeling isolated socially.

Nighswonger said he surveyed working high school seniors at Shadow Ridge and found that 48% regularly work past 10 p.m. on school nights. Many of the students were worried they would lose their job if they shared their own stories, though a few hand-wrote letters for him to deliver to lawmakers.

鈥淚 work at a car wash and every night we close at 8 and I stay after hours to clean the vacuum trays and sewage out of the tunnel where the cars are washed,鈥� read one. 鈥淚t鈥檚 too much for a 17 year old kid, but I don鈥檛 want to lose my job.鈥�

Equipo Academy Assistant Principal Erik Van Houten said a quarter of 16- and 17-year-olds at the East Las Vegas charter school have jobs, and 1 in 5 of them work over 40 hours a week.

鈥淭hese students are ill equipped to advocate for themselves to leave work at reasonable hours,鈥� he said. 鈥淢any are holding their very first job.鈥�

AB215, he continued, would 鈥漰ut guardrails in place to protect our kids and make clear that a high school education should be their number one priority.鈥�

Nighswonger, Murdoch and other Shadow Ridge students pitched the proposed law to Democratic Assemblymember Daniele Monroe-Moreno and Republican Assemblymember Brian Hibbetts, whose districts cover the school鈥檚 enrollment area. Both signed on to sponsor a bill on the issue.

Independently, Democratic Assemblymember Cinthia Zerme帽o Moore was working on similar legislation inspired by concerns raised by Van Houten from Equipo, which is located in her district.The three Assembly members decided to combine their bills and work together.

Strong support, but some concerns raised

AB215 passed the Nevada State Assembly with unanimous bipartisan support earlier this month and is now making its way through the Senate. If passed, the bill will head to Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo鈥檚 desk for final approval.

Hibbetts acknowledged that some might see the inclusion of protections for 18-year-olds as a problem because it means they are being considered adults in some legal contexts and not adults in others. But he said there is precedent.

High school students are not allowed to sign off on their own school paperwork just because they turn 18 during their senior year, he said. They still need parental signatures.

鈥淭his is, in my vision, just going along with that same type of mentality,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 think this is something that we need to offer them. Just because you鈥檙e 18, it doesn鈥檛 mean your employer can make you work until 2 a.m. because you have to be at school at 7 a.m.鈥�

Monroe-Moreno added that the inclusion of 18-year-olds was specifically asked for by Shadow Ridge students who said their managers target them for late shifts because they are 18.

Several lawmakers in the bill鈥檚 two hearings raised concerns about the impact the legislation might have on lower income families whose teens contribute to essential household bills.

Moore said she understands that reality, adding that her first job was at age 14 selling CDs at the Indoor Swap Meet in East Las Vegas. But she argued the state needs to support students with their education because, without it, 鈥渢hey may not be able to seek the opportunities they may have鈥� that could lift them, and their families, upward.

Teresa Benitez-Thompson, a former state lawmaker, spoke in personal support of the bill, saying she wished such restrictions were in place two decades ago when she was a teenage hostess whose paychecks helped support her single mom, who worked as a waitress, and her sister, who was a teen mom at 15. She said she fell behind her junior year and had to do credit recovery to get back on track.

鈥淎 low-wage job for a teenager is not going to solve poverty,鈥� she said. 鈥淓ducation is what breaks the cycle of poverty. Education is absolutely what has to be prioritized.鈥�

Groups in support of AB218 included the Vegas Chamber, Nevada Resorts Association, NAACP, City of North Las Vegas, and ACLU.

No groups publicly opposed AB218 during its two bill hearings, but the Nevada Restaurant Association testified in neutral.

鈥淲e support efforts to balance student well being and academics with valuable work experience,鈥� the group鈥檚 lobbyist, Peter Saba, said. 鈥淢any restaurants rely on student workers, and we encourage ongoing discussions to ensure these small businesses can adapt smoothly.鈥�

Monroe-Moreno acknowledged that concessions were made to appease business groups. The bill originally sought to prohibit teens from working past 10 p.m. on school nights but the time was amended to 11 p.m.

is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Nevada Current maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Hugh Jackson for questions: info@nevadacurrent.com.

PORTLAND, Ore. 鈥� Before Bailey McQueeny-Rose attended law school at the University of Oregon, she worked in reproductive health care, first as a medical assistant and then as a trainer, teaching others to do the same job. The work opened her eyes to how access to health care differed based on the laws in the six states where she oversaw training, and she began to consider becoming a civil rights lawyer.

She鈥檇 planned to take the bar exam after law school, but in late 2023, Oregon began offering graduates an alternative pathway to practicing law. Instead of sitting for the multiday bar exam, which most states offer twice a year, new graduates can be admitted to practice in Oregon through on-the-job training.

The graduates are required to work 675 hours under the supervision of a licensed attorney as well as submit a work portfolio for approval to Oregon鈥檚 Board of Bar Examiners. And just like anyone who takes the traditional bar exam, those approved under what鈥檚 known as a , or SPPE, are required to pass an ethics test.

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鈥淭he bar exam is not going to teach me how to be a civil rights lawyer,鈥� McQueeny-Rose said. 鈥淏ut the SPPE pathway, working with civil rights employers, learning what the day-to-day duties and what the day-to-day job looks like, it鈥檚 a hands-on way. That鈥檚 what鈥檚 going to teach me how to be a civil rights lawyer.鈥�

Oregon Supreme Court Chief Justice Meagan Flynn said in an interview that she鈥檚 been astounded at the various approaches emerging in other states since Oregon鈥檚 move. She serves on a national committee of lawyers and court officials who will recommend practical changes to help diversify the bar admissions process through the National Center for State Courts, an administrative organization.

鈥淎nd really, no two look alike,鈥� Flynn said. 鈥淓very state looking at this is coming up with very, very state-specific approaches.鈥�

States administer their own bar exams and determine passing scores. Most states use the Uniform Bar Exam, and some states have their own specific tests. Critics of the bar exam say that in most states, it doesn鈥檛 assess minimum competency to practice the law, especially when it comes to skills that involve working directly with clients, such as handling negotiations or counseling people facing incarceration, divorce, bankruptcy or other stressful matters.

Multiple-choice tests fail to assess whether someone has the necessary skills to be a good lawyer, said Catherine Bramble, an associate professor at Brigham Young University Law School in Utah. And research has found that new lawyers perform better if they鈥檝e had practice and supervision.

鈥淲e all know this intuitively,鈥� said Bramble, who has been pushing for change in Utah. 鈥淪ome things are not best assessed through a multiple-choice test. For example, the ability to fly an airplane. We would really hope a pilot has time in the cockpit under observation of an experienced flight instructor before we allow them to fly a plane.鈥�

Real-world skills

In Utah, the state Supreme Court, which oversees licensure, is considering a supervised practice proposal that would require applicants to take a core curriculum during law school. They would be required to complete 240 hours of supervised practice, which could be paid or unpaid. Twenty of those hours would have to be client-facing work, and 50 pro bono, meaning the services are provided to clients free of charge.

Utah encourages lawyers in the state to commit to 50 hours of pro bono work each year, Bramble said, and they鈥檝e found that those who are exposed to such service early in their careers tend to continue it. The proposal would require that prospective licensees take a six-hour well-being online module that teaches lawyers how to manage the stress of a legal career. Finally, there would be a three-hour test, which would require test-takers to write a basic legal motion using a sample law and case materials.

For Nevada, its proposed rules emphasize 鈥渢he necessity of representing clients well,鈥� said Joan Howarth, a professor at the William S. Boyd School of Law at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. There, the proposal in front of the state Supreme Court would allow law students to complete most of the requirements for licensure during law school.

The Oregon Supreme Court is considering approving a similar, third licensure path 鈥� in addition to the traditional bar exam and SPPE 鈥� that would allow students to take coursework and complete supervised practice requirements during school so that they are licensed when they graduate.

Even the national bar exam is changing: The National Conference of Bar Examiners will begin rolling out a NextGen test in select states in 2026, with a focus on more foundational lawyering skills such as client counseling and advising, dispute resolution, and client relationship and management.

Law schools for several decades have been incorporating more real-world skills into their curriculum, said Deborah Jones Merritt, professor emerita at the Ohio State University Moritz College of Law, who has studied the bar exam鈥檚 deficiencies in producing good lawyers. Merritt鈥檚 research has determined that the exam is far more challenging to pass for people of color, those with caretaking responsibilities, or those who come from low-income households.

Beginnings of change

Many states began rethinking the necessity of the bar exam in 2020 during the pandemic, when gathering hundreds of people together in a big room for an exam was a potential superspreader event for COVID-19.

In place of the test, several states and the District of Columbia issued what鈥檚 known as diploma privilege, the ability to practice without passing the bar. Utah, for example, required their graduates to fulfill a pro bono requirement first. It was an eye-opening experiment, said Bramble, in part because 鈥渘othing crazy happened.鈥�

Then in 2021, the American Bar Association for the first time released statistics breaking down bar exam passage rates by race. White test takers were far likelier to pass the exams in 2020 than those of other races or ethnicities, according to the group. Although there are other barriers to a legal career, including law school entrance exams and the time, expense and quality of the schooling, the numbers made it clear that the bar exam itself had flaws that kept many candidates of color from becoming lawyers.

One of the biggest flaws of the bar is that it鈥檚 an expensive and time-consuming exam, said Brian Gallini, the former dean of the Willamette University College of Law in Oregon and one of the architects of the licensure push in the state. Law school graduates often pay for a law review class, which often can cost more than $1,000, to study for the test in the months following their graduation, as well as put off earning a living in their degree field until they鈥檙e licensed and can begin working as lawyers.

Those who work a job while they study are more likely to fail, but many students cannot afford not to work 鈥� they carry an average of $160,000 in student loan debt when they exit school.

Gallini, now the dean of the Quinnipiac University School of Law in Connecticut, fielded a lot of angry emails when he first introduced the idea to the Willamette law school鈥檚 alumni in 2022. Many objections were reflexive: Critics of the proposal said they had suffered through the bar exam, so aspiring lawyers who followed them should face a similar rite of passage.

So far, only a handful of 2024 graduates from the state鈥檚 three law schools have chosen the new pathway; McQueeny-Rose said many of her peers haven鈥檛 been able to find supervising attorneys who are familiar enough with the program to oversee their work.

That鈥檚 also expected to change quickly. The state鈥檚 law schools are beginning to establish prestigious post-graduate fellowships aimed at placing SPPE participants in communities of need, including immigration law, public defense and rural law practices. Judicial clerkships also are eligible to fulfill many of the program鈥檚 requirements.

McQueeny-Rose will be joining the team at Levi Merrithew Horst, a Portland, Oregon, firm, where she鈥檒l work on police misconduct cases, class-action suits on behalf of incarcerated people and other civil rights work. Instead of studying for the bar, she鈥檚 taking the summer off to devote time to her artwork and to move to Portland for her new job. She anticipates she鈥檒l fulfill the requirements of the SPPE program in early 2025.

鈥淔or me, it was a pretty easy decision,鈥� McQueeny-Rose said. 鈥淚 knew I wanted to stay in Oregon. I鈥檓 committed to practice here, I love it here. I have a lot of ideas how to make Oregon better, and I want to stay and do my part.鈥�

is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Stateline maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Scott S. Greenberger for questions: info@stateline.org. Follow Stateline on and .

Nevada charter schools are clamoring to access the millions of dollars in financing now available to support capital projects, such as buying or expanding school buildings.

The Nevada Facilities Fund is a $100 million revolving loan fund setup by the State Infrastructure Bank to provide long-term, low-cost facility financing for charter schools that serve under-resourced communities. While it officially launched in October, the fund鈥檚 numerous partners held an event this week to celebrate the fund and highlight several charter schools expected to benefit from the fund.

Among them, Futuro Academy, a K-5 charter school in East Las Vegas that plans to purchase the space they currently lease. Futuro Executive Director Ignacio Prado said that, just as it typically makes more sense for an individual to buy their home instead of rent, schools have more long-term financial security if they own.

The Nevada Facilities Fund (NVFF) was seeded with approved by the State Infrastructure Bank in early 2022, $80 million from national donors through the Equitable Facilities Fund, and $5 million from local philanthropists. The fund will also use a $12 million U.S. Department of Education grant awarded to Opportunity 180.

Opportunity 180 and Equitable Facilities Fund will vet and assist charter schools in accessing the NVFF. Leaders with those organizations say charter schools will save an average of $150,000 annually.

That savings will translate into more money spent in the classroom, said Opportunity 180 CEO Jana Wilcox Lavin. Some charter schools spend up to a quarter of the base per-pupil dollars they receive from the state on facilities.

Prado said Futuro could use their savings to boost special education services, support teachers, or reduce class sizes.

Charter schools are not currently eligible for dedicated facilities funding, which are generated at the county level through property taxes and provided to traditional school districts. They also cannot use public bonds to fund new buildings the way traditional school districts typically do.

By 2028, NVFF plans to finance 10 projects that support 7,500 new charter school seats. Because the funds awarded are loans, they should return to NVFF to support more projects into perpetuity.

Only schools that serve historically underrepresented populations are eligible for funding. Wilcox Lavin says this means the funds will primarily be awarded to charter schools already operating in Nevada, rather than proposed charter schools looking to open.

Beacon Academy Executive Director Tambre Tondryk said the Southern Nevada charter school, which at high risk of not graduating, is working to access the NVFF to help purchase their existing Spring Valley campus, where the lease is up next summer, or buying a new facility and relocating.

The second option is appealing because, like many charter schools, Beacon鈥檚 Spring Valley campus retrofitted an existing space not originally intended to be a school. (In their case, it was previously an office building.) A new space could give them 鈥渢he feel鈥� of a more traditional school, which does matter to students and staff.

Tondryk said lenders turned Beacon away when they were working out a location for their east side campus because the school appears to be severely underperforming when compared to the traditional school metrics, such as graduation rates. In Nevada, Beacon is approved and evaluated by the State Public Charter School Authority under an alternative framework that acknowledges they serve a unique population.

鈥淲e couldn鈥檛 get lenders to understand,鈥� she added, but the NVFF will 鈥渕ake this time around so much simpler.鈥�

Another school working with NVFF on a project is Mariposa Language and Learning Academy. The Reno charter school, whose enrollment is almost entirely minority students, plans to purchase a new building that allows them to expand from their current 162 students to 300 students.

Praise for public-private partnerships

The Nevada Facilities Fund鈥檚 national partner, Equitable Facilities Fund, has provided more than $1 billion in capital to charter schools around the country since 2018. In 2022, EFF launched the Texas Equitable Facilities Fund, which is funded solely through philanthropic dollars.

That makes the Nevada fund unique, says Equitable Facilities Fund CEO Anand Kesavan.

Gov. Joe Lombardo, who briefly attended the NVFF event, spoke to the crowd of school leaders, elected officials and donors about the potential of public-private partnerships, suggesting more should be considered. He said it was 鈥渦nfair鈥� it had taken this long to get to this point.

Proposals related to K-12 education and charter schools are typically 鈥渁 battle鈥� in the legislature, he added. Democrats have been hesitant about supporting rapid expansion of charter and private schools, arguing that the state should focus on improving its traditional public school districts.

The Republican governor, who took office roughly a year after the State Infrastructure Bank proposed setting aside $15 million for 鈥渃harter school capital needs,鈥� praised Nevada State Treasurer Zach Conine, a Democrat, for 鈥済oing out on a limb鈥� and pursuing the facilities fund.

On his end, Conine acknowledged the reservations some of his Democratic peers have regarding charter schools, but said that the facilities fund is 鈥渘ot a gamble鈥� but simply 鈥済ood business.鈥�

鈥淚t might not be the most popular thing in some of the circles I run with,鈥� he added, 鈥渂ut it鈥檚 the right thing to do.鈥�

Prado of Futuro Academy says he believes the launch of the NVFF could serve as 鈥渁 watershed moment鈥� that marks a turning point where the state sees the benefits of helping charter schools, particularly those wanting to establish or expand in the urban core.

He added, 鈥淚 think we鈥檒l look back and see this was a catalyst we needed.鈥�

Nevada鈥檚 State Infrastructure Bank was created by the Legislature in 2017 but remained unfunded until 2021. That year, lawmakers approved $75 million in general obligation bonds to the bank, to be used for charter schools, affordable housing projects, and other 鈥渟ocial good鈥� projects that otherwise could not secure funding.

The State Infrastructure Bank, which Conine chairs, is expected to receive an update on the Nevada Facilities Fund during its next meeting, scheduled for Tuesday.

is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Nevada Current maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Hugh Jackson for questions: info@nevadacurrent.com. Follow Nevada Current on and .

At the time, Susan Enfield was superintendent of the Highline Public Schools outside Seattle, close to the site of the first U.S. outbreak. Like her counterparts in neighboring districts, she was still in disbelief that sending students home was even an option. 

鈥淚’m not sure, at the end of the day, that that was the right decision,鈥� said Enfield, who recently shared her reflections with 社区黑料. 鈥淚 don’t think we’ll know for a long time how that really impacted all of us.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;

As the debate over reopening that fall intensified, Enfield was outspoken about the no-win situation leaders were in as they struggled to balance the needs of students with the demands and fears of parents and employees. To her, the predicament felt like having 鈥渁n enormous square peg that I鈥檓 trying to squeeze into a microscopic round hole.鈥�

Like many families and educators over the months and years that followed, Enfield relocated, leaving Highline in 2022 for the larger Washoe County Public Schools in Nevada, which includes Reno. She described the move then as hitting the 鈥渟uperintendent lottery,鈥� but ultimately, stayed just a year and a half. She to return to the Seattle area.

鈥淚’m really happy to be home,鈥� she said. 鈥淚鈥檓 taking this moment to breathe and figure out how I can contribute from a different vantage point.鈥�

In an interview, she reflected on the past 48 months and how the pandemic has 鈥� and has not 鈥� transformed the nation鈥檚 education system.

The interview has been edited for length and clarity.

社区黑料: The Northshore School District, not far from Highline, was the first in the nation to close because of COVID. What comes to mind now as you recall those frantic early days of the pandemic?

Susan Enfield: I’m really in awe of what educators across the country were able to do under really trying circumstances. I’m proud of how we responded. If memory serves, we deployed over 13,000 devices within the first couple weeks of having to close schools. There鈥檚 a real sense of pride in how people came together in a time of serious uncertainty and stress and did what they could to take care of our kids.

For those of us that stayed closed for so long, I don’t know if that was the right thing to do. Thousands of kids were out of school for so long, and we know that’s had an impact on them.

Moving from Highline to Washoe, what differences did you see in how the districts approached the closures?

How districts approached it was tied to local politics. The Puget Sound area is the bluest of the blue, whereas Washoe is really purple, politically. Washoe kids came back a year before Highline kids. That was probably the right thing to do.

What Highline was able to do that Washoe wasn’t was device distribution. We had under 20,000 kids, but Washoe had over 60,000, so there’s a magnitude issue. Washoe is a vast geographical area, so it was a challenge for them to distribute devices. Those differences speak to how every district responded as best they could based on their local political context and just the sheer makeup of their district.

Was there anything you would have done differently?

We would all go back and probably do some things differently, but I also had to recognize what was within my control. Our governor mandated schools be closed. I didn’t know at the time that keeping schools closed would be so detrimental. But there was so much fear and uncertainty around the virus, especially for a district like Highline. We have a lot of multifamily, multigenerational homes. The fears people had were very real, very legitimate.

How did the last four years change you personally as a leader? 

It fortified my values as a leader. I’ve always been a big proponent of health and family first, but that was really amplified 鈥� not just preaching it, but modeling it. I had to make sure that I was taking care of my people. 

We have a saying out here when it鈥檚 a beautiful clear day: 鈥淢ountain鈥檚 out.鈥� I remember one Saturday. I just tweeted out a beautiful photo of Mount Rainier and said, 鈥淭he mountain鈥檚 out and it’ll be out again tomorrow.鈥� For those of us in leadership roles, we really had to dig into who we were as people, what our values were. The pandemic had an impact, not just on our children, but our teachers and staff as well. They had to re-learn how to be in community with other people after being in isolation for so long.

What are the biggest lessons we鈥檝e learned from the past four years?

During the pandemic, there was so much talk of 鈥淲e’re not going back to normal鈥� and I was like, 鈥淲ell, I don’t want to be the voice of doom and gloom, but the muscle memory of a bureaucracy as large as the public education system in the United States is very strong.鈥� I predicted that we would by and large go back to what we knew. 

We learned some things and continue to do some things differently, like the option for virtual meetings. Family participation in [special education] meetings is up because now parents don’t have to take time off work. On the flip side, we still have a digital divide. We still have too many kids that don’t have access to the internet. There’s been some backsliding there.

One of the key lessons is that we can’t focus on instruction without focusing on the overall well-being of our children. We have to make sure that our kids, and staff frankly, get the resources they need to be physically, emotionally and psychologically healthy. For all of the opportunities that technology brought, being in person matters 鈥� seeing that face, being hugged, having someone look you in the eye and sit down with you. 

There are various predictions about the chances of another pandemic in our lifetime. If that bears out, how do you think the system would respond? 

We’ve got some playbooks now. We are better prepared because we actually have some blueprints on the logistical part of it. I don’t think it will be the scramble that it was before. And since many of us blessedly lived through the last one, I’m hoping maybe there won’t be the same level of fear and uncertainty that existed before.

I remember doing virtual happy hours with my family in California and a lot of them were literally wiping down their groceries and they weren’t going anywhere. Those of us in school districts couldn’t do that. I don’t think I ever felt that same level of panic and fear because I just couldn’t afford to. I had to help hand out meals.

Do you think schools would close again? 

That’s a really good question. As much as I think closing schools for the length of time we did wasn’t the right thing to do, I know that officials in Washington state have pointed to the very that we had. I don’t know what the perfect answer is.

I was pretty critical of a lot of our elected leaders during that time, but in hindsight, I have more empathy and compassion. I do believe everyone was doing the best they could with what they knew.

Microschooling is an education model that is small by design 鈥� typically with 15 or fewer students of varying ages per class. It fosters a personalized and community-centric approach to learning that is especially effective in addressing the unique educational needs of diverse student populations. Programs like are helping to fuel these microschools.

ESAs are instrumental in democratizing education. By providing direct funding to parents, they empower families with the financial means to make educational decisions that best suit their children while helping schools outside the conventional system truly flourish.

For example , a growing network in Arizona that focuses on culturally nuanced and inclusive education, is thriving in large part because of the state鈥檚 . It serves over 70,000 students statewide in nearly 400 learning environments and makes innovative schools like Black Mothers Forum Microschools far more accessible to families, while inspiring parents to explore the full breadth of education options available for their children.

Opening doors for such exploration is at the heart of the school choice ethos. Whether for a microschool, traditional public school, public magnet school, public charter school, private school, online school or home school, the more options a family can pursue, the better. These will be on full display during , an annual nationwide celebration hosted by the in collaboration with Navigate 鈥� The National School Choice Resource Center.

For National School Choice Week, our team is partnering with microschools and organizations across the country to celebrate these new options. For example, Microschool will host a school fair in Nevada to showcase microschools and other choice options. Meanwhile, will host a fun-filled microschool/hybrid/homeschool showcase event with guest speakers, vendors and activities. And in Georgia, will recognize the work parents and volunteers do to make these options possible.

National School Choice Week is, however, far more than just a packed calendar of unique events and activities. The week serves a vital dual purpose: raising awareness about the critical need for increased educational options and providing practical, jargon-free online resources for parents. With saying they will likely be searching for new schools for their children in 2024 and 64% wanting more information about how to exercise their choices, the week acts as a crucial juncture for empowering parents with the knowledge and tools to make informed decisions.

A fundamental shift is taking place in education, and National School Choice Week is shining light on every possible option. As schools and organizations celebrate all that has been accomplished in school choice this past year and embrace this new era of educational innovation in microschooling, ESAs and other school choice programs, the future beams bright with promise. Everyone who supports greater opportunity in education 鈥� 鈥揻rom parents to grandparents, educators, advocates, organizational and community leaders to state policymakers鈥� 鈥� should recommit to doing all they can to keep this momentum going in 2024 so that, one day, all families will have the full breadth of educational freedom they so rightfully deserve.

鈥淚鈥檓 so sorry to tell you this but unfortunately your private information has been leaked,鈥� read the email, sent to Hecht in the middle of the night Oct. 25 from an account tied to a school district in California. Attached were PDFs with personal information about her daughters including their names, photographs and the home address where they鈥檇 just spent the night asleep. 

鈥淏e careful out there,鈥� the cryptic message warned. 鈥淒on鈥檛 shoot the messenger!鈥�

Some 200,000 similar student profiles had been leaked, the email claimed, following a recent cyberattack on Clark County School District, the nation鈥檚 fifth-largest district and where Hecht鈥檚 three daughters are enrolled. But the message, she鈥檇 soon learn, was not from a California student but from the student鈥檚 email account, which had also been compromised. An unidentified, publicity-hungry hacker was using it as a 鈥渂urner鈥� account to brazenly extort Clark County schools by frightening district parents directly.

鈥淚 put my child on the bus and then immediately called the district,鈥� Hecht told 社区黑料. 鈥淚 called the school, they transferred me to the district, the district transferred me to their IT department, who then transferred me to the help desk. I have yet to hear anything back.鈥�

The Clark County threat actors claim their in-your-face tactics, which apparently involve not just direct outreach to parents, but also to media outlets, is already being used against at least one other district. Also distinct from other recent K-12 ransomware attacks, including high-profile incidents in Los Angeles and Minneapolis, the Vegas school district hackers claimed to use weak passwords 鈥� in this case students鈥� dates of birth 鈥� and flimsy Google Workspace file-sharing practices. Deploying those relatively low-tech incursions allowed them to gain access to reams of sensitive files, including students鈥� special education records. 

Schools nationwide rely heavily on Google Workspace to create, and share records and the methods the hacker used to exploit district systems, a cybersecurity expert said, offer valuable lessons for all of them. 

鈥淭his is not going to qualify as sophisticated hacking,鈥� said Doug Levin, the national director of the K12 Cybersecurity Information eXchange, and is perhaps a sort of brand-building exercise. 鈥淕iven that they reached out to the media鈥� and have demanded payments smaller than those typically leveraged by ransomware gangs, 鈥渋t seems they may be more interested in publicity and reputation than they are money.鈥�

For Las Vegas educators, the hack has already brought significant consequences, including a class-action lawsuit and to resign. 

Clark County school leaders on Oct. 16 that they became aware of a 鈥渃ybersecurity incident鈥� on Oct. 5, noting in that it was 鈥渃ooperating with the FBI as they investigate the incident鈥� and that such attacks against schools have become routine. 鈥淩est assured that we will share information as it becomes available so everyone is informed and can respond to protect personal information.鈥�

When contacted by 社区黑料, a Clark County spokesperson declined to comment further and shared a copy of the district鈥檚 previous statement. 

Yet as Hecht and others accuse the district of failing to inform parents about the extent of records stolen, much of the information being revealed about the data breach has come from the threat actor themselves, including taunts that they were still in Clark County鈥檚 computer systems. In two follow-up emails shared with 社区黑料, Hecht was sent web links that purportedly included troves of sensitive information about students including disciplinary records and test scores. 

In an Oct. 26 message to Hecht, threat actors this time used a Clark County student鈥檚 email address 鈥渢o show how much of a joke their IT security is and to show how seriously they are taking this.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;

Beyond outreach to parents, the hacker 鈥� which could be one or multiple people 鈥� on Oct. 25 without solicitation, first communicating with a reporter via Facebook. Identifying themselves as 鈥淪ingularityMD (the hacker team),鈥� the threat actor disputed Clark County鈥檚 statement that it had detected 鈥渁 security issue鈥� on its own and that district leaders had only become aware after the hackers sent an email 鈥渢o tell them we had been in their network for a few months.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;

A hack with TikTok origins

Perhaps between the hacker and a cybersecurity researcher at the blog DataBreaches.net, where the threat actor divulged their techniques and offered advice on how other districts can protect themselves. 

In recent years, cybercriminals have gravitated toward 鈥渄ouble-extortion ransomware鈥� schemes, where they gain access to a victim鈥檚 computer network, often through a download compromising records and lock the files with an encryption key. Criminals then demand the victim pay a ransom to unlock the files and stop them from being posted online. Yet in this case, the threat actors appear to have skipped past the first part and are employing an extortion strategy that centers exclusively on holding students鈥� sensitive information hostage. 

For years, the 325,000-student Clark County district, whose systems were also breached in 2020, has reportedly reset all students鈥� passwords to their birth date at the beginning of each academic year. Using a student鈥檚 date of birth as a password has . In the case of Las Vegas schools, hackers claim the breach began on TikTok, where a student shared their birth date. The student used their district email address to create a TikTok account and their student ID became their username on the social media platform. 

Once the hacker used that information to compromise the student鈥檚 account, they claim to have exploited poor data-sharing practices in the district鈥檚 Google Workspace to access the sensitive files. The compromised account was used to access information available to any student, which in turn offered records that allowed the hacker to escalate the breach until they were able to access administrative files. 

鈥淕oogle groups and google drives, if not configured correctly will expose teachers and staff files and conversations,鈥� the hacker told DataBreaches.net. 鈥淚n rare instances teachers have created shared drives and given the google group access to this drive. So if one was to add themselves to the group, they can then also access the drive contents. Nothing fancy at all.鈥�

Schools are particularly easy targets because so many students have access to a district鈥檚 computer network, the hacker noted, with a word of advice: 鈥淚 would recommend school districts separate the student network from the teacher network to make this process harder for teams like us.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;

The same technique, , was used recently to compromise records maintained by Jeffco Public Schools in suburban Denver. In Nevada, SingularityMD says it demanded a ransom of roughly $100,000 versus just $15,000 from the 77,000-student Colorado district.

Federal law enforcement officials generally advise cybersecurity victims against paying ransoms, which can embolden hackers and spur future attacks. In the last year, ransomware attacks against the , according to a recent report by the nonprofit Institute for Security and Technology, which observed an uptick in incidents immediately after hackers succeeded in securing payments. 

Levin said the hacker鈥檚 breach methods should set off alarm bells for educators nationwide, with 鈥渧irtually every school in the U.S.鈥� relying on cloud-based suites, like Google Workspace, to create and share content internally, with parents and with the public. 

鈥淚t鈥檚 very easy to overshare information and grant rights for people who shouldn’t be able to see this information,鈥� Levin said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 what it looks like happened in Clark County is they got access to some student accounts, found some shared folders and in the shared folders was more sensitive information that allowed them to escalate privileges and get to even more sensitive information.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;

Google spokesperson Ross Richendrfer said in an email that as districts become 鈥渁 top target鈥� for cybercriminals, 鈥渢here鈥檚 not just one way that attackers attempt to infiltrate schools.鈥� This particular incident, he said, was 鈥渢he result of compromised passwords and configuration issues at the user/admin level.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;

He pointed to the company鈥檚 , which notes that while Google products 鈥渁re built secure by default, it is critical that admins also properly use and configure networks and systems to ensure security.鈥� The guidance also recommends that districts train teachers and staff on best practices around file sharing. 

In response to an email request, a Jeffco Public Schools spokesperson shared acknowledging the breach, which noted that staff members had received 鈥渁larming email messages from an external cybersecurity threat actor.鈥� The district is working with outside cybersecurity experts and the police to determine the scope and credibility of the attack. 

With respect to the emails from the California student, it appears the hacker used a compromised account associated with the roughly 4,440-student Coalinga-Huron Unified School District in Fresno County merely to communicate with other victims. The threat actor said that compromised student email addresses are used as 鈥渂urner accounts鈥� when they are not useful in escalating permissions beyond the student level. 

Still, the district has conducted an assessment of its systems to ensure that it also hasn鈥檛 become the victim of a data breach, Superintendent Lori Villanueva told 社区黑料. She said the student鈥檚 email address was used to send four emails, which were then deleted. 

鈥淲e canceled that email account, we set up a new one for the student, and we鈥檙e just running our own diagnostics to make sure there was no other unusual activity,鈥� Villanueva said. Allowing students to choose their own passwords can have drawbacks, she said, if they settle on weak credentials. 鈥淢y people have been in contact with the Clark County school district and are trying to cooperate with them as much as we can but we鈥檙e really limited to that one tiny piece of information.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;

Never before had she experienced an incident where a student鈥檚 email address was compromised and exploited in such a major way, she said. 

鈥淣othing this widespread, nothing in another state, nothing this big,鈥� she said. 鈥淔or our little neck of the woods here, this was a little crazy.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;

Reputational damage

For Hecht, the Las Vegas mom, the cyberattack in Clark County is deeply personal. In fact, she has a hypothesis about why she, in particular, received direct communication from the hackers. 

In 2021, of numerous news reports when she contracted COVID and never recovered. 

鈥淭he only thing I can think of is somebody knows that I鈥檓 not quiet, that I will talk,鈥� she said. If the hacker鈥檚 goal was to get Hecht fired up, it worked. The district, she said, needs to be held accountable for a failure to protect her children. Still, she said she hasn鈥檛 been able to get any answers from school administrators. 

鈥淚鈥檝e emailed the superintendent and I just continue to call that helpline,鈥� she said 鈥淣othing. Nobody has responded. I can鈥檛 even get through, it just rings and rings and rings. To me, that tells me there are so many parents calling.鈥�

Hecht said she has since retained a lawyer, and a pair of other parents have already filed a class-action lawsuit against the district. The Oct. 31 complaint accuses Clark County schools of negligence, particularly in the wake of the 2020 ransomware attack. The lawsuit alleges the district has refused 鈥渢o fully disclose any details of the attack and what data were accessed and were available for third parties to exploit.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;

鈥淲e think the district should be held accountable for their failures and ideally they will be able to make a more secure network in the future and anyone who has been subject to these data breaches will get the proper identity protection provided by the district at a minimum,鈥� attorney Steve Hackett, who represents the families, told 社区黑料.

Among those calling for Superintendent Yara to resign is Nevada Assembly Speaker Steve Yeager, who with nontransparency.

In an email, a district spokesperson said that individuals found to be affected by the breach will receive data breach notifications in the mail and declined to comment on whether it had, or planned to, pay the ransom. The after the 2020 breach led hackers to release Social Security numbers, student grades and other private information. 

鈥淎s the investigation continues, we are committed to cooperating with agencies responsible for finding the responsible party and holding them accountable,鈥� the statement said. 

The district also offered a sharp rebuttal to calls for Jara鈥檚 resignation, specifically referring to with the local teachers union: 鈥淪uperintendent Jara will remain superintendent as long as the Board of Trustees desires him to do so,鈥� the statement continued 鈥淣o bullying pressure, harassment or coordination with the leadership of the Clark County Education Association will deter him from his job to educate over 300,000 students and protect taxpayer resources from those who wish to harm the district or its finances.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;

Hecht said the release of sensitive files, like medical records and special education reports, is particularly concerning, with implications extending far beyond those of Social Security numbers and financial records. She offered a message of her own directly to the hackers. 

鈥淚t worries me because this stuff is going to follow them for life,鈥� she said. 鈥淟ook, I know that our district is not great, but if you鈥檙e going to go against the district, don鈥檛 take our kids down with you. They did nothing wrong.鈥�

The 鈥溾�� that have resulted in one-day closures at eight Clark County School District schools over seven instructional days constitute an illegal strike, a district court ruled Wednesday.

District Judge Crystal Eller granted CCSD a preliminary injunction against the Clark County Education Association meant to end the rolling sickouts, which have come amid an impasse on contract negotiations between the fifth largest school district in the country and the union representing its 18,000 licensed educators and professionals.

鈥淭he court finds that a strike has occurred,鈥� said Eller from the bench.

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The judge added that while the evidence of a strike is circumstantial, it is 鈥渁n overwhelming amount that cannot be ignored.鈥� She referenced a map created by Fox5 News showing that the four schools affected on Tuesday were of the Las Vegas Valley.

鈥淔our schools as far apart in the city as you can get. It is more likely an indicator that there is a concerted effort to do exactly what has been threatened,鈥� said Eller, referring to comments made by CCEA leaders earlier this summer that targeted sickouts might occur if contract negotiations were to drag out.

Attorney Bradley Schrager, who is representing CCEA, said the union will immediately appeal to the Nevada Supreme Court.

In brief comments after the hearing, CCEA Executive Director John Vellardita said the union 鈥渞espectfully disagrees鈥� with the decision. He reiterated that the union鈥檚 position remains that they are not responsible for the sickouts.

鈥淲e think that the underlying issue here is what鈥檚 going on in these schools and how these teachers feel they鈥檙e being treated,鈥� he said. 鈥淯nfortunately, the script today in front of the court was 鈥� the story that the union engaged in an illegal strike, and we didn鈥檛 do that.鈥�

He added, 鈥淚 think there鈥檚 going to be some acknowledgement at some point that teachers are very angry in this school district.鈥�

CCSD, in a statement issued after the hearing, praised the issuance of the preliminary injunction: 鈥淭his action protects the children of the Clark County School District so they can receive the education they are entitled to.鈥�

The district in its request for an injunction sought to compel CCEA to direct its members to stop illegally striking and communicate the possible consequences of continuing to illegally strike.

Eller said she would not force such communication as it would be a violation of the First Amendment, but she issued her own directive to teachers.

鈥淵ou guys are out on the frontlines, like the military, like first responders, and there are too many people counting on you, their children counting on you. There are families 鈥� that need to go to work to feed their families and put roofs over their heads 鈥� that are counting on you guys to show up and follow the law and abide by the law and do your job. The way you address your concerns are at the bargaining table. It cannot work like this. That鈥檚 why there鈥檚 a law against this.鈥�

Eller also encouraged the district to negotiate in good faith, saying that 鈥渙bviously there are a lot of people who feel like the district is not coming to the bargaining table with possible good faith.鈥�

鈥榊ou can鈥檛 lead a horse to water鈥�

The injunction sets up the possibility of punishments if the sickouts continue.

CCEA, as the employee labor organization, could face fines of up to $50,000 for each day of continued violation. Individual officers of the union could face fines up to $1,000 per day. Individual employees who participate could be dismissed or suspended by the district.

Hours after the hearing, CCEA sent an email to members stating that it 鈥渉as not encouraged, engaged in or coordinated any concerted sick-outs in the past and will not do so in the future. You are reminded that, under current state law and the collective bargaining agreement, strikes by public school teachers are prohibited and should not be undertaken.鈥�

Schrager in court said the union doesn鈥檛 dispute that teachers are using their sick days but argued the union and the three leaders named in the lawsuit are not part of any concerted effort. He noted that half of the teachers participating in sickouts aren鈥檛 due-paying members of the union.

鈥淎re we saying CCEA is concocting plots among teachers who can鈥檛 even be bothered to join the union?鈥�

CCSD countered that individual teachers鈥� status in regards to dues or union activity is irrelevant since CCEA is the collective bargaining unit for all teachers, and they are all set to benefit from a new contract influenced by an illegal strike.

Among the materials submitted for the hearing was an email the district said it received early Tuesday from someone who identified themselves only as 鈥淐CSD Whistleblower.鈥� The email singled out one Southwest Career and Technical Academy teacher as the leader of the strike efforts at that school.

The whistleblower shared screenshots of emails the SWCTA teacher sent to other teachers encouraging them to call out sick on Sept. 12 and Sept. 15.

The teacher鈥檚 name was redacted by CCSD.

SWCTA was one of four schools that canceled classes on Tuesday.

Another piece of evidence submitted by the district was by longtime CCSD educator Kelly Edgar under the username OneFedUpTeacher. In the video, Edgar says, 鈥淚 have it on good authority that (teachers) are taking matters into their own hands.鈥�

Edgar began that same video by referencing the closure of Gibson Elementary School on Sept. 6 due to unexpected absences and said the call out 鈥渨as not endorsed鈥� or 鈥渟upported鈥� by the teachers union.

CCSD also submitted a photo of what appears to be CCEA members watching a presentation with a slide that says 鈥渞olling school outs.鈥� Judge Eller denied allowing the photo as evidence because the district could not verify where or when the photo was taken or any context around it, though the district indicated it believed it was taken at a members-only meeting in July.

is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Nevada Current maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Hugh Jackson for questions: info@nevadacurrent.com. Follow Nevada Current on and .

Research has confirmed that the design of buildings can influence levels of , , and, in the case of schools, .

But it’s not just researchers and architects who care about the way schools look and feel. Students do as well. 

Recently, I served in the Nevada Youth Legislature, which is composed of 21 student representatives appointed by the Nevada state Senate. As part of my duties, I organized a town hall with high school students. Many of us in the room, including myself, attend schools with significant student populations that qualify for free- and reduced-price lunch 鈥� an indicator of poverty.

Before the meeting began, I had anticipated that students would talk about their teachers, or the district鈥檚 new grading policy, or the rising cost of college. But I was wrong. The students spent most of the time talking and complaining about their school facilities. Among the top concerns were the presence of metal detectors, toilets and bathroom stalls that were permanently out of service, broken bathroom facilities that forced students to use porta-potties and the lack of a central gathering place or student center. 

It was evident from this town hall that students did not feel safe or supported 鈥� and that their grievances were focused largely on their schools’ physical features.

Given that students may spend up to half of their waking hours (or as much as 35 to 40 hours a week) at school 鈥� even more if they play sports or are involved in clubs 鈥� schools should be designed in ways that positively affect mental health, which can be achieved by more windows and natural light, more common areas, quiet zones and/or meditation rooms, such as fibers, stones and wood, more greenery, painted landscapes on walls, warm colors, natural wood and outdoor areas such as courtyards. 

In his book , Charles Montgomery wrote, 鈥淚t is impossible to separate the life and design of a city from the attempt to understand happiness, to experience it and to build it for society.鈥� I believe the idea of a 鈥渉appy city鈥� can be applied to schools and that it is 鈥渋mpossible to separate the life and design鈥� of a school from its students’ experiences of happiness and mental wellness. 

Others think so too. The created a , which measures the impact of architecture and design on health and wellness. The John Lewis Elementary School in Washington, D.C., was renovated using those guidelines, including a large, welcoming entryway, glass structures that maximize natural light, open spaces and comfortable common areas. Principal Nikeysha Jackson told Ed Week in a video that the new design makes the school feel 鈥�.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;

Administrators and teachers seem to think more about the school鈥檚 physical design when students are young. At my elementary school, my teacher created a corner in her classroom where students could hang out 鈥� reading, socializing or engaging in creative play. Our school, located in the urban center where most students were eligible for free lunch, had an outdoor garden and a multipurpose room where kids could meet. But by the time I got to middle school, most of those serotonin-producing design features had disappeared: We had no school garden or common area, just a courtyard made of concrete. Now, my overcrowded urban high school lacks greenery, a school garden or a common gathering space. 

Districts do not have to construct new schools to make wellness part of their buildings. Sandy Spring Friends School, a high school, was also renovated using components of the WELL Building Standard, including acoustic treatments to reduce reverberations, climate and light controls in each room, floor-to-ceiling windows to maximize the natural light, atria, natural colors and movable furniture that allows for collaboration. As the school’s director, Dr. Rodney Glasgow, in another video, 鈥淸W]e鈥檝e got to think about social emotional wellness as one of the rubrics we use to design campuses.”

“You don鈥檛 have to build a new building to make wellness part of the building you鈥檙e in. It just gives us permission to really put wellness at the center of everything we do,鈥� he told . 

To support student mental wellness, schools should consider sponsoring student-led school beautification projects such as murals, meditation areas and gardens. Schools could remove concrete areas and/or beautify those spaces with planters, greenery and water features. They should also create student centers and/or multiple common areas, and install more windows and design features to bring in the natural light, so they are inviting and soothing.

By paying greater attention to the design of the buildings in which students spend their long days, schools could have a tremendous positive influence on mental health.

The Nevada Legislature has passed a bill that provides long-term substitute teachers who work for 30 or more days .

The state Senate voted 16-4 Tuesday to approve the bill. It passed the Assembly in April by a vote of 31-11. Assembly Republicans Gregory Koenig, Heidi Kasama and Toby Yurek and Senate Republicans Pete Goicoechea, Scott Hammon, Ira Hansen, and Heidi Seevers Gansert voted for the bill.

Assembly Bill 282, if signed by the governor, would allow more than 1,000 educators to buy health care, according to the ACLU of Nevada.

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The state has an and substitute teachers have been used more frequently, at pay capped at $120 per day with no benefits. The $450 stipend is based on the average monthly cost of non-Medicare/Medicaid insurance plans in the state,

鈥淭he teacher pipeline shortage has only continued to grow, and substitute teachers have become a lifeline to many of our schools,鈥� said ACLU of Nevada Executive Director Athar Haseebullah in a press release.

The Nevada State Education Association

The Nevada Association of School Superintendents, Washoe County School District (WCSD) and Clark County School District (CCSD) opposed the bill.

鈥淚t is absolutely ridiculous that our state鈥檚 two largest school districts, CCSD and WCSD, actually opposed a health insurance subsidy for full-time substitute teachers and refuse to provide them with health insurance,鈥� said Haseebullah in a press release on Tuesday.

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Brian Melendez can trace his family history back to an encampment on the land where the Reynolds School of Journalism now stands, before they were forcibly removed to make room for the old Mackey Stadium.

鈥淣ot too long ago, my great-great-grandmother gave birth where the University of Nevada, Reno football statue is currently located. That hillside was once our people鈥檚 traditional homes,鈥� said Melendez, a citizen of the Reno-Sparks Indian Colony, who advocated for a Native American tuition waiver for years.

The construction of Nevada鈥檚 only land-grant university required the removal of tribes from their homelands and gave the university the right to fund itself through the sale of those unceded lands 鈥� a right it has to this day.

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UNR is also a stronghold for the accredited teaching of the Northern Paiute language 鈥� a language tribes in Nevada are fighting to preserve. The opportunity to achieve fluency in the language of the state鈥檚 original peoples is a particular draw for tribal citizens attending the university.

Paiute culture and language has been studied by academics at Nevada universities since the institutions were established, and countless graduate degrees awarded to non-tribal students have resulted from the use and study of cultural materials housed in Nevada鈥檚 universities.

Still, less than 1% of tribal citizens attend college in Nevada, let alone graduate school, says tribal leadership. One of the largest barriers is the mounting cost of higher education.

So when the Nevada Legislature passed a law in late Spring 2021 prohibiting the Nevada System of Higher Education from charging tuition to any Native American student who belongs to a federally recognized tribe in Nevada or a descendant of an enrolled member, tribes and students rejoiced.

Native graduate students at UNR took to saying a phrase that summarized their point of view on higher education: While the bill 鈥渃annot decolonize the academy鈥� they will work to 鈥渋ndigenize the academy.鈥�

The timing of the bill鈥檚 passage left only a few months for  the state鈥檚 colleges and universities to implement the program and get the word out to Native American students about the waiver in time for the 2021-2022 school year.  During the first school year of implementation, $457,449 in tuition and fees were waived for 140 students, .

As of October, 73 students have benefited from the waiver at UNR alone, accounting for about $330,000 in waived tuition this year. For the 2022-23 academic year, another 50 students have applied for the waiver at UNR, said Daphne Emm Hooper, the school鈥檚 director of Indigenous Relations.

Since the waiver passed, UNR has seen a 13% increase in Native American undergraduate students and a 3% increase in graduate students.

鈥淧art of it is that we鈥檙e seeing more graduate students coming in,鈥� Hooper said 鈥淚t created access to additional funding. Graduate students don鈥檛 have access to as much financial aid. The waiver applies towards graduate courses, I think that鈥檚 why we are seeing more Native students seeking out more advanced degrees.鈥�

鈥楾his has been life-changing鈥�

Alyssa Sweet, 20, a descendant of the Lovelock Paiute Tribe, is still an undergraduate at the Truckee Meadows Community College in Reno, Nevada. Last year, 24 students at the community college benefited from tuition waiver amounting to about $30,000 in fees waived.

Next semester, Sweet is transferring to UNR now that she has more stable funding for her educational goals of becoming an elementary school teacher.

鈥淭he only reason I鈥檓 able to go to the university is because of this waiver,鈥� Sweet said. 鈥淎nd it鈥檚 because I鈥檓 Native. It makes me feel good about who I am.鈥�

Before the tuition waiver, Sweet could only afford to attend about two classes a semester at Truckee Meadows Community College, a story she鈥檚 seen repeated by other Native students.

鈥淲ithout the fee waiver I honestly would have had to drop out this semester. I鈥檝e been having a lot of financial issues and I can鈥檛 rely on most help,鈥� Sweet said. 鈥淭his has been life-changing for me just because I can rely on something else, something I know that鈥檚 going to be there.鈥�

The process of confirming Sweet鈥檚 eligibility with records of her family鈥檚 tribal enrollments has been complicated, she said. A lack of communication and coordination between higher education and tribes has made navigating the waivers requirements difficult. Still, she says the process led her to reconnect with the Lovelock Paiute Tribe and she鈥檚 taken steps to enroll as a citizen of the tribe.

鈥淚 think that it鈥檚 really important for the school administration to have the knowledge and know how to help us with it or always have someone we can ask. I feel like there should be more resources,鈥� Sweet said.

Higher education administrators in Nevada agree that as awareness of the fee waiver grows so will the number of Native students applying.

More than one NSHE institution has added additional staff and programs to provide wrap-around supports for Native American students since the tuition waiver was passed.

Native American student advocate at Truckee Meadows Community College, Delina Trottier, is one of those newly hired staffers. Her outreach was the reason Sweet first found out about the tuition waiver.

鈥淪ince August, I鈥檝e been reaching out to the Native American student population and encouraging them to look at the waiver and seeing if they meet the requirements or if they need any help applying,鈥� Trottier said.

She鈥檚 also a student at the University of Nevada, Reno and a citizen of the Onion Lake Cree Nation in Saskatchewan, Canada. But for the last 10 years she鈥檚 called Pyramid Lake in Nevada home.

鈥淥ne day my daughter will get to utilize this waiver,鈥� Trottier said.

Many Native students had some awareness of the tuition waiver through their own social networks, but didn鈥檛 know where to start or how to apply, said Trottier. Soon she was receiving steady emails from students seeking guidance.

鈥淚 used to be a student at Truckee Meadows and they didn鈥檛 have this position,鈥� said Trottier. 鈥淚 was kind of timid and shy to even ask for help when I needed it. I鈥檓 trying to be that person I needed when I went to TMCC,鈥� Trottier said.

Connecting with tribal leaders and arranging information meetings and tours with high school students has helped bridge a gap between tribes and the community college, said Trottier.

鈥淭here鈥檚 a lot of interest from the tribes,鈥� Trottier said.

Karin Hilgersom, the president of Truckee Meadows Community College, said she hopes to grow the program and connect with more tribal nations through public higher education.

鈥淭his important fee waiver also started a series of events over the past year that strengthened our relationship with tribes and their representatives. In May 2022, I was honored to award Arlan Melendez, Chairman of the Reno-Sparks Indian Colony and TMCC alumnus, with our President鈥檚 Medal,鈥� Hilgersom said. 鈥淲e are proud of these efforts and are dedicated to serving all students with accessible, affordable educational opportunities.鈥�

As of December, 16 students at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas have benefitted from the free tuition waiver.  Most of those students are undergraduates. Zack Goodwin, UNLV鈥檚 executive director of financial aid and scholarships, said he suspects the waiver will encourage more of those same students and others across Nevada to eventually apply to more costly graduate programs.

鈥淲e did have more people applying for it than we did in its initial year,鈥� said Goodwin. 鈥淚 think the word is pretty much out at this point.鈥�

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The Clark County School District wants to make sex education mandatory unless parents explicitly opt their child out 鈥� a switch from the current process wherein parents must explicitly opt their child in to health education.

CCSD, the nation鈥檚 fifth-largest school district, declined to elaborate on its plans but included the proposal in a list of it plans to submit for the upcoming legislative session, which begins in February.

Nevada is one of where parents or guardians must give permission before students can enroll in sex ed. The others are Utah, Texas, Mississippi, and Arizona.

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State Assemblywoman Shannon Bilbray-Axelrod, a Democrat, introduced in 2019 which would have made sex education opt-out and required teaching statewide evidence-based and factual information about puberty, pregnancy, parenting, body image, and gender stereotypes.

The bill died in committee, but Bilbray-Axelrod plans to reintroduce it in the upcoming session.

Under state statutes, schools are only required to teach medically accurate sex education about AIDS.

Nevada ranked first in the nation for having the of primary & secondary (P&S) syphilis in 2020, the most current data available.

Only 17 states in America require sexual education to be medically accurate, . States鈥� definitions of what constitutes medically accurate sex education differ substantially nationwide 鈥� with some having health departments review the curriculum and others having the curriculum based on information from sources that medical professionals use.

The and the burgeoning public health crisis of have renewed interest nationally in expanding efforts to revamp sex education.

CCSD currently does teach .

鈥淚鈥檓 not worried about CCSD,鈥� said Bilbray-Axelrod, 鈥渂ut I am more worried about other counties.鈥�

Without a statewide mandate more rural counties and at-risk populations like homeless youth or children in the foster care system, who face additional barriers to getting a guardian or parent鈥檚 signature, are left underserved.

Nevada consistently has the and has the highest rate of children nationally.

Both and have higher rates of STIs than their peers.

鈥淭here are homeless children who don鈥檛 have parents to opt in to sex education,鈥� Bilbray-Axelrod said.

While 31% of Nevada high school students reported having sexual intercourse at least once, 44% did not use a condom, the only birth control method that prevents STIs,

Of the roughly 26 million new cases of STIs in the U.S., half are among people ages 15 to 24, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), but the CDC reports that medically accurate sex education can prevent HIV, STIs, and unintended pregnancy for teens and young adults.

Reported cases of gonorrhea, P&S syphilis, and syphilis among newborns () were all up in 2020 compared to 2019, and early data indicates the trend continued in 2021,

Bilbray-Axelrod鈥檚 2019 bill wasn鈥檛 the only sex education-related bill in recent years.

In 2017, , which would have periodically updated course content to be medically accurate, was passed mostly by Democrats, and had , but was vetoed by then-Gov. Brian Sandoval.

鈥淲hile local school boards and educators play an important role in sex education courses, the role of the parents in this system is most important,鈥� said Sandoval in his veto statement.

If the issue does arise in the upcoming session, it will no doubt raise the ire of conservative groups, like Power2Parent, whose president and CEO Erin Phillips lobbied for that Sandoval veto.

Phillips acknowledged that vulnerable groups like the homeless and foster youth have a lot of needs, but said she doesn鈥檛 believe opt-out sex education is high on that list.

鈥淭hat鈥檚 a solution in search of a problem,鈥� she said.

At the national level, Nevada U.S. Democratic Rep. Dina Titus co-sponsored the 鈥嬧��, which would require sex education curriculum to be comprehensive and medically accurate. Neither that bill nor a measure in the Senate has moved beyond introduction.

is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Nevada Current maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Hugh Jackson for questions: info@nevadacurrent.com. Follow Nevada Current on and .

The Clark County School District hired a pest control company last month to trap and remove close to two dozen cats from a Las Vegas high school, but officials refuse to say what was to become of the creatures.

鈥淒esert Squad Pest and Wildlife will do 1 month of trapping for feral cats underneath the portable buildings that are at the School,鈥� says the company鈥檚 for $6,000 to trap cats at Desert Pines High School. 鈥淭he traps will be checked daily and re baited. 鈥� Desert Squad Pest and Wildlife can鈥檛 guarantee that all cats will be removed because in this process more cats could come.鈥�

Tabitha Linton, owner of Desert Squad Pest and Wildlife, says her company has a permit from the state to trap and euthanize pests, including cats. She says cat trapping is not a routine request, but one the company has performed.

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State law a pest as 鈥渁ny form of animal or vegetable life detrimental to the crops, horticulture, livestock, public health, wildlife, quality of water and beneficial uses of land in this state.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;&苍产蝉辫;

鈥淲ith that, if the pest control falls within this criteria, (the law) does not restrict trapping and euthanasia,鈥� says Ciara Ressel, spokesperson for the Department of Agriculture.

The company declined to disclose how it kills cats.

鈥淚s it a pest animal or is it a lost pet? I have no idea how these pest control companies can possibly tell the difference,鈥� says Keith Williams, founder of Community Cat Coalition Clark County. 鈥淚f it鈥檚 a pest animal, they can take it out and shoot it. If it鈥檚 a pet, they鈥檝e stolen someone鈥檚 animal and euthanized it illegally.鈥�

Linton declined to say what was to become of the cats at Desert Pines HS, adding the school鈥檚 principal, Isaac Stein, instructed her not to divulge their fate to the media. 鈥淚鈥檝e been instructed by Principal Stein that any inquiries have to be redirected back to him.鈥�

Stein and CCSD also refused to say what was to become of the cats.

鈥淭he school explored options for cleaning sites contaminated by felines with outside entities specializing in complying with local regulations and the humane capture and care of animals,鈥� a statement from CCSD said.

But cat lovers know there鈥檚 nothing humane about removing a colony of cats.

鈥淵ou can鈥檛 relocate feral cats. They鈥檒l kill themselves trying to get back where they were.鈥� says Nancie Anastopolous of Community Cat Angels, a nonprofit that treats sick and injured felines, and finds homes for those suitable for adoption.

In October, Gina Greisen of Nevada Voters for Animals, got wind of the plan to trap and remove the cats and persuaded Stein to allow rescue organizations to intervene. The pest control company retreated, and volunteers from Community Cat Angels (CCA) trapped some two dozen cats, who were neutered, sterilized, and returned to the campus at no cost to CCSD. Medical care for two cats cost CCA more than $1,500. At least two of the cats were socialized and ultimately adopted.

鈥淚f you have nothing to hide, and you鈥檙e just doing TNR (trap, neuter, release) which is totally legal, why did everyone clam up?鈥� asks Greisen, who worries that owned cats in the neighborhood adjacent to the school could have been lured by the bait, trapped, and removed by the pest control company.

That鈥檚 what happened to a Florida woman whose outdoor cat was trapped and legally killed. The has since been changed.

鈥淚鈥檇 like to know how they are euthanizing these animals and if they are looking for an owner or checking for microchips,鈥� says Williams. 鈥淲hen people call the pest control company and get inquisitive, they get hung up on. The company refuses to answer any of those questions.鈥�

School board trustee Linda Cavazos says the cat trapping contract was included in the board鈥檚 consent agenda, in which smaller items are approved in one motion.

鈥淲e鈥檙e only briefed on the big ticket items,鈥� she says, adding she 鈥渨as not aware of any contract like this at all.鈥� Cavazos says she inquired about the contract and was told Superintendent Jesus Jara would review it. She says she has not heard back. Jara did not return calls.

Revolving door

Las Vegas, North Las Vegas, and Clark County fund the Animal Foundation (TAF) and support its community cat program, where found cats 鈥� socialized as well as unsocialized 鈥� are vaccinated, sterilized, and released where they came from in order to keep the shelter population from exploding and to avoid a higher rate of euthanasia.

The program is not without its , who have grown more vociferous since learning of  CCSD鈥檚 foiled effort to remove a colony, and complain cats are caught in a revolving door.

鈥淚t sickens me that we have a taxpayer-funded community cat program, which releases every cat found on the street where they can then just be picked up by another taxpayer-funded effort, and ultimately euthanized,鈥� says Anastopolous.

TAF鈥檚 CEO Hilarie Grey did not respond to requests for comment.

An unsterilized cat averages three litters of four kittens a year, according to experts, a rate that can鈥檛 be absorbed by shelters and rescues via adoption, giving rise to a debate over the most humane means of controlling overpopulation 鈥� TNR or catch and kill.

Is catch and kill, which is widely in Australia, an effective means of population control?

鈥淚t can be, if they rounded up and killed about 10,000 cats a year,鈥� says Williams, who estimates the valley鈥檚 feral cat population at more than 200,000. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 why we try to TNR 10,000 cats a year. That鈥檚 what it takes to actually affect the population.鈥�

Some local governments, such as Henderson, require trapped animals to be turned over to be evaluated for adoption or euthanized. But in most of Southern Nevada, so-called community cats 鈥� which run the gamut from socialized and abandoned domestic cats to unsocialized ferals, are protected by law and allowed to run free.

鈥淵ou can trap feral cats for the purpose of having them spayed or neutered and returned to the same area,鈥� says Clark County spokesman Erik Pappa, adding that county code and state law 鈥減rohibit the unjustifiable killing of animals.鈥�

The City of Las Vegas, home to Desert Pines HS, gives animal control officials, not exterminators, the authority to declare a cat or a colony a public nuisance.

鈥淭he city鈥檚 preference would be that pest control companies take captured feral cats to an appropriate rescue or shelter,鈥� says City of Las Vegas spokesman Jace Radke.

While animal control officers have the right to trap a community cat that is deemed a threat to public health or safety, a licensed veterinarian must decide if the cat poses an imminent danger or has bitten a person, in which cases it may be euthanized, the says.

Animal control officials who investigated the CCSD trapping contract say the pest control company has agreed to abide by TNR procedures should it resume trapping at the school.

Greisen wants the Department of Agriculture, which regulates exterminators, to investigate whether pest control companies are illegally disposing of community cats.  She鈥檚 also hoping a legislator will ask for an opinion on whether cats, under state law, are a pest.

is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Nevada Current maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Hugh Jackson for questions: info@nevadacurrent.com. Follow Nevada Current on and .

The Nevada State Public Charter School Board voted on Jan. 28 to conditionally approve Strong Start Academy, an elementary school that will use the same name as the city鈥檚 existing subsidized preschool program. The vote was unanimous and enthusiastic, with Chair Melissa Mackedon calling it a 鈥渉istoric vote鈥� and other members acknowledging that it opens the door for other cities or municipalities to open schools of their own.

Mackedon said the City of Las Vegas will 鈥渟how Nevadas how cities can support education.鈥�

The city鈥檚 initial application was denied by the Charter School Board in November. It was one of two applications revised and resubmitted for consideration in January. The other applicant, Pioneer Technology and Arts Academy, was denied a second time on a split 4-3 vote.

Strong Start plans to open with 180 students in grades kindergarten through second grade before expanding in subsequent years up to fifth grade. It will offer bilingual education, with students receiving academic instruction in both English and Spanish.

As a charter school, Strong Start will receive per pupil dollars from the state鈥檚 education budget. It will receive additional financial support from the City of Las Vegas, which has already committed $1 million in startup funds toward the project.

Additionally, the city will cover all facility costs for the charter school. The approved plan has Strong Start opening in August for the 2022-23 academic year in three different locations. Each of its initial three grades will be colocated at the city鈥檚 existing tuition-free preschool programs. City staff hopes to eventually secure a permanent facility, which would also be city-owned and maintained.

Tammy Malich, the director of youth development and social innovation with the City of Las Vegas, told the Charter School Board the city is also exploring the possibility of creating a new staff position that will serve as a 鈥渓iaison鈥� for the charter school. Grant writers at the city are also working on securing outside funding, including a $750,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Education鈥檚 Charter School Program, which is facilitated in Nevada by the nonprofit Opportunity 180.

Malich said the city will continue supporting Clark County School District and other schools within its jurisdiction.

But at least one Charter School Board member acknowledged that the existence of a city-run charter is controversial and expressed concerns about whether the city would continue its support for the charter school as its mayor and city council change.

鈥淚 feel confident (in you all),’鈥� board member Sheila Moulton said to Malich and other representatives of Strong Start. 鈥淚 just don鈥檛 feel awful confident in the politics of it.鈥�

Moulton, who served on the Clark County School Board for 12 years, noted the recent filing of a ballot initiative petition by a Henderson city councilperson that would seek to change the state constitution to allow cities to withdraw from the existing school district and set up their own district. Currently, the Nevada Constitution allows for one school district per county. Charter schools are independent of districts and collectively not considered a legal district. (If they were, the Charter School Authority would be the third largest district in the state.) If that petition is successful in getting on the ballot, it will renew discussions on breaking up CCSD and bring attention to the ways cities are getting involved with K-12 education.

Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman founded The Meadows School, a private school, and has been outspoken in her support of the city opening a charter school. Her current term ends in 2024 and she is unable to run again due to term limits. The sitting city council voted 6-1 in favor of the new charter school.

Notably, the one dissenting vote was cast by Councilman Cedric Crear, who represents one of the three wards the city is targeting with its charter school. Crear before that vote noted that the three existing charter schools in the area being targeted by the city are struggling.

鈥淚鈥檓 not sold on the whole concept of the city being engaged in running a school,鈥� he said at the time. 鈥淲e have so many challenges that we鈥檙e facing. This is a very, very, very uphill battle.鈥�

Crear has already announced he plans to run for mayor in 2024.

Las Vegas City Council will likely receive a public update on the charter school at its upcoming Feb. 16 meeting when it will be asked to formally transfer the committed $1 million in support funding to the nonprofit organization the city created to formally run the school.

Editor鈥檚 Note: This article has been updated to reflect that the $750,000 grant received by Strong Start Academy is from the U.S. Department of Education鈥檚 Charter School Program.

is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Nevada Current maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Hugh Jackson for questions: info@nevadacurrent.com. Follow Nevada Current on and .

Coral Academy, which operates seven schools across Southern Nevada, announced this week they are accepting applications for the 2022-23 school year, and that low-income students will have a better shot at snagging one of their coveted seats, thanks to the implementation of a new weighted lottery system.

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Ercan Aydogdu, executive director and CEO of Coral Academy, describes how it will work simply: It鈥檚 like a fishbowl filled with raffle tickets. A student who is considered economically disadvantaged will have four tickets put in. A student who isn鈥檛 will have one ticket put in. Students receive the weight if they qualify for the federal free and reduced lunch (FRL) program, which applies to families with incomes at or below 185% of the poverty line. For a family of four, that鈥檚 $49,000 annually.

Coral doesn鈥檛 struggle for applicants overall. Its schools regularly have to hold a lottery because applicants outnumber open seats. Aydogdu says Coral has a combined wait list of more than 5,000 students still hoping to enroll during this current school year.

The times-four multiplier of enrollment is likely to have the biggest impact at Coral鈥檚 newest campus, Cadence, which is scheduled to open next year in the Henderson master planned community of the same name. Coral Cadence will be enrolling 1,800 students from kindergarten through eighth grade. Coral鈥檚 other campuses will have fewer open seats (since the majority of students return for subsequent years) but may also see a boost in FRL-eligible students.

The Coral academies are the first Southern Nevada charter schools to implement a weighted lottery system. But several others, including Pinecrest Academies of Southern Nevada, are agendized to ask the state Charter School Board on Friday for permission to move to a weighted lottery system.

Two Northern Nevada charter schools already use a weighted lottery.

Though they are privately managed, charter schools are considered public schools because they receive state and federal funding. They cannot use selection criteria such as academic performance or entrance essays, and they cannot charge tuition or fees. They are supposed to be open for all students. However, in practice, and for a variety of reasons, charter school enrollment than traditional public schools.

For example, 77.7% of students statewide are considered economically disadvantaged, compared to only 43.4% of students at state-sponsored charter schools, according to 2021 state enrollment data.

Coral Academy鈥檚 existing schools have FRL student populations around 30%. Aydogdu says the schools have been making headway in the past few years to make that number more reflective of the community at large, but he acknowledges their campuses still lag behind Clark County School District. A Charter School Authority presentation on enrollment shows three Coral campuses as having the biggest percentage boost in FRL enrollment between 2020 and 2021. Their Nellis Air Force Base campus went from 16.5% FRL to 29.6%.

Coral鈥檚 other efforts have included hiring a family and community outreach coordinator to market specifically to people in targeted low-income neighborhoods.

Previous efforts fell short

Pinecrest Academy of Northern Nevada opened for the 2020-2021 school year. It was approved by the Charter School Authority the calendar year prior of reflecting the community at large. One of the tools it hoped would deliver diversity: the weighted lottery.

Now in its second academic year, PANN reported a student population that was only 14.6% FRL eligible; 45.4% of all Washoe County students are FRL eligible.

Principal Jami Austin believes the pandemic is a major reason why the school fell far short of its goal to mirror Washoe County demographics. The school鈥檚 enrollment period fell around the same time as the onset of the pandemic, meaning many low-wage earners had more immediate issues to address than school choice.

But the biggest hurdle was likely that the Charter School Authority required its schools to operate at 50% capacity at the beginning of the 2020-21 academic year, meaning PANN had to operate in a virtual or hybrid format. Washoe County School District, the charter鈥檚 primary competitor for student enrollment, offered instruction entirely in-person.

鈥淲e quickly lost a lot of (prospective) kids,鈥� says Austin. 鈥淟ooking at families of lower socioeconomic status and what their priorities are. It was, 鈥業 just need my kid in school, so they鈥檒l have to go to the neighborhood school.鈥欌��

Austin adds that the school is doing 鈥渞e-outreach鈥漷o those families in hopes they might reapply.

Another factor may have been the way PANN originally structured its weighted lottery. For the inaugural year, it was a times-two multiplier for FRL eligible students. Austin says the potential benefit of having two chances for enrollment instead of just one might not have been a strong enough incentive to compel parents to submit the necessary paperwork to prove they qualify for FRL.

For their second year, they raised the weight to a five-times multiplier.

鈥淲e want to make sure everyone who has that need and desire has the opportunity to attend,鈥� says Austin. 鈥淲e spend all this time teaching and educating families and getting them to apply. For them not to get in is devastating.鈥�

Aydogdu of Coral Academy isn鈥檛 discouraged by early results from PANN.

鈥淩eno is totally different,鈥� he says. 鈥淲e are hoping in Southern Nevada (the weighted lottery) will see a much greater impact, especially for the first year (at Cadence).鈥�

Amanda Safford, the director of operations for Academica Nevada, agrees the regions are different. Fewer charter schools exist in Northern Nevada, which means parents and other caregivers are less familiar with what they are and who is eligible to attend. Academica Nevada is the private education management organization that sets up and manages many of the state鈥檚 charter schools, including Pinecrest, Doral and Mater academies.

Safford says the impact of the weighted lottery is still promising and that the types of families interested in PANN are diversifying. She is also encouraged to see other charter schools follow suit.

鈥淭here鈥檚 a real desire on the part of the boards in the schools I serve of wanting to help diversify and provide access to all students,鈥� she said.

is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Nevada Current maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Hugh Jackson for questions: info@nevadacurrent.com. Follow Nevada Current on and .

Cortez Masto鈥檚 was the lead signature on by 14 senators to Department of Education Secretary Michael Cardona. Fellow Nevadan Sen. Jacky Rosen also signed.

An estimated 200,000 service members now owe more than $2.9 billion in student loans, according to the senators鈥� letter.

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鈥淢any of them planned their financial futures around the promise of eventual student debt relief,鈥� the senators wrote. 鈥淗owever, a recent Government Accountability Office report indicated that approximately 94% of service members and civilian employees of the U.S. Department of Defense who previously applied for relief through the program have been denied.鈥�

In October, the U.S Department of Education announced it would overhaul the Public Student Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program, which promises to forgive the remainder of a borrower鈥檚 federal student loans, if that borrower worked for 10 years in the public or nonprofit sector and made qualified income-based payments during that time. The PSLF program has proven cumbersome for borrowers to navigate and has , once reported as around 2%.

As a part of those announced changes, service members were allowed to count months spent on active duty toward PSLF, even if their loans were on a deferment at the time.

President Donald Trump first paused student loan payments during the pandemic, and President Joe Biden extended that pause . Biden has indicated it will not be extended further.

Progressive Democrats continue their of up to $50,000 in student loan debt per borrower and many want Biden to act through executive order. Biden has pushed back, saying he would support $10,000 in forgiveness if approved by Congress. He has instead implemented more targeted efforts, including cancelling millions of dollars of debt for students of predatory for-profit colleges and people with disabilities.

Student loan forgiveness is not part of the sweeping social policy bill being discussed in Washington DC.

is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Nevada Current maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Hugh Jackson for questions: info@nevadacurrent.com. Follow Nevada Current on and .

Some districts are offering thousands in signing bonuses, others adapt to four-day work weeks and many are easing the way for college students or other would-be teaching candidates to get quickly certified.

In 2018, the National Bureau of Labor Statistics would leave the profession annually through 2026 鈥� a number that did not take into account the pandemic鈥檚 effects on teacher retention and retirement. A 2020 revealed that almost a third nationwide would likely retire early or leave the profession because of the pandemic. Yet the bureau鈥檚 recent job data shows that actual teacher turnover levels are similar 鈥� and in some cases lower 鈥斕齮han pre-pandemic levels. The estimated outcomes from alarming polls, suggesting that teachers everywhere would imminently leave the profession, have not necessarily come to fruition.

Retirement and attrition do vary greatly by county or state 鈥� saw about 200 more teachers leave by the end August 2020 than in 2019 or 2018, while Minnesota experienced the opposite effect 鈥� and there鈥檚 still much to be understood about the full scope of how the pandemic has affected the teaching force. At the same time, we do know that fewer adults are heading into .

The lengths that some school and state leaders are going to to fill current vacancies, especially for special education and substitute teachers, does demonstrate that districts are seeing urgent staffing needs and are getting creative to meet them.

Accelerated licensure programs and alternatives for state teaching exams are popping up across the country to urgently meet students鈥� needs. Houston, for instance, had over 400 teacher openings as of mid-August; some may be filled by .

Though places like metro aren鈥檛 experiencing the same levels of staff scarcity, they are still offering a $5,000 sign-on incentive for special education teachers. Greater Atlanta鈥檚 DeKalb County Schools are also recruiting for full-time positions.

Out West, a aims to transform the educator pipeline by recruiting high school students into teacher programs, former military personnel and adjunct professors. Nevada鈥檚 Carson City Schools will public employees to fill special education vacancies, and others in California are adopting the strategy of recruiting teachers where they鈥檝e grown up, incentivizing staying in-state for higher education or pursuing teaching residencies in their home districts.

One framed staffing challenges as a human capital problem, not a financial one. To aid schools鈥� pandemic recovery, millions in unprecedented federal relief funds are on their way to states. Only a handful included teacher recruitment or retention strategies in their budget proposals; nationwide, priorities for the relief funds are expanding academic tutoring and mental health care.

And critical shortages go beyond the classroom 鈥� are , after many have retired or decided to not risk COVID-19 exposure. Up to 250 National Guard service members will drive students to school in Massachusetts, and school leaders in are encouraging their governor to consider the same. Efforts to engage the National Guard in New York were rejected by Gov. Kathy Hochul; a spokesperson for her team said school transportation was

In , where drivers are leaving en masse after the district mandated staff vaccines, some families of students with disabilities were given two days to find alternative transportation for the first day of school.

Students and families across the country are feeling the impacts of missing critical staff as the 2021-22 school year and quarantines get underway.

We鈥檝e compiled some of the special education and substitute teacher recruitment efforts currently in effect:

Special Education Teacher Recruitment

reported teacher shortages in special education in the 2020-21 school year.

鈥淲e beg, borrow and steal wherever we can to find some good quality special education teachers for our district,鈥� Jose Delfin. The schools chief spoke during a school board meeting where the district designated the labor shortage as critical, enabling the hiring of retired public employees.

And while advocates have sounded the alarm on a declining special education force for , states like have just established recruitment and retention task forces.

Click here if you cannot access the interactive version of this map.

Substitute Teacher Recruitment

Schools across the country employ between 500,000 and 600,000 subs annually, according to the National Bureau of Labor Statistics. School administrators in say substitute applications have trickled to a stop. For smaller districts in California with teachers heading into COVID-19 quarantines, declining substitute teacher pools could force school .

In Idaho, Gov. Brad Little to fill shortages, 鈥淚 urge Idahoans in a position to serve as a substitute teacher or other classroom support staff to contact your school district and get signed up. Idaho students and our communities need you.鈥�

Click here if you cannot access the interactive version of this map.

On Nov. 28, 2020, the COVID-19 infection rate in Washoe County, Nevada, crested at 113 new cases per 100,000 residents. What that grim statistic meant to residents of Reno, Tahoe and the county鈥檚 other small cities depended greatly on their socioeconomic status. 

Employment on that day, for instance, was down 1 percent over January 2020 鈥� low, but also deceptive. Employment among middle-income workers, those making $27,000 to $60,000 a year, was flat.

But among those making less than $27,000, it fell 22 percent. Meanwhile, for residents earning more than the area鈥檚 median income, employment actually rose an astonishing 19 percent.

That disparity is a glaring illustration of the so-called K-shaped economic recovery 鈥� one of the features of the pandemic recession that most troubles economists.

Past economic slumps have had more of a V-shape: an across-the-board dip followed by a relatively uniform and quick return to pre-recession conditions.

This time is different. For many high earners, those at the top of the K, COVID鈥檚 roiling effect on the economy was a blip. They may be working remotely, but they鈥檙e working. They are not, however, spending money the way they did before COVID-19, on restaurant meals, growlers, travel, mani-pedis, Uber rides 鈥� services their lower-income neighbors provide as they eke out a living.

The week that Reno鈥檚 case count peaked, small-business revenue in the area was down as much as 31 percent. But overall, consumer spending dropped as little as 8 percent. The money was still flowing 鈥� just not to the folks at the bottom of the K. 

It鈥檚 a problem nationwide, and , because many of the low-wage jobs lost since the start of the pandemic won鈥檛 be replaced, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Jobs that will require a college or graduate degree, such as health care and technology occupations, are expected to grow. But those requiring a high school diploma or less 鈥� chief among them the restaurant, hotel and customer service jobs whose workers who have long been the spine of Reno鈥檚 economy 鈥� will continue to contract. Early indicators show COVID has accelerated this shift, which has broad implications for K-12 education. 

When the pandemic recession struck, economists John Friedman and Raj Chetty realized it looked different from previous downturns. While even small changes in the way money changes hands create ripples, COVID was a shockwave. Co-founders of 鈥� a team at Harvard University that researches income inequality and education鈥檚 potential to lift children out of poverty 鈥� they persuaded credit card companies, payroll processors and other businesses that track money as it moves through the economy in real time to turn over what are essentially trade secrets. Using that information, the researchers built a nationwide online pandemic tracker capable of providing a down-to-the-day snapshot of who is spending and who is struggling, by income level, city, state and county and, in some instances, by zip code.

The data quickly revealed stunning implications on virtually every front.

In Reno, as in many places, affluent residents at the top of the recession鈥檚 K shape bounced back right away 鈥� much more quickly than in a typical downturn. But their new spending patterns crippled the businesses that supported their lower-income neighbors; those impoverished families on the bottom continue to struggle disproportionately on every front, beset by challenges long proven to be detrimental to children’s ability to learn in school.

Researchers, Friedman told 社区黑料, fear the resulting losses 鈥� of jobs, of loved ones to COVID, of mental health supports and reliable food supplies 鈥� may have even more devastating impacts for children that schools were already failing to serve, with education鈥檚 potential for lifting a family out of poverty moving further out of reach. 

(Friedman and Chetty update the tracker as the underlying information changes. The data in this story was downloaded June 29, 2021.)

The Opportunity Insights tracker contains one academic dataset: student participation and progress on the math app Zearn, which one-fourth of the nation鈥檚 K-5 students have access to. Immediately after schools closed, use of the app among low-income students “completely dropped off,” notes Zearn CEO Shalinee Sharma. As they started logging on again, a yawning gap became apparent. A year into the pandemic, these students鈥� progress was behind where it should have been, while their wealthier peers were ahead 28 percent.

WATCH: Beth Hawkins details her latest investigation into COVID鈥檚 K-shaped recession and how the fallout will challenge America鈥檚 schools

New studies . and the nonprofit assessment concern found wide disparities between white/affluent students and their low-income peers/children of color. Depending on grade and subject, low-income students ended the 2020-21 school year with up to seven months of unfinished learning.

In many ways, because Reno鈥檚 economic development officials took steps after the Great Recession to address major shifts in the economy, the city is better positioned than most places to weather COVID鈥檚 economic shocks. In particular, the community鈥檚 leaders tapped the local school district to help train the workforce needed to fuel a clean energy hub, with its thousands of good jobs. 

The resulting ripples from that prescient decision are being felt as early as kindergarten. 

Gambling and quickie divorces

When Tesla announced it was to break ground in 2014 on a much-anticipated Gigafactory, where it would develop a new class of batteries that could free consumers from fossil fuels, the headlines wrote themselves.

鈥淩eno, Nevada, may have just won one of the most coveted economic prizes in America,鈥� declared the San Francisco Chronicle鈥檚 “” blog. 

鈥淭esla Motors鈥� $5 billion Gigafactory may be the best thing to happen to northern Nevada since the silver rush of the 1850s,鈥� . 

The $1.2 billion state incentive package that sealed the deal was a “” on lessening Nevada鈥檚 dependence on casinos, according to the magazine Area Development Site and Facility Planning. 

The anticipated jackpot 鈥� $100 billion in economic growth over the next two decades 鈥� “,” quipped the news site Teslarati.

The city, the stories noted, beat out glitzier locations because of its easy freeway and rail access to Tesla鈥檚 flagship Bay Area facilities, its lack of corporate income taxes and even its status as the jumping-off spot for the Burning Man. The pundits weren鈥檛 kidding about this last selling point: Like lots of Silicon Valley technocrati, Tesla founder Elon Musk himself is a 鈥淏urner鈥� 鈥� a moniker analysts explained earnestly in auto industry publications. 

But in the same breath where they mentioned the good jobs the tech boom would create, the pundits decried the poor state of Nevada鈥檚 education systems. The deal the state and Musk eventually arrived at would require that half the jobs under Tesla鈥檚 control 鈥� 6,500 permanent positions and thousands more to build the Gigafactory 鈥� be filled by Nevada residents. But the state鈥檚 schools were not graduating students with the necessary skills. 

Nevada has the smallest higher education system in the nation, with a correspondingly low rate of postsecondary enrollment. Last year, Nevada students posted the nation鈥檚 lowest average score on the ACT college entrance exam, at 17.9. On the most recent National Assessment of Educational Progress, often referred to as the nation鈥檚 report card, Nevada students outperformed only their peers in Louisiana, New Mexico, Alaska and Washington, D.C. 

Historically, state leaders felt little urgency to confront the problem. An economy centered on gambling and quickie divorces put no pressure on public education institutions at any level to graduate students with skills beyond those needed to work in the gaming and hospitality industries. 

鈥淭here was 鈥� a demand side to the problem,鈥� Elliot Parker, then the head of the Department of Economics at the University of Nevada, Reno, wrote in the in the wake of the Great Recession of 2008. 鈥淪ince before the crash, many young people without a degree could earn above-average wages working in casinos or construction, at least for a while.鈥�

For 50 years, a near-monopoly on legal gambling helped the state weather economic swings. Even after the number of Native American casinos began to rise elsewhere, Las Vegas continued to appeal to tourists. But not Reno. 

In 2000, Californians voted to allow tribal casinos to offer slot machines and card games, paving the way for them to build resorts. No longer was there a compelling reason for northern Californians, Reno鈥檚 chief visitors, to make the trip across the state line. The region鈥檚 gambling revenue fell by two-thirds, a big drop at any time but especially hard to overcome once the Great Recession struck in 2008. Unemployment soared to 14 percent in 2010 鈥� the worst in the country. By 2011, home values had fallen by 58 percent, leaving 70 percent of mortgage holders underwater and devastating construction, until then the metro area鈥檚 other major source of jobs.

In 2012, then-Gov. Brian Sandoval for diversifying the state鈥檚 economy. He proposed investments in higher education but said that wouldn鈥檛 be enough. Apprenticeships and other programs to provide job skills certification to students not necessarily seeking a college degree would be an important part of broadening the state鈥檚 employment base. 

To that end, he asked the state鈥檚 underperforming K-12 schools to work with regional economic development agencies to bolster career and technical education, or CTE, and make sure the training programs actually taught the skills needed by the employers that regional officials were trying to entice.

As an example of the kind of strategy needed, Sandoval singled out Washoe County Public Schools鈥� , then a relatively new initiative to offer four-year high school programs with specific career focuses. Students who choose one of the themed courses of study can earn college credit and industry-approved job credentials in fields such as agriculture, engineering, information technology and health sciences.

In creating CTE programs, districts and states face several pitfalls, says Anthony Carnevale, director of the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce. The first is ensuring that offerings both engage students and are aligned to employers鈥� needs 鈥� an effort that is now required under the federal . Programs that achieve this, he says, are relatively rare. The second is avoiding the biased tracking of generations past, when schools placed disproportionate numbers of economically disadvantaged students and youth of color in vocational training programs to prepare them for low-wage jobs, rather than advanced academics that led to higher education. 

In Washoe County Public Schools, the district that includes Reno, shows that boys make up 52 percent of enrollment and 56 percent of CTE participants. Some 44 percent of students are white, as are 48 percent of program participants, while Latino students are 37 percent of CTE enrollment and 43 percent of the overall student body.

The district offers 36 CTE programs in 12 high schools, falling into six broad groupings: agriculture and natural resources; information technology and media; health science and public safety; business and marketing; education, hospitality and human services; and skilled and technical sciences. In many of the programs, seniors have the opportunity to earn an industry certification or other job credential, or complete an internship. Nearly one-fourth of 2020 12th-graders 鈥� 1,229 graduates 鈥� finished the three or more years of study in a particular field needed to be considered a 鈥淐TE completer.鈥�

Washoe鈥檚 arts and communications programs are still its most popular CTE tracks, with more than 1,500 students participating in the 2019-20 school year. Information technology is a close second. While the number of students enrolled in traditional career programs such as education and hospitality remains high, interest in more cutting-edge offerings is growing. Programs geared toward the region鈥檚 economic development efforts include manufacturing, with 800 participants; transportation and logistics, with 575; science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) with 550, and 900 in health sciences.

High school offerings are planned using economic development data that in most states guides decisions about whom public colleges and universities should train, and for what jobs. The Economic Development Agency of Western Nevada provides the district with weekly reports on job openings, the wages those jobs are likely to pay and which fields are poised to grow or shrink. 

The nearly 8,000 students in Washoe鈥檚 CTE programs can study clean energy technologies like wind, solar, geothermal and hydropower, automation, greenhouse management, environmental engineering, manufacturing and, of course, automotive technology. Opened in 2002, the Academy of Arts, Careers and Technologies is entirely career-focused and enrolls students from anywhere in the county. A second all-CTE high school is scheduled to open in fall 2023. 

Before the pandemic, two-thirds of district elementary schools had robotics clubs, with offerings ranging from simple computer coding games to First Lego League and First Robotics, a competition in which students have a short time to build an industrial-size robot that will compete against other teams in a field game.

Incorporating economic forecasting into school planning has been a game-changer, says Josh Hartzog, the director of the department in charge of the programs: 鈥淲here do our schools need to be positioned 10, 20, 30 years from now, given that we have no idea what the economy will look like?鈥�

Equipping today鈥檚 students with career credentials is terrific, he says. But the real key to future prosperity is to make sure they graduate with skills like critical-thinking, problem-solving, entrepreneurial drive and ability to refine ideas that will increase the odds they will create their own high-tech innovation or start their own businesses.

The robotics club effect

As the Gigafactory began to rise from the desert, Tesla founder Musk was vocal about whom he wanted working in it. A track record of 鈥渆xceptional achievement鈥� was his chief qualification. “There’s no need even to have a college degree at all, or even high school,” Musk 鈥� 鈥� told the . “If somebody graduated from a great university, that may be an indication that they will be capable of great things, but it’s not necessarily the case.鈥�

Still under construction, the plant may, at 10 million square feet, eventually be the world鈥檚 largest building. Right now, the facility is about 30 percent complete, with the remainder to be designed around innovations gleaned from the work taking place inside now. Musk hopes his exceptional achievers can conjure the Holy Grail of clean, renewable energy: batteries that are greener, cheaper, smaller and capable of powering everything from cell phones to cars to homes.

When Tesla鈥檚 first electric cars were introduced in 2008, their price tags 鈥� often six figures 鈥� put them out of reach of most customers. One reason the cars were so expensive was the cost of producing the lithium-ion batteries they run on. If the company could reduce the cost of the batteries by 30 percent by bringing research and production under one roof, Tesla could produce cars for middle-class drivers. Indeed, the first $35,000 Model 3 rolled off the assembly line in 2017.

The batteries are cheaper, but inside the Gigafactory, the quest for better ones not reliant on cobalt 鈥� expensive and problematic to mine 鈥� continues, with the first production lines . A host of high-tech employers including Google, Apple, Panasonic and Intuit have set up shop in the Gigafactory鈥檚 shadow, hoping to capitalize on similar innovations and creating fierce competition for skilled labor. 

The feedback loop created by the new employers, the region鈥檚 economic development officials and the K-12 school system could be a positive departure from past CTE practices, which too often result in re-creating the low-skill vo-tech programming of the post-World War II era, says Carnevale. 

鈥淓mployer involvement is great, but it鈥檚 kind of like love,鈥� he says. 鈥淓veryone wants it and there is never enough. They鈥檙e very fickle. They don鈥檛 work for you.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;

One reason he鈥檚 optimistic about Washoe鈥檚 programs is that instead of focusing on job training per se, the partnership is capitalizing on hands-on experiences to motivate students to develop the traits and intellectual abilities that will ensure they leave high school ready for college or a skilled career.

As part of its agreement with the state, Tesla agreed to spend $37.5 million on K-12 education. As people started working in the Gigafactory, the company analyzed the performance evaluations of its most effective workers. What it found was that many had participated in robotics clubs as kids. 

Reno is awash in robots, says Amy Fleming, until recently the economic development agency鈥檚 director of workforce development and now with the Governor鈥檚 Office of Workforce Innovation. Visitors to Tesla鈥檚 campus encounter self-driving vehicles, which stop to let them pass. One of the area’s employers makes robots that make other robots. Students who learn robotics and other high-tech manufacturing skills in high school will have no problem finding a good job. 

But as Tesla鈥檚 executives probed further into its high-performers鈥� experiences with the clubs, they found something else. The clubs’ competitive aspect teaches students to solve problems on the fly. They鈥檙e fun for kids of any age and draw a diverse array of participants, . Students compete, but they work together to do so. 

Accordingly, one of the things Tesla has funded is a robotics coordinator for Washoe schools.

In 2019, students at Reed High School won a $10,000 grant from the Lemelson-MIT Program, which rewards student inventors. Their proposal: to create a flywheel that would extract cigarette butts from storm sewers, preventing toxins within from poisoning fish in a nearby lake.

The senior who conceived of the idea went to the school鈥檚 energy technology classes to recruit volunteers. Many of those who joined the effort had participated in robotics clubs since middle school. The students used the grant money to test and refine the idea. 

鈥淥nce you identify that thread and start pulling on it, it鈥檚 like, 鈥極h, of course, this makes sense,鈥� says Fleming. 鈥淚t鈥檚 that engineer鈥檚 curiosity.鈥� Students taught to continuously test and refine their creations, whether an invention or a process, she points out, are going to drive the innovations that will shape the economy in the years to come 鈥� and in the process, secure jobs that will place them firmly at the top of the K.

Reno鈥檚 success in reinventing itself as a high-tech hub and attracting associated growing industries is great, she says. But looking further out, the key to true long-term economic health is whether regional officials 鈥� and the school system 鈥� can nourish Reno鈥檚 blossoming startup sector. The same problem-solving and collaboration skills that make robotics club participants prized members of Tesla鈥檚 current workforce, Fleming says, will make today鈥檚 high school graduates the entrepreneurs whose innovations will keep the local economy nimble.

鈥淣orthern Nevada has made progress transitioning from service to production,鈥� says Fleming. 鈥淎s your community transitions from production to a knowledge-based economy, that鈥檚 crucial.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;

This article is part of a series examining COVID’s K-shaped recession and what it means for America鈥檚 schools. Read the full series here.

Disclosure: The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Chan Zuckerberg Initiative provide financial support to Opportunity Insights and 社区黑料.

Lead images: Getty Images

The state was fortunate to receive an offer of help from a partner early on. Superintendent of Public Instruction Jhone Ebert and I had existing relationships with Renaissance鈥檚 , an online literacy platform, from previous positions we鈥檇 held. In April 2020, we were still trying to decide how to move forward for our students when Renaissance reached how they could help. With relief funding having not yet made it to schools, the company committed to temporarily providing myON at no cost; by June 2020, students and educators throughout Nevada had access to thousands of online books and news articles.

Part of the reason this happened so fast is that the governor issued an executive order streamlining the adoption process. Instead of going through several layers of review, we were able to flag the rollout as an emergency response to the pandemic, drastically shortening the process from several weeks to just days.

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Part of the challenge the state faced, even with a generous partner, was that we knew the federal government was likely to provide emergency funds, but we didn鈥檛 know how much, when or what restrictions there would be on spending the money. In short, we knew we could launch the program, but we weren鈥檛 sure how we could sustain it beyond that. So we looked for partners to bring on board to expand this initiative beyond the Department of Education.

We began by reaching out to the because it was already providing support and services to students and families throughout the state, from putting together packages of books and offering various mobile technologies so families could access the internet. It was a natural fit, so we asked them to start sharing information about myON along with their other offerings.

Next, we began working with our regional professional development program. We needed teachers to understand that myON was more than just a reading tool or online books, and to consider how they could leverage it for teaching and learning, given that the shift to remote classes was so abrupt and totally new to most of our teachers.

Finally, to inspire more excitement, we encouraged each school district and student to read as many minutes as possible through the partnership. To date, students have accessed more than 6 million digital books and read more than 58 million minutes. Meanwhile, my team and I began to address another statewide challenge: internet access.

Before the pandemic, about three of every four students in the state had a mobile device and access to home internet. But many were sharing a single device among multiple siblings or with parents. And entire communities didn鈥檛 have broadband internet at all.

A first step in improving access was to have districts identify the technology they already had that could be distributed to students. We knew that federal funding was coming through the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund that would allow us to buy the additional devices we needed. However, 49 other states were also looking to provide devices and connectivity for their students, and placing orders that wouldn鈥檛 arrive until the fall wasn鈥檛 going to help students who needed to learn now.

Fortunately, Gov. Steve Sisolak allowed Ebert to reorient the Nevada COVID-19 Response, Relief & Recovery Task Force to include Connecting Kids, an initiative to solve the issue of providing students with devices and access. The head of the task force, Jim Murren, and Elaine Wynn, former CEO of MGM Resorts and former president of the State Board of Education, really stepped up for our kids. They went so far as to use their private planes to transport devices from countries where they were manufactured to Nevada to skip the fraying supply lines and get devices into students鈥� hands.

Some students still lacked access to the internet, though. My department partnered with the Governor鈥檚 Office of Science Innovation and Technology to help districts distribute hotspots throughout the state, but there were still some students and communities we weren鈥檛 able to reach. Fortunately, people and organizations from all over the state stepped up to offer community access at schools, at local businesses or via school buses with wireless access. Only four months after the launch of Connecting Kids, 100 percent of Nevada students who were learning remotely had connectivity and access to a device.

The circumstances around our transformation from 75 percent to 100 percent connectivity were extraordinary, but the process is applicable beyond any crisis.

Begin with an inventory of what you already have and, crucially, what you need. Find partners with a genuine concern for kids and start a conversation about what you need and how they鈥檙e prepared to help. Partnerships with philanthropic organizations and businesses are important not just for what they can give students and teachers, but for how they can help leverage resources or provide access to powerful people or systems. Then, think about how to communicate with your stakeholders in a way that will get them invested, such as a contest to generate excitement. Next, measure the effectiveness of your implementation.

Finally, make sure to celebrate, because this is difficult work. It takes time, and celebrating those who鈥檝e contributed as you reach milestones or achieve your ultimate goal will keep them engaged for the next push.

Dr. Jonathan Moore is deputy superintendent of student achievement at the Nevada Department of Education. He can be reached at jpmoore@doe.nv.gov.

When Michelle Mihalik was hit by a car on March 8, 2018, she didn鈥檛 see it coming.

After a night with friends at a Las Vegas casino, she was dropped off at a nearby Walmart and planned to walk home. But Mihalik, 54, didn鈥檛 realize the area had no public transportation available. As a legally blind person, this presented a major issue, but she decided to get home by walking along the side of the road, which didn鈥檛 have a sidewalk.

Next thing she knew, she was in the hospital with six pelvic fractures. A vehicle had struck her from behind, and she didn鈥檛 wake up until the following morning. 鈥淚 was happy to be alive,鈥� Mihalik said.

Walking can be dangerous, depending where you live. In Mihalik鈥檚 case, Nevada is ranked eleventh in pedestrian fatalities, according to a report by . And Clark County, which includes the Las Vegas metro area, 78 pedestrian deaths in 2017鈥� the highest in county history.

Erin Breen, traffic safety coalition coordinator at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, said the built environment was constructed for vehicles, not people.

A typical Las Vegas intersection is nine lanes long, and a standard street is 120 feet at minimum. Wide lanes make drivers more comfortable speeding, Breen explained. Even with recent infrastructure improvements in Clark County, 鈥渨e still kill a stupid amount of pedestrians,鈥� she said.

This pedestrian-unfriendly environment also exacerbates inequality. In the Las Vegas metro, the people most likely to walk as a primary mode of transportation tend to be low-income. And in a state where traffic infractions are considered misdemeanors, a jaywalking violation can cost nearly $250 in fines and could even land you in jail.

鈥淎 lot of times when you hand them a ticket, you are handing them a warrant for their arrest,鈥� Breen said.

That鈥檚 why Breen and Laura Gryder, project director at the UNLV School of Medicine, teamed up in 2017 to create , an organization that teaches pedestrian safety classes. It operates autonomously under the Vulnerable Road Users Project in the Transportation Research Center at UNLV and works with local courts and law enforcement.

The program, previously held in person and now online because of the pandemic, allows people to dismiss pedestrian-related citations and fines 鈥� as a walker or driver 鈥� by sitting in a three-hour educational course. Taught three times a month by Breen herself (and once a month in Spanish), the free course addresses case studies and historical data on pedestrian crashes, provides an overview of local laws, and offers do鈥檚 and don鈥檛s for walkers, bikers, and drivers. At the end, in addition to having their pedestrian tickets dismissed, participants receive reflective vests and slap bands. More than 2,800 people have graduated from the course since 2017. According to data provided by PedSAFE, most people who leave the course have a better understanding of pedestrian safety and pedestrian rights.

PedSAFE typically serves 100 to 200 people per month, but with traffic court closed due to the pandemic (felony charges are still being seen), fewer violations are being enforced and attendance is down to 25 people per month.

After Mihalik鈥檚 accident, her attorney and the driver ended up settling the case. As part of the settlement, Mihalik was required to attend the PedSAFE pedestrian safety course. 鈥淚 think all people should be required to take this course to get a driver鈥檚 license,鈥� she said, citing 鈥渨ear bright-colored clothes鈥� as a safety tip she had never thought about. She鈥檚 unsure if the driver who hit her was ordered to take the course too. She places part of the blame on herself for having worn all black at the time of her accident.

But advocates warn that the cause 鈥� and not just the symptoms 鈥� must be treated.

Angie Schmitt, former national editor at Streetsblog and author of Right of Way: Race, Class and the Silent Crisis of Pedestrian Deaths in America, says programs like PedSAFE are useful for reducing fines, but in general, she doesn鈥檛 see the value in enforcing jaywalking laws.

鈥淸Local governments] are punishing the individual for a systemic problem,鈥� Schmitt says. Enforcement is often , and many people jaywalk because streets don鈥檛 have accessible crosswalks in the first place.

On March 1, the state of Virginia jaywalking and reclassified it as a secondary offense 鈥� meaning people won鈥檛 be ticketed unless they鈥檙e violating another law. The change also reduces unnecessary interaction with the police. 鈥淎s long as jaywalking was a primary offense, it was going to be a big source of harassment,鈥� Peter Norton, associate professor of history in the University of Virginia鈥檚 Department of Engineering and Society, NBC 12.

Decriminalization is also being considered in California. In March, California State Assemblymember Phil Ting, who represents part of San Francisco, the Freedom to Walk Act (AB1238), which would legalize safe crossings against the traffic light or outside the crosswalk, and eliminate jaywalking fines. Ting cited the 2018 killing of , a Black pedestrian Tased and beaten by police officers during a jaywalking stop, and heavy fines as evidence of the bill鈥檚 urgency.

鈥淚t鈥檚 easy to send police out and feel like you鈥檙e solving a problem,鈥� Schmitt says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 harder to think about how streets are laid out and what problems are inherent to the environment.鈥�

Even as the city of Las Vegas has lowered speed limits and added buses in some areas, it still has a long way to go until it鈥檚 safe.

鈥淯ntil we give pedestrians reasonable places to cross the street and we lower the speed limit to something survivable,鈥� Breen says, 鈥渉umans will be human.鈥�

This article originally appeared at and is published in partnership with

Children with special needs are among those whose learning has suffered the most because of the pandemic. But that鈥檚 not what Juliana Urtubey sees when she looks at her students at Booker Elementary in Las Vegas.

鈥淥ur brains work in slightly different ways. Our job is to find all of our students鈥� strengths,鈥� she said about special education teachers. That perspective, she said, has given her an advantage over the past year. 鈥淚 was mining for students鈥� strengths.鈥�

On Thursday, the Council of Chief State School Officers named Urtubey the 2021 National Teacher of the Year. Surprised with flowers from First lady Jill Biden, Urtubey is the third special educator to receive the honor. Advocates said having a special education teacher as spokeswoman for the field over the next year could help as they push for an increase in federal funding for children with disabilities. But Urtubey said her focus will be much broader. Her message is that all students deserve a 鈥渏oyous and just鈥� education in schools where they feel a 鈥渄eep sense of belonging.鈥�

That starts, she said, by incorporating children鈥檚 culture into classroom lessons and their experiences at school.

鈥淭o me, as a Latina, our public institutions can鈥檛 separate our students from their families,鈥� said Urtubey, who moved with her parents to the U.S. from Colombia and was trained as a bilingual teacher in Arizona when the state passed a law requiring English-only instruction. 鈥淚 think about the tremendous loss of language and culture in this country.鈥�

At Crestwood Elementary, where she worked before Booker, she helped that became an outdoor classroom for the school and another way to make immigrant families feel welcome.

Ciara Byrne, founder and CEO of Green Our Planet 鈥� which works with schools to teach science, technology, engineering and math through school gardening 鈥� remembers how plain and uninviting Crestwood looked in 2014 when she first talked with Urtubey about being part of the program.

鈥淪he was just full of beans and talking about how she was going to transform it,鈥� Byrne said. 鈥淲ithin three years, there were murals all over the place.鈥�

Many were painted by mothers of the 鈥済nomies,鈥� a student garden club that meets on Friday mornings. In fact, when Byrne wants to show the nonprofit鈥檚 work off to potential sponsors, she takes them to Crestwood, which not only has several planter beds, but also butterfly, bee and pollinator gardens.

Jose Silva was assistant principal at Crestwood at the time. He took notice of Urtubey鈥檚 鈥渃aring approach鈥� and her expertise in working with special needs students. Now he鈥檚 principal at Booker, where he said her dedication to the school extends to her colleagues.

With the title of learning strategist, Urtubey coaches other classroom teachers on providing instruction for students with special needs and has served as a mentor to new teachers. But even veteran educators said they benefit from working with her.

Rosie Perez, another special educator at Booker, called Urtubey when she was working on a certification from the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. They had never met before, but Perez said she 鈥渋nstantly noticed her amiable and warm-hearted personality.鈥�

鈥淚 am in the 19th year of my teaching career and am still eager to learn,鈥� Perez said, adding that she 鈥渃ould not think of anyone better to begin this step in my career, to learn and grow along with, but Juliana.鈥�

鈥楾hrough a lot of loss鈥�

Urtubey鈥檚 positive outlook doesn鈥檛 mean the past year hasn鈥檛 been traumatic 鈥� for families and teachers. 鈥淲e鈥檝e been through a lot of loss,鈥� she told CBS This Morning host Gayle King, after she learned she was the winner.

In an interview with 社区黑料, she noted the past year has probably been the most difficult in her teaching career 鈥� a sentiment shared by those in the special education field nationally. An American Institutes for Research released last fall showed that 58 percent of districts have found it challenging to comply with the requirements of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act during the pandemic. And almost three-quarters said it was 鈥渕ore or substantially more difficult鈥� to accommodate students鈥� individual learning needs.

Urtubey, Nevada鈥檚 first recipient of the national award, said her emphasis on students鈥� social and emotional connections made the loss of in-person learning less disruptive. 鈥淥ur classroom community just translated over鈥� to a remote format, she said. She worked with school nutrition staff to make sure meal distribution worked for families鈥� schedules and tracked down students who moved during remote learning.

Her 鈥渞esilience is indicative of how hard special education teachers have worked this year,鈥� said Dennis Cavitt, president of Council for Exceptional Children, a membership and advocacy organization. But he added that her recognition also comes as advocates are pushing for funding to address shortages of special education teachers and a lack of diversity in the workforce. President Joe Biden has asked for a $2.6 billion increase for special education.

鈥淗aving Juliana in the spotlight this year will help carry that message forward and energize the entire education community around those goals,鈥� Cavitt said.

Urtubey said she doesn鈥檛 know if she鈥檒l return to Booker after her year on a national stage. But she鈥檚 working with Silva and Green Our Planet to create another community garden 鈥� what she described as a 鈥�10,000-square-foot outdoor oasis鈥� 鈥� and leave a lasting mark on the school.

鈥淚鈥檓 definitely going to stay connected to my Booker family,鈥� she said.

Juliana Urtubey 鈥� pre-K-to-5 special education teacher from the Clark County School District in Nevada 鈥� is the National Teacher of the Year, the Council of Chief State School Officers today on CBS This Morning.

First lady Jill Biden surprised Urtubey at Booker Elementary School to make the announcement.

Urtubey works with classroom teachers to improve instruction for students with special needs.听

鈥淚 get to be part of a whole new world with so many students,鈥� she told host Gayle King about her love for teaching, adding that her students 鈥渉ave made that same kind of impact on my life.鈥�

John Arthur, Utah鈥檚 Teacher of the Year, recently received a visit from a former student at Meadowlark Elementary School in Salt Lake City. Addressing him as 鈥淐aptain鈥� 鈥� the nickname students gave him based on a manga character 鈥� the eighth grader didn鈥檛 mince words.

鈥淲hat鈥檚 it like being the teacher of the worst year ever?鈥� he asked.

Arthur emphasized the positive. He worked on becoming more dynamic, using song, dance and stories to maintain his students鈥� interest during the long, lonely days of Zoom. And on Wednesdays, he and a few students jump in his car after school to deliver math and science materials and meals to the doorsteps of students learning from home.

鈥淚 got into this out of a love of teaching,鈥� said Arthur, whose parents wanted him to become a doctor. 鈥淚 believe in public service, and never will that service mean more than it does this year.鈥�

Arthur 鈥� along with Alejandro Diasgranados of the District of Columbia, Maureen Stover of North Carolina and Juliana Urtubey of Nevada 鈥� are candidates for National Teacher of the Year, which the Council of Chief State School Officers is expected to announce this week. In their own way, each would likely echo Arthur鈥檚 sentiment: Even the best educators had to learn new skills this past year to connect with students.

鈥淲e are welcomed guests in families鈥� homes. We got to peek in and see what it looks like,鈥� said Urtubey, a pre-K-5 special education teacher who supports 10 classrooms at Booker Elementary School in the Clark County School District, which includes Las Vegas.

She watched a mother, father, grandmother and cousin take turns helping a student with autism during distance learning so the responsibility wouldn鈥檛 fall on one family member, and witnessed other parents upend their work schedules to stay home with their children.

鈥淣ot a day goes by that a teacher doesn鈥檛 tell me something awesome their families did,鈥� Urtubey said.

She was trained as a bilingual teacher in Arizona 鈥� just as the state implemented Proposition 203, requiring English as the only language of instruction.She gravitated to special education because of a provision in the law allowing students with disabilities to receive bilingual services.

One day, she had an 鈥渁ha鈥� moment about the potential of all students to learn: She caught a fifth grader, who couldn鈥檛 read at a kindergarten level, 鈥渞unning a business out of his backpack.鈥� He sold pencils, erasers and snacks, keeping a balance sheet to track revenues and expenses.

鈥淗e planted a seed,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 was like, 鈥極K, let鈥檚 figure out a way to use this for academic intervention.鈥欌��

Unlocking the magic

At Cumberland International Early College High School, located on the campus of Fayetteville State University, a lot of Stover鈥檚 students enter ninth grade needing intervention. The state鈥檚 early college high schools target students from underrepresented minority groups in line to be the first in their families to attend college.

The students who thrive in the model are 鈥渕otivated, but behind,鈥� Stover said. 鈥淭here is magic in them that we can unlock.鈥�

A former intelligence officer in the U.S. Air Force who served in the Middle East, Stover teaches biology, environmental science and a class that prepares students for college. When her students transitioned to distance learning, the casual interactions she shared with them in the classroom and eating lunch together in the student union stopped.

Over Zoom, many clammed up. She encouraged them to bring their pets on screen and gave them a virtual tour of the raised beds in her backyard, using the outdoors to spark conversation and teach a lesson on photosynthesis.

One outcome of remote learning, she said, is that students have learned some 鈥渄igital citizenship,鈥� such as not showing their house number on social media and recognizing that a classmate鈥檚 joke in the chat field can sometimes be taken the wrong way.

They鈥檝e collaborated on projects remotely through videos and documents. For years, educators would talk about 21st century skills, but 鈥渋t always felt really forced,鈥� Stover said. 鈥淣ow my kids have those skills.鈥�

鈥楾heir voice can make change鈥�

In northeast D.C., Diasgranados鈥檚 fourth and fifth graders at Aiton Elementary School have sharpened advocacy skills they鈥檝e been learning since second grade when he began moving with them from one grade to the next.

A letter from the students explaining that many lacked devices for remote learning caught the attention of a producer for The Drew Barrymore Show on CBS. In October, Barrymore featured Diasgranados as a guest and for every student and staff member.

In past years, his students have written to the Washington Football Team, explaining how unwashed clothes contribute to chronic absenteeism. The $10,000 for a school laundry. And when Washington Capitals forward Devante Smith-Pelly faced racist taunts at a game in Chicago, the students wrote him letters of support. Smith-Pelly visited the school and donated coats to the students.

鈥淢y students are activists,鈥� Diasgranados said. 鈥淭hey really understand their writing and their voice can make change.鈥�

Unlike most teachers this school year, Diasgranados didn鈥檛 have to form new relationships with students he鈥檚 never taught before. He already had numbers for grandparents, aunts and uncles he called when he couldn鈥檛 find students during the early months of the pandemic.

But teaching remotely in one of D.C.鈥檚 poorest neighborhoods 鈥� even with the laptop donation 鈥� was no less challenging. As children of essential workers, a lot of his students have had to connect to school from their parents鈥� jobs or a city bus.

Aiton was holding a talent show March 13 last year when texts about school shutting down began pouring in. Diasgranados started to get emotional and gave more hugs and took more selfies than normal.

鈥淭hey didn鈥檛 really understand what was going on,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 remember telling them to take as many books home as they could.鈥�

Lead Art: Alejandro Diasgranados, Juliana Urtubey, John Arthur and Maureen Stover. (Council of Chief State School Officers)

Before class on a warm and sunny December morning, eight kindergarten students at Schurz Elementary School listened quietly as the Shoshone Indian Flag song played over their computer screens.

The lyrics, translated to English from the Shoshone language, mean, 鈥淎cross the big water, the red, white and blue is fluttering in the wind. War spear thrown in the ground by a foreign water.鈥�

This is how students begin their virtual school day on the Walker River reservation, which spans 325,000 acres across the Nevada desert, east of Yerington and north of Hawthorne. Surrounded by mountains, the river valley is home to a little more than 1,000 people. And 69 of the 72 students who attend Schurz Elementary School, which sits on the reservation, are American Indian.

The school鈥檚 principal, Lance West, who鈥檚 filling in for a teacher on medical leave, waits for the song to finish before diving into traditional academics: studying the alphabet, identifying nouns and reading with partners.

The school operates on a hybrid schedule in response to the pandemic, with some students learning in person at school and others connected virtually from home, split into morning and afternoon sessions. On this morning, West is in the classroom speaking to a computer screen, with the kindergarteners鈥� faces staring back at him.

The small, empty room looks like most kindergarten classrooms, full of colorful wall art, rugs with numbers and letters, miniature tables and chairs fit for 5-year-olds. But a tribal drum and a poster depicting Native American children, adults and elders distinguish the space as a classroom on a Native reservation.

The public school, which is part of the Mineral County School District, is about two hours southeast of Reno. The remote location jibes with a 2010 Civil Rights Project report, which found that American Indian students are more likely to attend school in rural areas than non-Native students. Additionally, about a third of Native students nationwide attend schools in which at least half the student population is American Indian.

Of the school鈥檚 six teachers, four are Native American, five if you count Principal West.

Although he is an enrolled member of the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe, West grew up in this community on the Walker River reservation, his family split between the two tribes and reservations. He once sat in the same miniature seats as the ones in this classroom.

His path to the principal gig on Walker River reservation wasn鈥檛 direct. He lived and taught in schools across Northern Nevada 鈥� in Reno, Fort McDermitt and Spring Creek 鈥� for 17 years before returning to the reservation. He came with a singular goal of improving education for the young Native people in his community, and therefore contributing to the community at large, and for the long run.

鈥淣o one’s fighting for us,鈥� West said. 鈥淲ell, hard enough. So that’s kind of where my push is now, and everywhere I go, I’m always talking about Indian education.鈥�

But improving education for Native students is a daunting task for a single person to tackle, weighed down by historical disparities that cannot be resolved or remedied overnight. Nationally and statewide, American Indian students have low graduation rates, high dropout rates, low math and reading proficiency scores and often don鈥檛 see themselves reflected in their teachers, many of whom are white.

It鈥檚 a situation, West said, built on years of systemic racism 鈥� the same racism behind federal boarding schools, where young Native children were separated from their families and forced to assimilate into American culture and society. Consider what Indian School Secretary John B. Riley said in 1886:

鈥淓ducation affords the true solution to the Indian problem 鈥� only by complete isolation of the Indian child from his savage antecedents can he be satisfactorily educated.鈥�

More than a century later, Native students still find themselves facing prejudice in other forms, West said.

鈥淭here鈥檚 a good ol鈥� boy system that exists and the system is not designed, never was designed for minorities or people of color to be fully successful as they should be,鈥� West said. 鈥淭here is a racist system, if we鈥檙e speaking clearly, particularly toward American Indian populations. Our kids, they鈥檙e minimized.鈥�

He鈥檚 on a mission to change that. His journey just happens to coincide with a tumultuous period in the history of the nation鈥檚 K-12 education system, which has been rattled by the pandemic.
 

In Nevada, there are almost from pre-kindergarten through 12th grade. It鈥檚 the smallest ethnic group. By comparison, Nevada鈥檚 school systems include more than 7,000 Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander students, 26,000 Asian students, 56,000 Black students, 209,000 Hispanic students and 144,000 white students.

Nationally, American Indian and Alaskan Native students make up a little more than 1 percent of public school students, or approximately 644,000 students in kindergarten through 12th grade. About 90 percent of all Native students attend public schools, and about 8 percent attend schools operated by the Bureau of Indian Education, under the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

There are 183 schools across the country in 23 states funded by the Bureau of Indian Education, including two in Nevada 鈥� a junior and senior high school on the Pyramid Lake reservation north of Reno and an elementary school on the Duckwater reservation south of Eureka. Other schools governed by local districts and the Nevada Department of Education 鈥� like Schurz Elementary School 鈥� educate a large share of Native students.

Improving education for these students is the priority for Nevada Native leaders, such as West, who say they cannot rely on local, state or federal organizations to take the initiative.

鈥淚 think that the topic, the issue of education in Indian Country, in Nevada, has always been near the bottom. It’s always been in someone else’s hands, but at the same time those other people’s hands don’t have our best interests in mind, because they have their own,鈥� West said.

Mineral County students trail their peers in other districts when it comes to academic achievement. During the 2018-2019 school year 鈥� the most recent year of testing data 鈥� only 23 percent of Mineral County students were proficient in math and 39 percent were proficient in English Language Arts. Statewide, 37 percent of students hit proficiency benchmarks for math, while 48 percent did the same for English Language Arts.

At Schurz Elementary School, the achievement gap is even more visible. When 20 students in grades three through sixth took statewide standardized tests in 2019, none of them met proficiency benchmarks for math, and only 10 percent did for English Language Arts.

Of the more than 500 students in the Mineral County School District, 76 are American Indian or Alaskan Native.

Nationally, 19 percent of American Indian and 25 percent of Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander students tested at or above proficiency levels in reading compared to 57 percent of Asian students and 45 percent of white students, according to the .

The achievement gap is also reflected in disparities in graduation and dropout rates.

Nevada鈥檚 overall graduation rate , and American Indian students consistently have lower graduation rates than most other racial groups besides Black students. In 2018, nearly 80 percent of American Indian students in Nevada graduated, followed by a drop in 2019 and 2020, when 74 percent of American Indian students graduated both years. That mirrors in recent years.

Native students are underrepresented in graduation rates, and overrepresented in . In 2018, among students ages 16 to 24, American Indian students had the highest national dropout rate: 10 percent of students, compared to 4.8 percent of white students.

The situation creates a natural ripple effect for post-secondary education. Of the more than 600 people over the age of 25 living on the Walker River reservation, an estimated 86 percent have completed high school, but only 5.7 percent have a bachelor鈥檚 degree or higher.

The academic disparities contribute to cycles of poverty on reservations, where unemployment rates are high and rates of home ownership are low.

Prior to the pandemic, the unemployment rate on the Walker River reservation stood at 22 percent, while the statewide unemployment rate was in December 2019.

Additionally, the from 2015 to 2019 was a little more than $30,000, while the was double that, at more than $60,000 during the same time period. Of all families living on the reservation, an estimated 39 percent live below the poverty level, including nearly 57 percent of families with school-age children.

Other troubling disparities linked to low graduation and high dropout rates include higher than average and among Native youth.

The academic, economic and mental health disparities among the Native population are historical and decades-long. Native leaders acknowledge the reality of these disparities, but to pave a way forward, they want to shift the focus from the disparities, which some say have created harmful stereotypes, to solutions, visibility and empowerment.

In 2018, principal West created the Indigenous Educators Empowerment group to boost conversations about and support for Native teachers. Since then, West has focused on reaching out to other Native educators across the state to join him and build a strong foundation, which includes compiling the research and data necessary to make progress.

Last year, the group also released a report analyzing factors that contribute to low academic achievement among Native students. Among the challenges: opportunity gaps, systemic racism, low teacher expectations and qualifications, and a lack of culturally relevant curriculum addressing Native history and generational trauma.

鈥淪ociety鈥檚 narrative of us revolves around the Deficit Ideology,鈥� the report states. 鈥�… This ideology generalizes disparities such as poverty, alcoholism, at-risk students. We have intentionally left out those reasons for low academic achievement of our students out. They play a role, but to emphasize them would propagate stereotypes and labeling.鈥�
 

The pandemic, of course, added a new wrinkle in Native leaders鈥� quest to dramatically improve education. But it wasn鈥檛 all bad.

While the COVID-19 pandemic has generally intensified existing disparities, both West and Schurz Elementary School teacher Kellie Harry said the school鈥檚 response to the pandemic helped bridge the technology gap, making the learning material more accessible for students and their families.

鈥淣obody鈥檚 missing anything,鈥� said Harry, who teaches fifth- and sixth-graders.

Prior to the pandemic, 80 percent of households on the Walker River reservation had a computer, but only 60 percent had access to broadband internet service. Now, every single family with a student has a computer or a Chromebook and internet access.

The Walker River Paiute Tribe received more than $20 million from the CARES Act and put some of those funds toward ensuring students would have what they needed to distance learn from home. Tribal members can also apply to receive $1,000 monthly stipends to help cushion the economic blow caused by the pandemic and help pay for the internet service.

The fiscal cliff 鈥� a Dec. 31 deadline for using CARES Act funding 鈥� had worried Amber Torres, chairman of the Walker River Paiute Tribe. If that money suddenly went away, she wondered how families would be able to maintain internet service during distance learning.

鈥淲e don鈥檛 have that kind of money lying around to continue to pay for these homes,鈥� she said.

But the news that Congress approved a $900 billion relief bill on Dec. 21 brought some welcome mental relief to Torres and other tribal leaders. Torres described the legislation, which was signed by the president and includes money for expanding broadband services, as 鈥渁n absolute win for not only Nevada but Indian Country as a whole.鈥�

From a day-to-day learning standpoint, though, Harry said the most challenging part of the pandemic was familiarizing the students and parents to the new technology.

鈥淭he hardest transition was just getting everybody on board with the online and feeling comfortable. I think there was a lot of hesitancy and a lot of fear on the home front, like, 鈥榃ait, how do we get on the internet? How do we use the computer or the online platforms? Or what’s the login and what’s this?鈥� I think that was the most difficult part, and then just streamlining that.鈥�

Several months later, after acclimating to the new learning model, Harry has seen greater academic equity in her classroom.

鈥淣ow our students are at an equal playing field. This brought equity to our school, distance learning did 鈥� getting everybody on the internet, getting everybody on a Chromebook and having them be required to do the work that other five-star schools or other schools are doing,鈥� she said.

The new technology skills, she said, will pay dividends down the road as students enter junior high and beyond. Harry added that she鈥檚 not worried about a lag in academic performance among her distance-learning students.

鈥淭he performance is the same. I have a lot of distance learners who are outpacing and keeping up and have made a lot of growth on their math scores and keeping up with all the coursework just as easily as if they were right here,鈥� she said.

Older students appear to have struggled more with online learning. When students graduate from Schurz Elementary School, which goes through sixth grade, they can choose what neighboring school district to attend for upper grades. For students on the Walker River reservation, that鈥檚 typically schools in Hawthorne or Yerington, although some go farther north to Pyramid Lake.

Yerington High School, which is in the Lyon County School District, employs a college career coach 鈥� with the help of a federal grant 鈥� who works exclusively with Native students, said Wayne Workman, the district鈥檚 superintendent. When the Lyon County School District began the 2020-2021 academic year, only select student groups received in-person instruction five days a week. Those groups included children in kindergarten through second grade as well as students in special-education programs, learning English as a second language or experiencing homelessness.

The decision boiled down to space constraints while operating under COVID-19 safety guidelines, Workman said. All other students were split into cohorts that rotate between a week of in-person learning followed by a week of online learning.

But more than a quarter of Lyon County students opted to remain in distance-education mode, giving schools more flexibility to expand in-person instruction, Workman said. So by early October, Yerington High School started welcoming back Native students full time after noticing the hybrid model wasn鈥檛 working well for them.

鈥淚f they鈥檙e here, I can motivate them to continue on a successful path,鈥� said Gerald Hunter, college and career coach at Yerington High School. 鈥淚f they鈥檙e home, I鈥檓 competing with TV, food, babysitting duties, other things.鈥�

Yerington High School has 398 students, including 74 who are Native American, in ninth- through 12th-grade. Hunter, who鈥檚 in his fourth year serving as the college and career coach, has watched discipline and truancy problems fall among Native students, while seeing their academic achievement improve. Last year, 70 percent of the school鈥檚 Native students maintained at least a 3.0 grade-point average.

The majority of Native students chose to return to in-person instruction five days a week, Hunter said, and their grades have improved as a result. Some Native students remain in distance education, though, because of health concerns amid the pandemic.

While Hunter鈥檚 presence has helped boost academic achievement levels among Native students, Workman said, it hasn鈥檛 been a cure-all. Providing extra supports simply doesn鈥檛 reverse history and longstanding inequities that have led to Native students trailing their peers academically.

鈥淲e could talk for hours as to reasons why that might be the case,鈥� he said. 鈥淔or goodness sakes 鈥� how we treated our Native populations forever in our history has led to a lot of distrust.鈥�

Back on the reservation, Harry is hoping Schurz Elementary School can preserve its pandemic-triggered 1-to-1 technology ratio for students that鈥檚 proven to help ensure the quality of education for her students. The great unknown, though, is how the school, like others across the state, will fare during the upcoming 2021 legislative session.

鈥淚t鈥檚 just keeping what we have,鈥� Principal West said, “especially with the budget cuts coming.鈥�
 

Despite the grim circumstances caused by the pandemic and an , West isn鈥檛 limiting his goals and vision for the future of Native education.

When he created the Indigenous Educators Empowerment group, West had four goals 鈥� to boost education awareness among the community, advocate for Indigenous education professionals, enhance recruitment and mentorship for Indigenous educators and revitalize and preserve Native language.

The 2020 Indigenous Educators Empowerment report offers recommendations for how to get there, such as advocating for more funding, bolster tribal and state leader involvement in efforts to improve education and establish scholarships for tribal members interested in becoming teachers.

But West said everything hinges on more data and recordkeeping.

Native students belong to what Native leaders call the because of the population鈥檚 small sample size, American Indians are commonly left out of research and data collection.

鈥淭he data is lacking,鈥� said West. 鈥淗ow do you expect us to address education and seek that improvement that has never ever really been a focus if we don鈥檛 have accurate information?鈥�

Armed with more reliable data, Native leaders such as West can provide benchmarks and guidance for state and federal agencies in regards to allocating funding and other resources for Native students. Increased data will also make Native students, their communities and the issues they face more visible.

Long-term goals also include efforts to exercise educational sovereignty, specifically, by establishing a tribal charter school on the reservation, beginning with younger children and eventually expanding to serve students through high school. With a charter school, the tribe and educational leaders could take full ownership and control of what their students learn and how they learn it 鈥� sovereignty.

The other goal is to establish 鈥淚ndian Education for All鈥� as state law, meaning the state would require Native history and culture to be included in the curriculum for all grades in public schools.

West has already started down that path at Schurz Elementary School, where the curriculum includes more Nevada Native history, to ensure the students learn about their identity in a positive and empowering way. He鈥檚 also made it a point to recruit more Native educators to build the representation for the Native students.

鈥淥ur Indian kids here need to see more of themselves reflected in the classroom and they need to see Native teachers,鈥� West said.

West recruited Harry, who was previously teaching in the Washoe County School District at Depoali Middle School in South Reno, two years ago. Harry is an enrolled member of the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe as well, but half of her family grew up on the Walker River reservation. Now, a majority of the school鈥檚 teachers are Native.

鈥淚f there’s a chance to get back and contribute, that’s what I think our life’s journey is about,鈥� Harry said. 鈥淥ur purpose, mine anyways, as teachers, we want to give back and contribute. So that’s what brought me here to Schurz.鈥�

Less than 1 percent of educators nationwide and in Nevada are American Indian or Alaskan Native. Harry said the representation she provides for her students helps create a sense of safety in the classroom.

鈥淚 think that it’s beyond words and beyond impactful for the students to have a Native teacher. And that’s why I did not hesitate to come out here. It was really hard to leave where I was, I had to move my family and my kids, but I would not have ever second-guessed coming here because of the unique situation and what I’m able to provide and contribute.鈥�

In the last two quarters, Harry has incorporated lessons about the history of voting rights for Native people, Columbus Day and Indigenous Peoples Day and what it means to her students to be Native American. Her curriculum is more timely and relevant than the Native American history and imagery in textbooks, which usually focus on events prior to 1900, according to a , thus contributing to the erasure of the modern presence of Native communities.

Harry recently asked her students to complete a written exercise exploring their Native identity. Their responses, submitted in late November, highlighted Native language, traditional dress, ceremonial events, such as pine-nut gathering, hunting and basket-weaving.

But the students didn鈥檛 just write about these things in the past tense 鈥� and, as far as tribal leaders are concerned, that鈥檚 evidence of educational progress.

鈥淲e are proud people by showing respect to family and friends,鈥� wrote one student, Suiti Sanchez, 10. 鈥淲e honor our ancestors by keeping our traditions alive. We respect elders by learning our language and by passing our traditions to others.鈥�

This piece, originally published by , is part of a called “Lesson Plans: Rural schools grapple with COVID-19”. It includes the Institute for Nonprofit News, Charlottesville Tomorrow, El Paso Matters, Iowa Watch, The Nevada Independent, New Mexico in Depth, Underscore News/Pamplin Media Group and Wisconsin Watch/The Badger Project. The collaboration was made possible by a grant from the Walton Family Foundation, which also funds 社区黑料.

鈥淟as Vegas believes in the power and impact of high-quality early education,鈥� says Dr. Tammy Malich, director of youth development and social innovation for the city of Las Vegas.  In 2017, the city launched the Strong Start Las Vegas campaign to build awareness of the importance of early childhood education and to drive home the reality of how vital the first five years of life are to a child鈥檚 future success. Out of that grew the in partnership with Acelero Learning, an established, well-respected Head Start program. Strong Start now comprises three brick and mortar facilities with a fourth coming online in August 2021 that focus on kindergarten readiness for children ages 3 and 4.

Despite that investment, gaps remain. In the city of Las Vegas, 17.7% of children ages 0 to 5 live in poverty, with a large proportion located in the urban core where many families face daunting challenges to giving their children that crucial good beginning. The city has committed to helping these families overcome those roadblocks, Malich says.

鈥淎t the unveiling of the first mobile academy, Mayor Carolyn Goodman was so pleased, she said she wanted a fleet. So far, it鈥檚 a fleet of two,鈥� Malich says. 鈥淭he Mayor鈥檚 Fund for Las Vegas LIFE 鈥� the city of Las Vegas鈥� vehicle for corporate and philanthropic partnership 鈥� is seeking donors for the third bus now.鈥�

The city鈥檚 early learning programs represent a significant change in the view of care for 3- and 4-year-old children, Malich says. Until recently, child care centers for this age group were thought to be doing their job if they were safe, caring and gave the little ones a snack and a nice place to play. But as researchers鈥� understanding of brain development in young children has grown, educators have increasingly come to terms with the readiness gap that means low-income children are starting school already far behind. The pre-kindergarten years have taken on a much greater significance in preparing children for a successful life.

鈥淲e saw the gaps in kindergarten and first-grade classrooms between the children who had more advantages and the 5-year-old who walked in without ever having been out of their home in any kind of a formal setting,鈥� Malich says. 鈥淪uddenly they had to follow rules, share and deal with an unfamiliar social and emotional environment in addition to having no academic experience. We saw the negative impact and what a great disservice it is to our kids who grow up with so many obstacles and barriers.

鈥淲e still feel strongly about providing that safe, loving space, but we also want to make sure we tap into their minds when they are so 鈥榮pongey鈥� and most eager to learn,鈥� Malich says. 鈥淭hey are so bright, and they retain everything.鈥� If they can鈥檛 come to a learning center during this crucial time, Strong Starts wants to take the learning center to them, she says.

The Mobile Pre-K program allows the city to be flexible and responsive to neighborhoods鈥� changing needs, Malich says. As the neighborhood鈥檚 demographics change, being mobile enables Strong Start to go into other high-need areas, bypassing families鈥� transportation problems to deliver pre-K right down the street.

Each of the buses has a licensed teacher and a teacher鈥檚 aide, plus trained substitutes who can step in as needed. Though the teachers have at least 10 years of teaching experience, none of that background prepared them to wrangle pop-out extensions on an RV or back a big vehicle out of a tight spot. For these skills, all the staff attended driving school to be trained and certified with RV level driver training.

鈥淎t first, they were definitely nervous,鈥� Malich says. 鈥淏ut once they learn and then do it every day, they get very comfortable. Plus, it may make them an asset during family vacation time.鈥�

Funding for the Strong Start Academies Pre-K program is a community affair, Malich says. It is also a prime example of the results that can be produced when leadership and a community come together on an issue of importance.

The Strong Start staff and program funds are financed through the Redevelopment Agency (RDA) Education Set Aside funding pursuant to AB 70. Funds to purchase and rehab the buses came primarily from RDA Education Set Aside funds, however, the second bus was partially funded through the Mayor鈥檚 Fund for Las Vegas LIFE, which provides a way for corporate and philanthropic partners to support initiatives that improve Las Vegas residents鈥� quality of life. The Nevada Taxpayers Association, which advocates for 鈥渞esponsible government at a reasonable price鈥� awarded Strong Start Mobile GO its Taxpayers Award for efficient programs last year.

For both mobile and bricks-and-mortar Strong Start Academies, the free pre-K programs are only one component of the offerings for low-income, working families. The children鈥檚 programs take place four days a week and on the fifth, the Academies offer engagement sessions that coach and support parents in skills and activities to participate in their child鈥檚 learning. In addition, the program gives each of the parents a Chromebook and provides training on how to engage with distance learning and how to interact with the digital landscape they鈥檙e about to enter when their child starts school. The computers are preloaded with educational apps that the families have access to whenever they wish, which enables the caregivers to share academic-oriented programming with the children instead of playing video games or watching TV. Having the computers and being able to participate virtually has dramatically increased participation in the parent-engagement sessions, Malich says.

鈥淥nce we get the parents navigating the Chromebooks, it affords us an opportunity to push out messaging about workforce and training opportunities as well,鈥� says Malich. 鈥淏eyond just helping the kids, it can become a multi-faceted tool many of the families haven鈥檛 had. We can help parents navigate how to fill out online applications, find virtual jobs and other important information they need to be able to engage in the electronic world we now live in.

鈥淭he focus remains on the children, but helping the parents create better situations for themselves improves things for the entire family.鈥�