Clark County School District to pay $1.2M for reorganization work
The Clark County School District will pay nearly $1.2 million for a strategic firm that will work with a new volunteer group of outside community experts assigned to assist in the reorganization of the nation’s fifth-largest school system.
It’s a cost that caught the district by surprise, as well as parent groups that are upset over the price tag.
The Community Implementation Council, pitched by former Station Casinos Chief Financial Officer Glenn Christenson at a Tuesday meeting of the reorganization Technical Advisory Committee, will immediately begin assisting the district with myriad tasks it must complete by Jan. 15. The committee approved the deal in a 5-2 vote.
That work includes forming school organization teams at every school and delegating 80 percent of the district budget toward school-based expenses.
The reorganization, put into effect by the legislation AB 394, will give more autonomy to each school in the district through an empowerment model that allows them to craft their own budget.
During his proposal to the committee, Christenson, who will serve as chairman of the implementation council, explained that he does not have a stake in this fight.
“I’m not running for office,” he said. “The only thing I’m trying to do here is, based on the observations I’ve had over the last three years, I really believe that there’s a need for a group to come in and help implement AB 394.”
Yet the agreement with the strategic TSC2 Group, led by former Las Vegas Global Economic Alliance CEO Tom Skancke, surprised some committee members.
Work to be done by the TSC2 Group will cost the district approximately $1,188,000 for transition services, financial consults, education policy development and administrative costs.
Skancke outlined a three-phase plan that will end in one year.
“Personally, I think it’s inappropriate for businesspeople to tell teachers how he or she should teach class or a school nurse how he or she should administer therapy,” Skancke said. “But I do think it’s appropriate for business people to help develop budgeting and purchasing systems which provide more fiscal accountability, responsibility and transparency.”
Assemblywoman Olivia Diaz, D-North Las Vegas, said she would have appreciated receiving the information before Monday, and noted that the scope of the work is too broad.
“I think your expertise would be greatly used if we look at strictly central office operations and how, in this new system, we can fine-tune them, improve them, make them better,” she said.
State Sen. Mo Denis, D-Las Vegas, called for more parent representation on the council.
“We have teachers represented, we’ve got community groups represented, I’m just saying I think that there needs to be a parent representative that is looking out for the parents,” he said.
The school district had no comment on the partnership with the TSC2 Group as it reviewed the agreement.
But Caryne Shea of the Hope for Nevada parent group said the advisory committee’s decision was “jaw-dropping.”
“To find out that a group of our elected politicians had created this body that was going to oversee everything without the knowledge of half of the elected body, without the knowledge of the school district or the trustees or anyone else, was surprising and disappointing,” she said.
The legislation’s regulations allow for the hiring of a consultant, which the school district would pay for.
But Shea said Hope for Nevada thought a consultant would arrive if deemed necessary, based on how successful the reorganization was going. She called the almost $1.2 million price tag “shocking.”
Lisa Mayo-DeRiso of the reform group Break Free CCSD argued that no parent representatives were on the implementation council. She also called the cost outrageous.
“I’m afraid and fearful that this is just the beginning of the school district passing out big contracts and big money, which is their MO for this reorganization that I think is unnecessary,” she said.
Contact Amelia Pak-Harvey at 702-383-4630 or apak-harvey@reviewjournal.com.
