District breakup

Why would members of the Clark County School Board participate in a public meeting on an ambitious reorganization plan but disinvite one of the stars of the show?

It’s a question one legislative leader asked last Thursday during the first of seven gatherings throughout the valley intended to solicit public input on the proposal.

Under the plan, first pushed by GOP lawmakers during the 2015 Legislature, the nation’s fifth largest school district would be broken into semi-autonomous regions with the intention of decentralizing the bureaucracy and empowering individual principals to control their campuses.

But during the meeting Thursday in Henderson, GOP state Sen. Michael Roberson noted that district Superintendent Pat Skorkowsky was nowhere to be seen.

“The School Board, who is opposed to any change in the status quo, directed him not to be here,” Mr. Roberson pointed out to the gathering, “and I think that is outrageous.”

It’s certainly odd. Parents in attendance might benefit from hearing the thoughts of the man potentially charged with implementing the reform.

Trustee Deanna Wright said Mr. Skorkowsky was asked to skip the meeting because the full board had yet to take a stance on the district shuffle. “We are not in opposition to the plan,” Ms. Wright said. “We haven’t had a chance as a board to talk about it.”

Really? The proposal has been in the works for more than a year. Yet the seven-member elected panel charged with overseeing the district hasn’t “had a chance” to consider the matter? The words “useless” and “dysfunctional” come to mind.

If board members aren’t going to get out front on this issue, they should exit the tracks before they get run over. And for the next public meeting on the reorganization — Monday at the Silver Mesa Recreation Center in North Las Vegas — they should free Mr. Skorkowsky to attend.