CCSD board members recast criticism of state cheating investigation

Clark County School Board members are backing away from their rebuke of a state investigation that alleged test cheating at Kelly Elementary School.

Clark County School Board member Carolyn Edwards said she and Clark County School Board Vice President Linda Young held a press conference Monday because several of their quotes at a board meeting last week were taken out of context.

“We are not upset with Superintendent Dale Erquiaga. We are simply upset with the length of time this investigation took,” Edwards said. “We agree with the findings of the investigation. We accept them and we are moving forward.”

The ordeal dates back to a test score spike at the elementary school during the 2011-2012 school year.

On Thursday, Edwards shared the opinion that the erasures couldn’t be summed up as cheating. “There was not enough proof to lay blame on any one person,” she said at last week’s board meeting. “In the future, I hope we do better investigations.”

Edwards and Young reiterated Monday that it was impossible to cast blame.

Stephen Augspurger, executive director of the union representing Clark County school administrators, who praised board members for their strong stance at last week’s meeting, said he didn’t understand what was taken out of context.

To him, it appeared the board members had decided to fall in line and move forward.

Augspurger said he agrees the district needs to press onward and focus on the students, but this is a time where the district must be firm.

After the state investigation, Erquiaga concluded adults made changes to student scores. He provided no direct evidence adults were responsible for the erasures, but admonished the principal and assistant principal at the end of the state’s investigation in April. They were immediately suspended by district Superintendent Pat Skorkowsky.

Board member Linda Young was critical of those moves last week, saying: “People were maligned who were not proven guilty.”

On Monday, Young said she expressed frustration with the investigation because it took a long time: “This bothered me because there were two Clark County administrators who were caught in what I call a “no man’s land” while they waited for this investigation.”

The school also lost $200,000 in extra supports, which included a federal grant, in the wake of the allegations.

It’s a harsh reaction to an unproven claim, Augspurger said. The state created a cloud of scandal that will irreparably mar the school, he said.

“This simply cannot be the standard for moving forward to make a conclusion about a testing irregularity.”

Contact Bethany Barnes at bbarnes@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3861. Follow @betsbarnes on Twitter.