Alderman resigns from Clark County School Board

Vice President Lorraine Alderman announced her resignation on Thursday from the Clark County School Board, which oversees the nation’s fifth-largest school system.

“As you know, I am a woman of faith, and God has opened a new door of opportunity for me that I simply cannot let pass,” Alderman wrote in her resignation letter to the six other trustees, who will appoint a replacement.

Her resignation is effective Oct. 23.

Elected in 2010 to represent District D in south-central Las Vegas, Alderman’s four-year term is being cut short by a new responsibility that will require full-time attention, she said, not offering more details but calling it a “dilemma.”

School Board President Carolyn Edwards said Alderman’s “expertise and perspective will be missed.”

Alderman has lived in Clark County for 50 years, graduated from Valley High School and then the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in history and a master’s degree in public administration. She taught social studies before becoming a school administrator and the district’s director of Education Options and the Office for Charter Schools.

The School Board will discuss at an Oct. 24 meeting how it will approach filling Alderman’s seat until her term ends in December 2014.

“We look forward to meeting potential candidates,” said Edwards, emphasizing that the board will include District D residents in the discussion of “who can best serve” their needs.

In April 2012, District E board member John Cole stepped down to move to Denver for work, vacating the seat about eight months before the end of his term. Cole was an appointee himself, selected by the School Board in January 2011 to finish the four-year term of Terri Janison, who had resigned to become the head of the Southern Nevada office for Gov. Brian Sandoval. The School Board appointed Rene Cantu to replace Cole, meaning three people cycled through that seat in just one term.

Clark County School District Superintendent Pat Skorkowsky noted that District D has one of the highest percentages of Hispanic students in Clark County. Districtwide, Hispanic students outnumber any two other ethnicities combined. Their numbers rise at twice the rate that the Caucasian student population is declining. Just over 44 percent of Clark County students are now Hispanic. Caucasians are at 28 percent.

In an interview Thursday, Alderman said she’s not leaving town but couldn’t stay on the Board and give it the attention it deserves. Skorkowsky asked her to instead volunteer for one of the district’s committees. She’s considering it.

“I’m not going anywhere,” she said.

Contact reporter Trevon Milliard at tmilliard@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0279.