School Board hopeful’s posts on site sprinkled with errors

Clark County School Board candidate Deanna Wright wants the public to play an "active roll in the future of education" and is looking forward to discussing the issues with her opponent in a "respectful and intelligent manor," according to her campaign Web site, deannawright4kids.net.

In her writing, Wright seems to confuse homophones, words that are pronounced the same but have different meanings, such as "there" and "their."

In a "What I think" diary entry from July 5, Wright recalls her high school band director "that is today my favorite teacher. He and his wife gave more than there required time."

She repeats the error in the same paragraph, saying, "Teacher(s) need to be grounded and feel like a part of there school community just like families."

Wright sometimes used the wrong parts of speech, as in "We need to work hard to guaranty that we have a stable source of income," confusing the verb guarantee with the noun guaranty.

Spelling errors pop up on the Web site. In one sentence, the "board of trustees dose not set funding for the district."

Wright leaves out a possessive apostrophe when she said not achieving "a high school diploma is one of the biggest blocks in a persons 'foundation' of life."

In an interview, Wright blamed the errors on haste and a bad spell checker. She was aware of the errors and has been meaning to fix them.

"I have been so busy," Wright said.

"I don't have a group behind me. It's just me doing it," she said of her campaign Web site.

The homemaker said some "oops" on her Web site should not disqualify her from serving on the School Board. "I can look at the numbers and make decisions for the school district," Wright said.

In her campaign to represent School Board District A, which covers Henderson and southeastern Clark County, Wright has gotten the endorsements of the Clark County Education Association and the Nevada State Education Association, which was misspelled "Assocoation" on her Web site. Wright also has the backing of departing School Board President Mary Beth Scow and the advocacy group Nevadans for Quality Education.

Wright said she was more "plugged in" than her opponent, Edward Goldman, who is an associate superintendent of educational services for the district.

Goldman said he would let the voters decide who is most qualified for office. He has been endorsed by the Police Officers' Association of the Clark County School District, the Henderson Chamber of Commerce and the Southern Nevada Council of Police and Sheriffs. Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., has endorsed him, as have former School Board members Jan Biggerstaff, Jeffrey Burr and Martin Kravitz, according to Goldman's campaign Web site.

Goldman has a doctorate in educational administration from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and master's degrees in political science and education from California State University in Los Angeles.

Wright said she was one class short of earning an associate degree in travel and tourism from a community college in Fullerton, Calif., before "my life got in the way" and she left school to get married.

Contact reporter James Haug at jhaug@reviewjournal.com or 702-799-2922.