STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION 7
No one will be re-elected to the state Board of Education in District 7.
That's because the seat's current occupant, Merv Iverson, is not running.
Vying for the nonpartisan seat are Val Olsen, a former White Pine County School Board member, and Chris Wallace, who comes from a family of teachers.
Iverson has voiced support for Wallace.
Wallace, 29, co-owns a local event production company. He said his mother is a librarian at Mojave High School, his father is a retired Clark County teacher and his wife is an anthropology instructor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
His first child, a son, was born in September.
Wallace said if elected, he would immediately sit down with teachers and parents to talk about what concerns them.
"Basically, just listen and get a feel for the people who are on the front lines," he said.
He wants to work more closely with local school districts to help them meet goals.
Wallace said he also thinks there should be more trade schools in Nevada because "college is not for everyone."
He is a graduate of Boulder City High School and attended both the College of Southern Nevada and Northern Arizona University, though he earned no degree.
Olsen, 48, received an associate degree from Northern Nevada Community College, now called Great Basin College. She is an account executive for the Boulder City News.
Olsen said she has lived all over Nevada and was a member of the White Pine School Board for more than four years.
Four of her own children and a couple of stepchildren have gone through schools in Nevada, she said.
Olsen said she isn't in the business of making promises that the current tight budgets won't allow her to fulfill.
She advocated looking into restructuring the Department of Education to see if money could be saved that way.
She wants to look at successful local school districts within the state and spread good practices to other districts.
"Why should we reinvent the wheel?" she asked.
She decided to run for the board because she believed graduation standards could be lowered and she wants to keep them high.
Contact reporter Richard Lake at rlake@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0307.
STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION DUTIES The 10-member Nevada State Board of Education establishes policies governing public schools, including setting graduation requirements and implementing education reform. Members serve four-year terms and are limited to three terms. Board members also make public education budget recommendations to the Legislature. They are paid $80 per meeting. REVIEW-JOURNAL
