LETTER: School Board has better things to do than worry about mascots

It is said that Nero fiddled while Rome burned.

According to the Review-Journal, members of the Clark County School Board now must busy themselves banning racially discriminatory school mascots. Meanwhile, proficiency scores for middle school students in the district languish at 40 percent in reading and 25 percent in math.

This issue did not originated with the school board. The Legislature passed, and Gov. Steve Sisolak signed, a law requiring the board to divert attention from hiring teachers and instead focus on cheerleader costumes.

Nevada hovers around 43rd — or lower — in educational rankings among the 50 states. The state faces a severe teacher shortage and student proficiency is plummeting thanks to pandemic shutdowns. Significant evidence exists that our children are receiving a sub-standard education. Sensitivity to racism is certainly important, but it could be argued that the board should have priorities above the naming of mascots.

Or maybe the educational policymakers have discovered that so many students score pathetically poorly on proficiency tests because their schools have the wrong team names.

Maybe it would help school board members to get into the spirit of this pressing issue by choosing their own mascot. How about the Las Vegas “Neros”? Or the Clark County “Fiddlers”? Or would that be racist?