LETTER: The sorry state of the Clark County School District
While I frequently disagree with Victor Joecks, he is spot on in his assessment of the dismal future of the next school superintendent (Wednesday Review-Journal). So is letter writer David Brandt, a former member of a school board in California.
Mr Brandt correctly stated that a school board’s job is to set the policies that the superintendent follows. However, as Mr. Joecks points out, board members “rarely have the background you’d expect from those responsible for multibillion-dollar budgets.” I agree. I was appalled several years ago when a current trustee, who had only a high school diploma, won election over a young attorney with a finance background.
Mr. Joecks also observes that “thanks to collective bargaining, the unions have more control over the budget than the superintendent.”
Unless we improve the quality of the board and deal with the other factors hamstringing the superintendent, this position will remain a revolving door, and Nevada will stay at the bottom among states in terms of academic achievement.