Clark County School District
About Town
Education for Educators … or Not
One teacher’s thoughts on frozen pay and dampened spirits
March 13th, 2013
Tari Smethurst is no less excited about walking into her fifth-grade classroom today than she was 14 years ago when she left upstate New York to teach in the Clark County School District. She loves the students at her eastside Title 1 elementary school (her principal requested that it not be named), and her passion for making a difference in their lives has only grown. Read more »
Accountability Would Go a Long Way Toward Fixing Education
February 12th, 2013
If you’re a believer in good education for all Nevadans, you’ve been going through rough times—meaning that all of us have been going through rough times Read more »
The Week
The Many Meanings of School
August 30th, 2012
So what is the purpose of school in Las Vegas? Is it to provide social services to families, or to train our kids solely for jobs in our dominant industry? Is it simply to provide the basics of math and reading? Or is it to impart the skills necessary for critical thinking, and stir the curiosity for cultural engagement? Is it possible to do all of these things and still do them well? Read more »
Education
Can Schools Profit From Nonprofits?
June 21st, 2012
Rising graduation rates—along with the need to make sure third graders can read before we cap-and-gown them—were recently the focus of more than 100 community activists and educators at the Together for Tomorrow Town Hall at the Fifth Street School. They discussed how to improve results—and the task wasn’t laid solely at the feet of teachers. Instead, they touted the “It Takes a Village” approach: In order to get our kids through the 12th grade literate, we should employ the cooperation of a network of nonprofits to support them. Read more »
Quizzing Education
Who really won in the recent teachers’ union arbitration?
May 24th, 2012
When does this experiment come to an end? Some 309,000 Clark County students, including my own kids, are counting on the community to make better decisions about their education. When we do, the heading on my website will say, “Arbitrator Rules in Favor of Kids.” Read more »
Teachers’ unions don’t look too appreciative
May 9th, 2012
It’s National Teacher Appreciation Week, yet Clark County’s teachers may be feeling unappreciated. Read more »
The Latest
Education … Just a Click Away
The era of online schooling has arrived—and it just may change everything
November 17th, 2011
The Latest
Bully Pulpits
Groups are eagerly entering the anti-bullying arena. And it looks like they’re ready for a good ol’ turf battle.
November 10th, 2011
If any group of activists could avoid finger-pointing, you’d think it’d be the anti-bullying crowd. Apparently not. In October—National Anti-Bullying Month—one longtime anti-bullying activist took the fight to another, condemning it for allegedly advancing the gay “agenda” in Clark County schools. Read more »
The Latest Thought
A Money Tree Grows in Vegas
If this memo from the future is an indicator, the school district’s budget woes are soon to end
October 27th, 2011
The following post-dated document, hand-delivered to the Vegas Seven offices by a man who identified himself only as “a sworn enemy of Milton Friedman,” was apparently written by an internal committee at the Clark County School District. “Pay special attention to the section on revenue generation,” the shadowy figure whispered as he slipped out our front door. Read more »
The Latest Thought
Home-school to Harvard
A Libertarian’s view on how to save education—in your own home
September 15th, 2011
The decline of our public school system is a national embarrassment. And Las Vegas is in even worse shape than the rest of the country. The graduation rate in the Clark County School District was less than 45 percent in 2008, according to Education Week magazine. Yet through all this gloom, there is a ray of hope. Home-schooling works. I’ll share my personal story, with the hope and belief that others can also benefit from taking charge of their children’s education. Read more »
