District Growth hot topic in schools race

Benjamin Grove

Thursday, Aug. 27, 1998 | 11:26 a.m.

Six candidates who want a hand in trend-setting and policy-making for the ninth largest school district in the nation are vying for three open seats on the Clark County School Board.

In the fastest-growing district in the nation, the School Board races are likely to center on discussions about school safety, school construction and both educational and fiscal accountability in a district some believe is growing out of control.

"I know that with budgets that size, there's waste," candidate Sheila Moulton said. "We have to keep an eye on it."

Here's how the races shape up:

* Realtor and current board president Susan Brager is running for re-election in District F against conservative business man Richard Ziser and travel agent Jack Levin, an outspoken gay-rights activist.

* Substitute teacher Moulton is challenging a Community College of Southern Nevada teacher Patrick Boylan in District G. Current District G member Judy Witt is running for state Assembly.

* Current board member Larry Mason, a CCSN administrator who has been teased good-naturedly by his board colleagues as the only male member of the board, is running unopposed in District D.

The School Board faces an array of challenges.

In the coming year, the district is likely to exceed 200,000 students, as the district continues to grow between 5 percent and 7 percent. The board will continue to grapple with increasing populations of students who do not speak English and those who are designated for special education.

The district's $954 million budget, an increasingly complex document that feeds on state funds and local tax money, should top $1 billion in the next fiscal year.

"We've got way too many high-paid consultants and administrators," Boylan said. "We need to take some of that money and give it back to the children. Teachers are spending their own money, and that's not right."

The district's aggressive and sometimes delay-plagued construction program is scheduled to open six schools this fall and another in January. A November referendum will ask property taxpayers for about $2.5 billion -- part of a $3.5 billion program -- to renovate old schools and build 88 new ones in the next 10 years.

"Schools are opening late," Levin said. "Tax dollars are tax dollars."

And in the year 2000, the board faces one of its most important decisions of all: finding a new superintendent to replace Brian Cram. Cram announced this spring that he would be stepping down after nine years as schools chief.

"We need someone with a strong, fiscal understanding of how a huge organization works," Ziser said. "At this size, we need to go out and look for someone who will be comfortable in that type of oversight position."

The candidates say they are ready for one of the most thankless -- and important -- jobs in government, a job that pays a maximum $320 a month.

"I love the task of educating children," Brager said. "That excites me. Reading is the key to success."

A look at the candidates:

* Boylan, 46, is a technical writer for Gaming Systems International who teaches introductory computer classes at CCSN. He said he decided to run after noticing with shock that about 20 percent of his college students had limited math and English skills.

He said he also felt frustrated when officials at one of his two son's schools could not provide answers about failing air conditioners.

Now Boylan said his main concerns center on providing safe and comfortable schools, teaching "the basics," funneling money away from district managers and into the classroom, and stricter student discipline.

"If you do the crime, you do the time," he said. Boylan advocates more jail and juvenile hall time for students who bring weapons to school.

Boylan said he also advocates more school security.

"Let's get rid of some of this administrative staff -- I'd rather have a hall monitor in the school who can break up a fight and keep the bad guys out," he said.

Boylan also wants more shared building partnerships between the district and the community college.

"I know we already have some agreements, but let's make it better," he said.

* Brager, 51, is a realtor, a 35-year resident of the county, a mother of three and grandmother of five. She walks fast, often talks fast and runs a tight board meeting, which has won her praise from district veterans who remember marathon sessions that lasted past midnight.

She lists an increased focus on reading programs as one of her greatest successes.

Brager also said her business experience with financing, accounting, taxes, banking and real estate qualify her to handle the rigors of the district's budget.

"You don't sell a home, you sell a community," Brager said. "And to do that you need to know it very, very well."

Brager said she wants more veteran teachers in the district's at-risk schools. She also wants to open another vocational/technical high school and supports an audit of the district's construction program.

Brager also wants to match middle school and elementary school year-round calendars, to allow families more vacation time together.

"The family is broken up enough as it is," Brager said. "We break it up more."

Brager also advocates implementing middle school sports, more English classes for Spanish-speaking parents and more security cameras and school police.

"When they come to school, they need to know they are safe," Brager said of students.

* Levin, 35, also touts his business experience.

"I don't think we have enough board members who care about the dollars," said Levin, who once managed a $6 million furniture store in New York. Levin, who also has worked as a blackjack dealer, now manages his own accounts for a Las Vegas travel business. He also was an organizer of last spring's Las Vegas Lesbian and Gay Pride Festival, planned for 10,000 participants.

Levin, who ran against Brager in 1994, said he has attended board meetings for 10 years.

Levin said he wants more attention paid to those who come to School Board meetings, which he said often intimidate parents. He wants simplified versions of the district's budget made available to residents.

"I want a one-page synopsis of what is going on," he said.

Levin said he recently scolded board members who budgeted $2,000 for a trip to New Orleans. The travel agent told them air fares were cheaper than they thought. The board members ended up spending less, he said.

"I know places we are losing money," Levin said.

Levin also advocates "open zoning" when schools have room, finding new ways to finance school construction and involving more business owners with students.

* Moulton, 48, said that a fifth-grade girl in a class where she was substituting recently told her several boys were calling her names. Moulton moved the child.

"We have to listen to these kids and hear their concerns," Moulton said. "We have to work with them."

Moulton said she was concerned about the quality of education in Clark County after watching it up close. She supports reducing class sizes, even in high school classes, making kids feel safe and making coursework more relevant to students.

Moulton, a longtime active parent and school volunteer, said students shouldn't have to choose between orchestra or algebra -- as her daughter once did -- just because schools are crowded and on year-round schedules.

"It shouldn't be an option that students can't get everything they want to take," she said.

Moulton also advocates more technology in the classroom and more vocational education in the district's high schools.

The mother of six also wants to attract more bilingual teachers to the district. She said one of her daughters is a bilingual teacher in a California school where most third-graders can read and write Spanish and English at grade level.

"They have a program and they let it work," Moulton said. "It's not just kids, it's a culture they bring with them."

* Ziser, 45, who has a bachelor of science degree in industrial engineering, said his years running Casino Tokens Inc. in Las Vegas gave him business experience he wants to use on the School Board.

"My background lends itself to the things that a board does," he said.

Casino Tokens specialized in metal tokens used in casino machines. He sold the business in 1993, and now manages various business and investment holdings. Ziser in May finished a master's degree in Christian Apologetics, "defending the faith, you might say," he said.

Ziser said he would not push the agenda of Christian groups, despite his religious studies.

"To go thumping the Bible in somebody's face isn't going to do any good," Ziser said.

He added that the district needed to "be careful about (teaching) alternative lifestyles," in sexual education curricula. "I would tend to promote traditional lifestyles."

Ziser also advocates a conservative approach to using technology. He said teachers sometimes use computers -- to teach math, for instance -- when a pencil and paper are more efficient.

"Getting information on the Internet is not the issue," he said. "It's deciding what information is good and bad."

Ziser said he also wants more parents to take an interest in their children's learning. He advocates more "back to basics."

"We need to get rid of some of the feel-good programs," he said.

* Mason, dean of community and outreach services for the Community College of Southern Nevada, said he felt no pressure to run again when no one else stepped forward to run for his seat.

"I like what I do," Mason said simply, then offered a theory on why few run for School Board. "We have one of the most unenviable positions because it's one of those things that people don't think highly of the position."

Mason said he would focus on several issues in his second term: school safety, dropout prevention and raising academic standards.

Mason said he wants to target gang members to make schools safer. He said school officials needed to initiate more conversations with gang members.

"Let's work with gangs here in Southern Nevada," Mason said. "What are they looking for? They are looking for respect. Let's get them to leave our schools alone. That's a neutral zone."

Mason also said he did not like lockers.

"Statistics tell you that drugs and guns are in the lockers," Mason said.

Mason also wants to devote more board time to reducing class sizes. He does not support team-teaching -- the practice of putting two teachers in a room of 32 or more students.

"Sometimes you get two people who just don't click," he said.

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