School panel faces ethics complaint

Thursday, July 8, 2004 | 11:07 a.m.

A Northern Nevada man has filed an ethics complaint against the state Board of Education, alleging some members have failed to fully disclose their personal ties to local school districts.

The complaint, filed by John Wagner of Carson City, calls for the state ethics commission to investigate any state education board member who either works for a local school district or has a spouse who does.

Five board members appear to meet that criteria -- John Hawk, a corporate trainer for the Clark County School District whose wife is an assistant principal; Barbara Myers, a speech pathologist in the Lyon County School District; Marcia Washington, a longtime Clark County School District employee who currently works in community outreach for Channel 10; John Gwaltney, whose wife teaches second grade in Reno; and State Board of Education President Gary Waters, whose wife administers a federally funded after-school program for the Clark County School District.

Wagner's complaint comes at the same time that the education board is wrestling with another potential conflict of interest -- member John Hawk's request that his colleagues approve sponsorship of a charter school co-founded by him and his wife.

The state education board will consider Friday whether to grant full-charter status to Hawk's proposed Nevada State High School, a charter school that would offer dual-credit courses using instructors at Henderson's Nevada State College. The state ethics commission ruled in November that if the state sponsored the charter school, and Hawk and his wife served as co-directors, Hawk would have to resign his seat on the state board.

Hawk, who is up for reelection and is the only candidate for his District 1 seat, originally said he would resign if the state board sponsored his charter school. He later changed his mind, saying he was delaying a decision to resign in the hopes that some compromise could be reached that would satisfy the ethics commission and allow him to keep his seat.

Hawk said Wednesday the latest plan is for his wife to run the school on her own for the first year with him continuing his job with the Clark County School District.

"If we had the 70 students we originally planned for I would resign my seat," Hawk said. "But we're looking at 35 students and that's a manageable size for Wendi (Hawk's wife) to handle on her own."

Hawk said his wife, an assistant principal at Keller Middle School, would work a year-round schedule instead of 11 months and take a $20,000 pay cut from her current salary of $65,000.

Waters said Hawk has done everything possible to be "aboveboard and upfront" with his colleagues about his proposed charter school.

"To his credit it was John who went to the ethics commission ahead of anyone else and asked them to clarify things," Waters said. "That speaks loudly to me that this is a guy trying to do the right thing."

Hawk initially hoped the Clark County School District would approve his charter application, a scenario the ethics commission ruled would have allowed him to remain on the state board. But the Clark County School Board refused Hawk's request, citing concerns about teacher credentialing and an abbreviated school calendar.

Wagner said he filed the complaints because the public needs to know whenever an elected official has a conflict of interest.

"I guess it's legal for them (State Board of Education members) to be there, but any time they vote on something that has to do with their school district they're supposed to disclose the fact that they have a personal connection."

Wagner said Ethics Commission staff told him they would not notify him when his complaint comes up for review, and that he'd have to check the commission's Web site to find out the timetable.

Wagner has been active on behalf of local Republican political causes for many years and served as a lobbyist during the 2003 Legislative session. Last year Wagner asked Secretary of State Dean Heller -- Nevada's chief elections officer -- to look into whether government employees serving in the Legislature constituted a conflict of interest. In a March 1 opinion Attorney General Brian Sandoval said that it did.

Wagner's complaint is "false and frivolous," Waters said Wednesday.

"There's no law that says a school district employee or someone who's married to one can't run for this board," Waters said. "It's logical that people who even want to serve on this board would have some personal interest or connection to education. Most public boards and commissions are employed in the industries they regulate. Look at the State Board of Medical Examiners -- most of the people on there are doctors."

The state education board has nothing to do with the daily operations of local school districts, Waters said. As an example, Waters noted that Gwaltney's wife reports to her principal, who in turn reports to the Washoe County School District superintendent. The superintendent ultimately reports to the local school board, not the state, Waters said.

In order for an initial ethics complaint to move forward a two-person panel must review it and recommend the full commission hear the matter. Washington, who is seeking her second term on the board, said she doesn't expect Wagner's complaint to get that far.

Washington said she told voters in her campaign materials that she was a Clark County School District employee.

"I've never tried to cover that up," Washington said. "If we (the state board) voted on anything having to do with local school employee salaries I could see that as a problem. But right now I don't see there's a conflict whatsoever."