Brodsky names election foe to attendance panel

By Emily Richmond (contact)

Tuesday, Sept. 28, 2004 | 9:12 a.m.

Frank Albano has gone from being Clark County School Board member Denise Brodsky's opponent to being her appointee on the district's Attendance Zone Advisory Commission.

Brodsky was the top vote-getter in the primary with nearly 60 percent of the vote, followed by mortgage broker Ryan Devins with 19 percent and retired teacher Albano with 16 percent.

Albano was appointed to an unpaid seat on the commission -- which has no regulatory authority -- Sept. 17, eight days after he publicly endorsed Brodsky at a School Board meeting. The commission makes recommendations for attendance zone boundaries that the School Board may either follow or ignore.

There's no conflict of interest in the appointment, Brodsky said. Each School Board member may appoint two people to the commission for two-year terms. District E had two vacant seats on the commission, which held its first meeting Sept. 21.

During his campaign Albano expressed an interest in zoning issues and even went so far as to meet with district staff to discuss possible proposals.

"He (Albano) clearly wanted to be involved and had the time to commit" to the commission, Brodsky said. "His good intentions are genuine."

One of Albano's suggestions during the pre-primary campaign was to allow families to choose between two schools, rather than mandating attendance at one campus. Similar "open enrollment" policies have worked in other areas and would give parents more control, Albano said.

But district officials said Albano's plan probably wouldn't fly in fast-growing Clark County, where schools have new students arriving on a daily basis.

Commission member Buffy Kilarski, its immediate past president, said she met Albano at the commission's meeting last week.

"He asked a lot of questions (at his first meeting) and seemed eager to learn. I think that shows he has a good work ethic and will do well," Kilarski said.

Albano said the commission appointment was not discussed prior to his decision to endorse Brodsky.

But his appointment didn't sit as well with Devins, who has become a vocal critic of the School Board's management style over the last year.

"I thought Frank (Albano) and I had an agreement that he was going to endorse me, but I guess I didn't have an AZAC carrot to dangle in front of him," Devins said Monday. "What better way to wrap up a former opponent's support than to appoint him?"

Eric Herzik, professor of political science at the University of Nevada, Reno, said the only thing odd about Albano's appointment is that it happened during the election cycle.

But even during elections the business of the School District -- including filling vacancies on commissions -- must go on, Herzik said.

"On the one hand you want to appoint people to these committees that have shown a substantive interest," Herzik said. "On the other hand the timing of it certainly makes you raise your eyebrows."

And a seat on the Attendance Zoning Advisory Committee isn't much of a reward, Herzik said.

"Some payoff -- there's no salary, it's volunteer time and it's a board that often draws flak from the parents who don't want their kids moved from one school to another," Herzik said with a laugh. "You generally say thank you to people who do that kind of work."