Brodsky resigns from School Board

Friday, July 15, 2005 | 9:30 a.m.

Clark County School Board member Denise Brodsky shocked the education community Thursday by resigning her seat, announcing she planned to move to Louisiana and head up a local office of the United Way.

"I will always be grateful to the citizens of Clark County who have put their faith in me, and I thank them for their years of support and friendship," said an emotional Brodsky, who choked back tears as she read from a prepared statement.

"I urge the board and this community to continue to strive for excellence and to demand only the best for our children."

Brodsky said her resignation takes effect Aug. 4. She begins her new position as executive director of the United Way of St. Charles Parish in Luling, La., on Sept. 1.

School Board President Larry Mason said Brodsky's departure will be a loss for the district but he understood her decision.

"Her constituents here need her, but a person also has to live their own life," Mason said. "For us, it's a setback. She was someone you could rely on, she's knowledgeable and was a very good trustee."

The School Board's policy, reflecting state statute, allows the remaining members to choose a replacement who will serve until the next general election in November 2006. Whoever is elected at that time will serve the remainder of Brodsky's term, which runs through 2008.

Brodsky, 45, was first elected to the School Board in 2000, representing District E. She was re-elected in September in a landslide with more than 73 percent of the vote.

Currently manager of community development for the United Way of Southern Nevada, Brodsky is past executive director of the Nevada Tobacco Prevention Coalition. A Las Vegas resident since 1991, she is married with three children. Her oldest son currently serves in the Air Force.

Her husband, Mitch Brodsky, an engineer, plans to remain in Clark County through next June so that their youngest child, daughter Julia, can finish her senior year of high school at Las Vegas Academy. He will then join his wife in Louisiana.

Mitch Brodsky, along with Julia and Ryan, who serves in the Air Force, attended Thursday's meeting. Daughter Andrea, who is about to start her senior at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, participated via telephone.

Julia said her mother's decision wasn't an easy one, either for her or the rest of the family.

"I'm kind of having a hard time with her moving," Julia said. "But I know it's going to be good for her and my parents and in the end."

Brodsky's School Board colleagues took turns wishing her well, culminating in a standing ovation from the audience.

During her tenure Brodsky spearheaded two major initiatives: eliminating junk food in campus vending machines and a districtwide ban on smoking that extends to campus visitors as well as all employees.

While she has generally voted along the same lines as the majority of her colleagues, there have been a handful of notable exceptions. Most recently she was the lone nay vote in May when the School Board voted to hire two former employees as consultants in the search for a new superintendent.

Brodsky said there should have been a request for proposals so that the public at large would have an opportunity to apply for the job.

And in November she was the lone vote against changes to the district's controversial dress code regulation, which allowed schools to establish mandatory uniform policies after first demonstrating community support.

She said she didn't believe students should be pulled from class or punished for not wearing the required clothing, as was the case for a handful of students who eventually joined an ACLU lawsuit challenging the policy.

"Denise has been an outstanding advocate for children," Gary Waters, member of the state Board of Education, said. "She's made many valuable contributions that will impact the quality of education in Clark County for a long time."

Waters said he has gotten to know Brodsky well because the districts they represent overlap.

"We have many of the same constituencies, and she has been very welcoming and very responsive to opening up the lines of communication between the School District and the state board," Waters said.

Whoever replaces Brodsky will take part in choosing a new superintendent. Walt Rulffes, deputy superintendent of operations, and Agustin Orci, deputy superintendent of instruction, began their duties Thursday as co-interim superintendents.

They were appointed by the board to share the job for the duration of the search for a permanent replacement, a process that is expected to last through next spring.