On education, Peckman seems to have Gibbons’ ear

By Emily Richmond (contact)

Sunday, Jan. 28, 2007 | 7:30 a.m.

When last heard from, Maureen Peckman and the Council for a Better Nevada were lying low, having failed a year ago to land an innovative New York City educator as the next superintendent of the Clark County School District.

When they next wanted to hold roundtable discussions with the Clark County School District, the man who got the superintendent's job, Walt Rulffes, objected to Peckman's heavy-handed leadership. Peckman, for instance, wanted to limit the guest list and insisted that she be the only group member to talk to the media. Sputtering, the group slipped out of public view.

Peckman and the council burst back onto the scene Monday night, at no less than Gov. Jim Gibbons' State of the State address.

Gibbons' key education initiative was fashioned by Peckman and her organization: to give principals and parents greater control over local schools.

The model for his $60 million, 100-school experiment in "empowerment," Gibbons said, would be the program in Edmonton, Alberta.

He offered few specifics - because, he would acknowledge later, he didn't have many.

But more troubling to the state's 17 schools superintendents was that their ideas appeared nowhere on the governor's legislative agenda. Nothing about teacher recruiting, the thousands of students struggling for English fluency, or class size reduction.

On this important night, Gibbons was pushing Peckman's proposal, not theirs.

So how did she so successfully get the governor's ear?

On Friday, Peckman explained it to the Sun.

The Council for a Better Nevada's membership roster reads like a who's who of the business community - Larry Ruvo, owner of Southern Wine & Spirits, MGM Mirage chairman Terry Lanni, Nevada State Bank President Bill Martin, to name a few. In early December, the group hosted a presentation by the Broad Foundation, a nonpartisan think tank that makes grants for public education initiatives. Members of Gibbons' transition team attended.

"In the meeting, empowerment was discussed," Peckman said. "The representatives from the governor's team said, 'Hasn't your group researched this? Could you provide us with some information?' And we obliged."

Peckman not only provided information about empowerment schools, but within days she personally introduced Gibbons' team to Michael Strembitsky, who served as Edmonton's superintendent for more than 20 years.

On Monday night, Gibbons' unveiling of the empowerment proposal caught the state's school establishment by surprise. Both Peckman and Strembitsky sat comfortably in the audience while the state's 17 schools superintendents sat in folding chairs in the back row.

On Wednesday, Strembitsky was introduced by Peckman to an invited group of lawmakers and educators in Carson City. The governor sat in the audience, too, saying he wanted to learn more about empowerment. Southern Nevada educators were flown to the meeting on a private plane chartered by Peckman's husband, retired Greenspun Corp. executive Phil Peckman. (The company is owned by the family that also owns the Sun.)

Rulffes said he turned down a seat on the jet, but authorized the district's own empowerment expert to take the flight. Rebecca Johnson, principal of Kirk Adams Elementary School, one of the district's four empowerment schools, also made the trip.

Peckman said her committee is picking up Strembitsky's expenses.

And her role with the governor?

"I'm just a community advocate that the governor has relied on as a member of his education transition team to be part of the dialogue," Peckman said. "But the governor's really driving this. I'm just a citizen."

And one who doesn't mind leaning on the chancellor of the state's university system - a member of her committee - for help.

Chancellor Jim Rogers said he has missed the last few meetings and the first he heard of the governor's empowerment proposal was in Monday's speech.

"Maureen called me (Wednesday) and said, 'Will you support us on empowerment?' And I said, 'Maureen, I don't know what the hell it is,' " Rogers told the Sun. "I don't know the particulars ... I'm looking forward to hearing the details."

Rogers said Peckman shouldn't be viewed as an interloper, but rather an aggressive and assertive advocate who made the most of an opportunity.

"Sometimes Maureen gets in front of herself a little bit," Rogers said.

But, he added, her intentions are "only good."

To State Board of Education member Jan Biggerstaff, the Council for a Better Nevada is developing a reputation for back-door maneuvering.

"These people seem to want to impact education without going through the proper channels and process," said Biggerstaff, who served four years on the Clark County School Board and is starting her third term on the state education board. "They are not visible, they are not accountable to anyone, and that leaves me very concerned." Biggerstaff said she would worry less about Peckman's influence if there were evidence of Gibbons seeking counsel from others as well.

"But he's not talking to anyone else, anyone who's actually in education, in the trenches," Biggerstaff said.

Gibbons' press secretary, Melissa Subbotin, did not return a call from the Sun seeking comment Friday about Peckman's involvement in shaping the governor's education policies. But in an interview Wednesday, Subbotin said of Peckman, "We plan to work with her � we value her input."