Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Scow retires from School Board post

Mary Beth Scow

Heather Cory

Mary Beth Scow, president of the Clark County School District board, listens to a discussion at the Edward A. Greer Education Center. Scow will be attending her last meeting as a board member on Dec. 11.

Say goodbye

Mary Beth Scow will hold her final Parent Action Committee meeting at 9 a.m. Dec. 11 at Hank and Barbara Greenspun Junior High School. She will preside over her last School Board meeting at 4 p.m. Dec. 11 at the Edward A. Greer Education Center, 2832 E. Flamingo Road.

Mary Beth Scow says her past 12 years on the Clark County School Board have been a joy, but she has something even better in her future: Children and lots of grandchildren.

After her last meeting today, she plans to spend the 20 hours a week the board has taken with her nine children, the youngest a sophomore at Green Valley High School, and her 19 grandchildren, the oldest of whom is almost 11 years old.

"The kids are excited," she said. "I'll be baby-sitting a lot."

During each of her years on the School Board, Scow has had at least one child in a public school. She was careful to define the roles.

She attended school open houses and parent conferences, but she made sure to not put herself in a position where someone might think she was taking advantage of her power or let her children feel they could, she said.

"I made it very clear to keep that separate," she said.

Scow was one of many elected officials finishing her tenure earlier than planned because of state term limits laws.

Scow has held the position of president three times and has seen the School District grow from a zoning nightmare, in which many students were attending double sessions because of a lack of schools being built, to a district that is building a dozen schools a year.

She is known for her quiet, calm demeanor, Schools Superintendent Walt Rulffes said.

"She's not overly outspoken, but when she talks everybody listens," he said. "When she weighs in on something, it's on point and very profound."

That calm has been appreciated at every level, Andre Denson, superintendent for the Southeast Region, said. Scow manages to keep an even head in the most difficult situations, he said.

"That calm spirit is something to be in awe of," he said.

Clark County has grown to the fifth largest school district in the country since Scow took office, and she will proudly note that representatives from school districts in other states are now asking how it operates so smoothly.

She is pleased with the efforts she has made to get it there, especially with helping to implement the governance model, introduced as a way to hold the superintendent accountable, and the audit committee, started last year to provide a second set of eyes to ensure everything is operating as it should.

"She was instrumental in developing that," School Board member Carolyn Edwards said.

The governance model also includes policies that provide every school with performance targets to strive for and a way to reach those targets. A direct result has been that proficiency scores at every school have risen in the past two years and the dropout rate has decreased, Scow said.

Looking back on her years as School Board member, she has few regrets, she said.

"The greatest part is the people," she said. "They're all concerned for the right reasons, and it's wonderful to see that."

Particularly in Henderson and Boulder City, parents have been known to get passionately involved in issues affecting their children, which Scow said kept her on her toes.

"It really forces the board member to do their homework," she said with a smile.

This was the first elected position Scow served in. She said she didn't have plans to run again, but she would leave her options open.

Denson said he hoped to see her remain active in the community.

"She understands the history, and she understands the community," he said. "I'm hoping this won't be the last time we see her in the public eye."

Frances Vanderploeg can be reached at 990-2660 or [email protected].

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