School Board member eyes post of regent who can’t run

By Emily Richmond (contact)

Monday, July 28, 2008 | 2 a.m.

There’s long been a push for Clark County’s K-12 schools and its higher education institutions to work more closely. Could a Clark County School Board member also serving as a regent help make that happen?

Larry Mason is willing to try.

Friday’s Nevada Supreme Court ruling rendered Regent Thalia Dondero ineligible to seek reelection.

Dondero was the only candidate for the District 3 seat, meaning Gov. Jim Gibbons will likely have to appoint a replacement to serve until the next general election, in 2010.

Mason would like the appointment, but he’s not ready to give up the School Board seat he’s held since 1993, especially with fellow School Board members Ruth Johnson and Mary Beth Scow kicked off the ballot by the Supreme Court.

Why, Mason wonders, can’t he finish out the last two years in his elected post, and serve as the governor’s appointee to another body?

The law is clear that a person can’t run for more than one office at a time. But could Mason legally eat his cake and have it, too?

“I don’t know the answer,” said Larry Lomax, the county’s registrar of voters. “That may require a legal opinion.”

Then there’s the question of whether Mason, as a vice president at the College of Southern Nevada, could serve as a regent. The Nevada Commission on Ethics determined that Regent Howard Rosenberg did not have to give up his position as a UNR professor. But Bart Patterson, legal counsel for the Nevada System of Higher Education Board of Regents, said he’s not sure that determination would apply to administrators.

The Board of regents doesn’t approve hiring for vice presidents, but there are still potential conflicts, Patterson said.

“I would think you would want to seek additional clarification,” Patterson said.

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The Clark County School District is learning how to keep children in school. There are prize drawings, pizza parties and promises by principals to shave their heads, kiss a pig or spend eight hours on the school’s roof in a rocking chair.

But those incentives, outlined Thursday in the School Attendance Council’s inaugural report, didn’t sit well with some School Board members.

“I’m opposed to using tax dollars to bribe kids to come to school,” member Ruth Johnson said. “I know this is exactly what the Legislature expects us to do, but I think it’s a poor use of taxpayer dollars.”

The 2007 Legislature created the council — it includes representatives of social service agencies, law enforcement, the district and parents — to address truancy in Clark County.

Associate Superintendent Edward Goldman, who presented on the council’s report, said he wasn’t crazy about some of the incentives, either. “Sleeping out on a roof or kissing a pig is not my thing,” Goldman said, drawing chuckles.

Johnson said she would also prefer the council emphasize the importance of parental involvement.

“We provide the educational services, but we cannot mandate what families do or how seriously they take their responsibilities,” Johnson said.

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The School District has cut $134 million from its budgets for 2008 and 2009.

“It looks like right now the dust has settled for the short term,” Jeff Weiler, the district’s chief financial officer told the School Board.

The long-term outlook has many people worried, including Erin Cranor, who has four children in school. Since the Legislature cut in half the funding for textbooks and instructional supplies, she wonders if the district also eliminate related positions.

“Why is the School District still paying people in central administrative offices to research and shop for the latest innovations?” Cranor said.

“My perfect world would be to see the (board members) request a defense of every position in the district relative to the classroom,” Cranor said.

Lauren Kohut-Rost, deputy superintendent of curriculum and instruction, told Cranor the district’s first priority is to protect the schools, classrooms and students.

And staff cuts alone wouldn’t have solved the problem.

“To reach $130 million, you could wipe out every last administrative position and we’d still be knocking on the doors of the schools,” Kohut-Rost said.