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By J. Patrick Coolican (contact) 
Friday, Sept. 30, 2011 | 2 a.m.
J. Patrick Coolican
More Coolican
State Sen. Michael Roberson is a rising star in the Republican Party.
He caught the attention of conservatives during his first legislative session this year with tough rhetoric attacking teachers unions and a Clark County School District he said was bloated with personnel who aren’t in the classroom. In fact, he offered legislation that would have mandated 65 percent of education money go to classrooms.
As it happens, the School District received a report recently from Gibson Consulting Group recommending $162 million in efficiency savings over five years, money that could be put toward classroom instruction. One of the cost-saving measures that would reap $1.8 million per year would eliminate the position of “theme coordinator” and “recruiting counselor” at the district’s magnet schools.
That’s the job title of Liberty Leavitt Roberson, Roberson’s wife, who works at Advanced Technologies Academy.
State Sen. Michael Roberson, R-Henderson, listens to discussion of the extension of temporary taxes needed to fund the state budget on the Senate floor Monday, June 6, 2011, at the Legislature in Carson City.
Awkward!
Karen Diamond, the principal of A-Tech, told me that Leavitt Roberson was “extraordinary in the classroom” before taking her current position to recruit students to the magnet school and help represent A-Tech to the community. (Kudos to Diamond and her staff — the school was recently awarded a “Blue Ribbon” by the U.S. Education Department for academic achievement, an honor it shares with just 70 other schools nationwide.)
Diamond said Leavitt Roberson spends the bulk of her time with students even though she’s not in the classroom. In addition to recruiting for the school, she runs a student service program. The more than 70 students in the program perform volunteer work and serve as ambassadors for the school. They tutor students after school, including children with cancer and children at other Clark County schools, while performing other service projects. Leavitt Roberson was named volunteer of the year by the Nevada Childhood Cancer Foundation.
Leavitt Roberson, who comes from a prominent Nevada family, made $48,076 in pay plus benefits in 2010, according to TransparentNevada, a database of public employee salaries.
“I love Liberty, and I would love to keep her,” Diamond told me.
So how about it, Michael Roberson?
Roberson took his usual tough line: “If critics of me want to take on my wife, they ought to put on their big-boy pants and take me on directly.”
Apropos of what, I’m not certain, but Roberson attacked the teachers union: “The teachers union are schoolyard bullies. They don’t care about the children of this state. They care about protecting adult professional jobs.”
Roberson, the product of a fine public-university education from the University of Kansas and its law school, voted against the final tax and budget package this year that extended taxes scheduled to sunset. Not extending the taxes would have required significant cuts to education, higher education and Medicaid.
As for the auditor’s report, Roberson said, “It’s in line with my proposed bill, which forces more available dollars into the classroom and into areas where you have a direct relationship with students. There are 350 education bureaucrats making six figures. Most had no direct relationship with the kids. I believe Superintendent (Dwight) Jones is changing that, and that’s a good thing.”
There aren’t 350 education bureaucrats making six figures. There were 299 in 2009 and 285 in 2010. (But hey, if his accuracy were a batting average, he’d be the best hitter ever.)
Roberson expressed support for Jones. “I think Superintendent Jones should be given wide leeway in implementing reform, and he should be supported. I’m going to do everything I can to support him. I will be getting together with him to see how I can help him in Carson City.”
The legislative session ended four months ago. One would think someone claiming to be such a dedicated education reformer would have already met with Jones, who by all accounts is a hard-charging reformer in his own right.
Roberson’s failure to do so to this point has me wondering if he is less interested in the fortunes of the School District than he is in sloganeering and fueling his political ambitions.
Oh, no, of course that can’t be true.
The teachers themselves are not the problem.
It is the teachers union and the school administration that are the problem.
If you read the paper by the Nevada Policy Institute about education in Nevada you would blanche at the numbers of how much is paid and how much gets to the classroom. The overhead is ridiculous.
Also there is no reason for tenure for teachers. I grew up here and went to school here. I had one teacher in high school that should have been let go because she didn't care at all. She should have been gone. The other teachers I had were good to great. I love the teachers, it's the people in the middle I don't care for.
Coolican, throw the negative out there and continue to protect the the weak, those making six figures. Why not ask "Liberty", see what her opinion is?
Disgraceful article, when you think about it. Why not check the six figures of secretaries, maintenance and lobby people for this district. Every one knows the truth of who you are protecting.
It will be nice the day that I don't have to read this subsidized rag. Bad angle, refusing to support our kids and striking out at anyone in the middle, no matter their name or position is just plain wrong.
So he should have pulled a Berkley and flopped on the other side to try to save his wifes job. Sounds to me like he is going to do what he believes is the right thing to do.
We all know Mr. Coolican that even though you would support greatly his flip flop on this issue. Your story wouldn't be...(he's on the side of education). It would be...(Republican Hypocracy).
One short note: DOES WHAT YOU DO PUT YOUR WIFE IN THE "CROSS HAIRS"?
Since the current educational status of our K-12 schools is the product of progressive Democrat policies, coupled with union influence through the Department of Education over the last 30 to 40 years, it's time for total rework of the education system in the state. Clearly education is not educating at any level in the state.
If that means getting the unions out, and telling the federal government to go bye-bye then so be it.
It is clear that the schools have not only failed their students, but the people who pay the teachers and the school system's salaries.
With inferior math and reading scores, illiteracy is commonplace in schools. Unfortunately it's just not the kids with English as a second language.
This is probably one of the most desperate attacks on a elected official by a "reporter" - Petty and Pathetic!
As you sit in your chair writing this non-sense, does your conscious ever reflect on what you're trying to say or do.
Good luck making it in your immature life.
The "current educational status of our K-12 schools is the product of" the parents who may or may not provide the proper home environment for learning, study and homework.
The "liberal education" starts at home with unconcerned, mouthy, ball game watching parents who know more about basketball, football and baseball scores then the algebra their children are supposed to learn. These parents can only tutor sports, not education.
The TV is on an average of 4.5 hours/day in the average American home and their lives are designed by the boob tube rhetoric on FOX news.
So many of the "poorly performing" children live in a home environment that WOULD NOT allow me to read a book, let alone contemplate math, history or English. More then half of these parents could not even pass the GED test for high school.
Only 20% of Clark County residents have a 4 year diploma. They come here to make a fast, easy buck and that's what their home life becomes as well.
Don't expect Oxford University in New Guinea or it's sister State Nevada.
Oh, this is lovely. But let's face it: he should know that anyone who works for state government and public education is useless, since he's married to one of those lazy, stupid bottom-feeders himself. Right?
SunJon...
Just so.
So JPC, just what are you mad at him about? That he is for reforming education? That he is against the actions of teacher's union? That his wife works for the district in a job that could be eliminated? That he hasn't met with Supt. Jones even though the next legislative session is over a year in the future? Or is it because he is a Republican? What is the point?
Perhaps you could get someone to remove the reference to violence in your headline, too.
longgun45 More right wing bs. In truth you mean lets give vouchers and destroy the public education system while promoting private education who hands out big contributions to Republicans!Nothing like a right wing lied up phoney.
Do private sector companies that are doing well have people with psycho-babble titles? Like Apple, Google, Chipotle? I bet they do, because you do need a big picture view to succeed.
SunJon...Those mouthy unconcerned parents are called Democrats. Blaming the gov for not teaching their kids better.
Comment removed by moderator. Name Calling
I would suggest looking at the demographics in poverty. I have been teaching for over 15 years and one of the most disturbing trend comes from kids who are living in poverty and their level of motivation.
The poor of our country have life pretty good. The vast majority have houses, cars, iPhones, Playstation3, computers, internet, ample food, and big screen TV's. Many of their parents when you look at their demographics have not completed high school themselves.
When you have nearly all of the things that people who work hard have, what is your motivation to actually get an education. Especially, when you can get everything you want and never have to stop smoking weed and chilling at your house. (That is a true story that I stumbled in on a snow a number of years ago)
1944Canucks,
Your statements are going to resonate with a certain number of readers, and upset quite a few others. Would you kindly supply reference material to back up the claim you make that the majority of poor have "life pretty good?"
Beyond that, you also imply that people who are poor don't work as hard as those who are not. While it may be true that some people who are poor are basically lazy and want to leech off the public at large, it is by no means true that hard-working people are never poor.
I think that you as a teacher would avoid such sweeping remarks and insinuations. If nothing else, they provide excellent fuel for those, such as State Sen. Roberson, who want to see it much easier to dismiss poor teachers.
some of you display remarkable stupidity-mr Green from your comments I see that you reaped the bounty of not having good teachers in your youth? and commonsense101 you run a close second. remarkable.
I will give you classroom demographics of this years group. 1 college grad, half not hs grads, half hs grads. I can flat tell you that if your family was living in a mud hut with nothing but what you needed for subsistence education takes a whole new priority. I grew up sharing a room with two brothers and we hate a boat load of beans and rice. Education was freedom from that situation. There were no big tv's, cell phones, or modern cool electronics or clothes. I have spent my entire career in poor neighborhoods and in poor schools. The problem isn't that poor kids aren't smart. They just don't have the same motivation and parent support as those that have some affluence. You could even take out parent support if there was just motivation to do better than mom and dad you would see test scores sky rocket and academic achievement blossom. But how do you give something to someone when they clearly don't want it. It isn't the same classroom you went to school in. Take a day and see what it is like. You might be shocked.
J. Patrick Coolican. All politics aside, but for the sake of my comment here, I'm a registered Independent. I have never appreciated your style of reporting. But, this time, you have, in your, "slick and slimey" mannerism, so deeply crossed the line. Mrs. Leavitt Roberson, the wife of State Senator Michael Roberson, certainly did not deserve to be exposed and used as one of your props in your nasty titled article, "Republican's Stance On Education Puts Wife's Job In Cross Hairs". Although politics is a brutal arena, there are rules of civilized warfare. At the top of this list, is leaving an innocent spouse and their children alone to live in peace. I know you will justify the contents of your writings by using Mrs. Roberson's status of being a public servant herself. As I previously stated, slick and slimey move. You see Coolican, you could not possibly comprehend a family like the Roberson's. Even if the State Senator became responsible for ending his wife's career as a public servant, Mrs. Roberson would still be out doing what she does now. Giving her heart and soul to every child that she possibly can. It makes absolutely no difference to her whether she is paid or not. I'll be sending this comment to the editor of the Las Vegas requesting this to be printed. State Senator Michael Roberson and his wife, surely deserve at least, to have equal footing with a journalist like you who lacks proper ethics and morals.
Correction: I'll be sending this comment to the editor of the Las Vegas "Sun" requesting this to be printed.
Someone help me please. There are comments on here that make it sound like only kids in Las Vegas watch TV 4-5 hours, and only parents in Las Vegas don't provide a good environment for learning at home. Seems there is a more recent issue that caused this. In the prior 10 years when the population of Hispanics flooded the school system the system went down like a plane that ran out of gas in the sky. Prior to that there wasn't as big an issue.
These kids came into the school system without any foundation for learning and many could not speak English. I can also tell you at that time the teachers became overwhelmed and as a parent I can tell you they became distant from the kids. We buried them. No growth control. Overwhelmed. There are your reasons. I yanked my failing son out of the public system and into the Charter school sytem. Straight A's for the next 3 years of high school. Yes, parents can make a decision, but that's only a part of the problem. I couldn't even get a teacher to talk to me when my son had problems and when I yanked him out for Charter school they laughed, like oh yea that's going to work. It does and their attitude is so far off it is ridiculous. I grew up here, I know the history, and I have seen first hand the changes in attitude.
In my opinion the lack of growth control is the root of all problems in Las Vegas. Crime, education, economy all directly affected by greedy politicians that refuse to do anything, but hold their hand out. Rhodes, classic example. Temp jobs for a few hundren, more inventory, supply and demand continues to force home prices lower. Total BS. Nothing but crooked politicians here. If you controlled growth you can deal with these problems over time, if not, overwhelmed, attitudes straight in the loo.
1944Canucks,
I'll grant that some parts of your premise might have merit, that is why I asked for references (and your own numbers are not sufficient.) It's not clear what your numbers pertain to. Is this a first year college class? Or are those numbers referring to the parents of your students?
I'll agree that many kids who do poorly may not have the motivation to do better. And yes, parents can contribute significantly to that motivation. That said, I maintain that a primary mission for a teacher is to instill motivation *where possible* in those students who lack it.
To put it a different way, one of the primary goals of a teacher should be to instill a love of learning for its own sake, knowing that success in life is almost always a side-benefit of that. Failing that, a teacher should try to instill a sense of self-pride to encourage students to be better than their parents. (And I think social promotion is counter-productive to this end.)
What I take issue with is your broad generalizations without solid references to frame the argument since some of what you say is worth a discussion.
The point here isn't to "expose" Liberty Leavitt Roberson. If I wanted to do that, I don't think I would have used a character reference who called her extraordinary in the classroom, a much valued team member and winner of an award from the Nevada Childhood Cancer Foundation. The point is to note that Sen. Roberson should use the example of his talented wife to spend less time rhetorically beating up educators and more time working constructively with them.
Although there is a harsh tone to this article I don't see that it is out of line given [a] its subject and [b] the environment created by Senator Roberson regarding funding for education. Every politician needs to be called to account for their stance on particular issues. Robeson has selected education funding as his line in the sand. Political spouses are fair game especially when they have a connection to issues. This is a small state with myriad inter-related and often conflicting roles. It's also a "citizen legislature" state; those men and women have to work and most of their spouses work as well. There will be conflict.
I knew you and your supporters would justify your writings by using Mrs. Roberson's status of being a public servant herself as your justification. You were attempting to play one family member against another. You see Mr. Coolican, even if the State Senator became responsible for ending his wife's career as a public servant, it's none of your concern or the public's business. This should surely be a private family issue, even if there is one at all. A journalist like you, who attempts to invade the lives of a family, for your "journalistic" gains, certainly needs to be refreshed in where your ethics are to be as a reporter. Say what you want about State Senator Michael Roberson. He is, in fact, in the lions den, as an elected politician. But, leave his family alone and free from unwarranted exposure from the media. The Las Vegas Sun certainly owes the Roberson family a sincere apology. Printing this statement in your opinion column would be a good start.
So BChap takes issue with Coolican's ethics, but seems to have no problem with a politician who misrepresents his wife's job (go to Roberson's campaign website where he refers to her as a teacher and uses her affiliation with A-Tech to prop up his "reformer" cred) because if he was truthful about the fact that she has some non-teaching, nothing bureaucratic position with CCSD it would make him look like a hypocrite?
Not to mention that fact that Roberson's clearly financially benefits from his wife's job to the tune of $50k a year and that she receives health and retirement benefits thanks to the efforts of a public employees union that is also a favorite target of Roberson's rhetoric. I wonder if he gets his health insurance through her as well?
BChap, when you see politics in simple black and white terms and try to pass yourself off as a principled conservative as Roberson does, you either walk it like you talk or you are fraud.
And this is the guy who relentlessly attacked Joyce Woodhouse for promoting a bloated and underperforming school system. Some ethics, indeed!
Unions are destructive forces especially in education.
They protect teachers who can't teach and that hurts the students.
Patrick will never ever dare attack any unions because he drinks the kool-aid.
"with a politician who misrepresents his wife's job "
I guess you have problems with Obama's ethics.
Many times in the past his campaign website stated that he was a college professor. He never held that title.
Will you whine about that? Didn't think so.
I am not surprised at the additional narrow-minded political views expressed by the likes of "Big _Daddy". I have absolutely no clue of the politics of Senator Michael Roberson. And, in reality, I could care less. However, as a retired Nevada State Peace Officer, I've always been and always will be protective of the family environment, no matter the setting. I get extremely upset when terms such as "Cross Hairs", and the like, are utilized by so-called professionals in making their points. It doesn't take much rhetoric related to violence for crazies in our society to be inspired and/or ignited, such as in the case of Arizona Rep. Gabby Giffords. I recall prior to the attack of this lady that members of the Tea Party were utilizing terms, in reference to their political foes, as needing to be "targeted", "locked and loaded on", etc.. Although these Tea Party members certainly meant no harm to come from this rhetoric, it certainly did. Mr. Coolican could have used Senator Roberson's wife as an example in his article if he had left the term "Cross Hairs" out of the title of his article. However, what is truly unethical on Mr. Coolican's part is using the term "Cross Hairs" to attract his reader base.
While SgtRock's post has nothing to do with the matter at hand (Roberson's hypocrisy), a quick web search would reveal that Obama taught at the University of Chicago Law School - a bastion of conservative thought to say the least - for 12 years.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/30/us/pol...
Obama was never held the title of professor. He held the title of senior lecturer.
So if you apply the same lame logic that you applied to Roberson's remarks then you need to apply the same lame logic to Obama.
So you should be calling them both out on ethics
....or you can just be a hypocrite yourself
....or you can retract your lame logic
The choice is yours.