School Board needs professionals

By Fredrick Wilkening, Las Vegas

Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2015 | 2 a.m.

As I sit reading the latest ethics complaint filed against a sitting member of the Clark County School Board, I have to ask myself, “Where does it end?”

The School District makes an unauthorized $100,100 settlement payment that was paid with a $100,000 check and $100 paid by outside legal counsel. This combined amount exceeded regulation requirements.

This action is after the Carolyn Edwards’ 2012 School District email system debacle. Those two problems are small potatoes compared to the School Board gift of $5 million taxpayer educational funds to the construction of the Smith Center.

The Clark County School District has an annual budget of $2.3 billion, 40,000 employees, 357 schools and about 320,000 students.

My question is: Where are the business professionals? Nevada is 53rd in the nation in education; that’s behind 49 states and three U.S. territories — dead last!

There are elected board members with bachelor degrees in human biology, English, political science and communications. We have board members whose experience and qualifications are that they were active parent volunteers or lived in their district for years, and some members were teachers. We even have a family therapist on the board, but what we don’t have are experienced business professionals who can run the multibillion-dollar-a-year business of educating our children.

We are the fifth largest school district in the United States, and it seems we keep electing “The gang who couldn’t shoot straight,” but we still have to pay.

CORRECTION: This version corrects figures the writer cited regarding the district's budget, employees, schools and students. | (January 6, 2015)