Courtesy Photo
Lisa Satory
Monday, Dec. 4, 2023 | 2 a.m.
As the leader of a Las Vegas area charter school, new Clark County School Board member Lisa Satory wants the group of trustees she’s joining to appreciate each others’ varied perspectives toward education.
Satory started her career in CCSD as a teacher and administrator in Henderson elementary and high schools before going into leadership with the Pinecrest Academy system. She is the principal at Pinecrest Sloan Canyon, a K-12 school that opened in 2019.
Although CCSD and charters draw from the same pool of students, “I don’t want charter to be seen as competition,” she said.
“When I moved into the charter realm, I had opportunities to collaborate with a lot of other charter schools in other states and I really thought being able to collaborate with more entities and more people in the field of education was helpful to me as an administrator,” said Satory, the Clark County Commission’s pick to join the School Board. “So that’s really what I’m hoping to bring to the table.”
Satory said she is invested in education in Nevada. In addition to her district and charter experiences, her husband still teaches in CCSD, and she serves on five education-related boards, including the Henderson Community Education Advisory Board and the board for Mater Academy. She said she is used to holding school systems and administrators accountable in a supportive way.
With the passage this year of Assembly Bill 175, a bipartisan effort to add nonvoting advisory members to CCSD’s often-fractured school board, the city councils of Las Vegas, Henderson and North Las Vegas, and the Clark County Commission, were each tasked with appointing a representative to join the seven elected members of the board.
The County Commission selected Satory last month from 30 applicants. She is set to join retired CCSD principal Ramona Esparza-Stoffregan, education nonprofit executive and former charter school director Adam Johnson, and Rancho High School teacher and sitting North Las Vegas City Councilman Isaac Barron, who were picked by the cities of Henderson, Las Vegas and North Las Vegas, respectively, in October. The appointees will take office in January.
Even as nonvoting members, the new appointees will be involved in briefings, interviews, evaluations, closed-door sessions, policy and operational discussions, and community outreach events.
The new hybridization law only affects CCSD, Nevada’s largest district and one of the largest school districts in the country. Opponents, current board members among them, said the move stifles democracy and accountability. Reformers and supporters cited the School Board’s open fighting and suggested expanding diversity of thought.
Satory said she understands that change can be concerning, but she said she’s a problem-solver and relationship-builder.
“I hope once we get into those work sessions and start getting to build those relationships with them, that they feel more at ease with my role,” she said.
Satory has already started visiting some CCSD schools and connecting with current district leaders.
“It’s not an us-versus-them type of role,” she said.
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