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FacebookELECTION 2008 :
Ethics rulings suggest teacher can’t sit on board
Leila Navidi
Teacher Ron Taylor is running for the School Board, but if he wins, he may be forced to give choose between his office and his job.
Fri, Sep 26, 2008 (2 a.m.)
Ron Taylor believes 20 years in Clark County classrooms best qualify him for a seat on the School Board. But court and Ethics Commission rulings suggest that, if he’s elected, Taylor’s teaching job might disqualify him from serving on the board that oversees his employer.
“The intent of the Nevada Constitution is not that I have to give up my livelihood in order to serve,” Taylor said, arguing that from the Legislature to city councils, the state has fostered a government by “citizen legislators.”
Taylor faces longtime school volunteer Chris Garvey in the race for the School Board’s District B seat. (The incumbent, Ruth Johnson, was forced from the race after the state Supreme Court ruled that term limits prohibit her from seeking reelection.)
Other district employees running for the School Board include Associate Superintendent Edward Goldman in District A and administrator Linda Young in District C. Goldman and Young have said they will retire if elected.
Ronan Mathew, who retired this summer as principal of Canyon Springs High School, is also seeking the District C seat.
To bolster his case, Taylor cites the political service of Howard Rosenberg, a professor at the University of Nevada, Reno, and a member of the Board of Regents, which governs the state’s higher education system.
The state attorney general’s office in 1996 issued an opinion that Rosenberg could serve on the board without quitting his job. The state Ethics Commission, in a decision the following year, agreed.
But Mary Anne Miller — the Clark County School Board’s counsel who investigated the issue because of the number of school employees running for the School Board — doubts Rosenberg’s situation is relevant. A state statute cited by the attorney general in the 1996 opinion was written specifically for the Board of Regents and doesn’t apply to school boards.
“It’s not really relevant to our situation,” said Miller, who is assigned to the School Board by the Clark County district attorney’s office.
According to Miller and Matt Griffin, deputy secretary of state for elections, the opinions that are relevant to the question of teachers serving on school boards include:
• A 2001 Douglas County District Court ruling that Nevada teachers couldn’t serve on a school board in the district in which they are employed. “It would make you the boss of your boss. You can’t serve two masters,” Judge Michael Gibbons said at the time.
• A 2002 Nevada Ethics Commission decision that a member of a state board could not also work for a department governed by that board. The commission concluded ethics law addresses “situations involving public officers and public employees that create appearances of impropriety and conflict of interest as well as actual impropriety and conflicts.”
The Ethics commission would have to address any challenge to a School District employee’s campaign for School Board, Miller and Griffin said.
If elected, Taylor said, he is prepared to pursue his fight to take office all the way to the state Supreme Court. He has a reputation as a fighter — Taylor has been locked for years in a bitter battle with the Clark County Education Association, alleging the teachers union improperly yanked his membership.
“Teachers understand what’s going on in a classroom,” he said. “Why wouldn’t you want their expertise?”
Discussion: 10 comments so far…
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CCSD is afraid that Taylor would win, and as a result CCSD would have to "open its books" to a teacher/trustee. CCSD does NOT want to do that. CCSD's partner in crime, CCEA, is NOT supporting Taylor because CCEA knows that Taylor would also look at this ineffective organization that is supposed to look out for teachers. CCEA has NOT done that in that last two decades. If you want CCSD to start acting the way it should in regards to students, parents, and teachers then there is only one solution -- VOTE FOR RON TAYLOR FOR CCSD BOARD SEAT B.
I think it is a big enough problem to allow beneficiaries of government spending to vote themselves more wealth, let allow beneficiaries of government spending to make decisions for everyone else.
Yeah, how about a ballot initiative to remove voting rights for anyone recieving a government paycheck of any kind?
Yes, that would include Casino workers and owners since Casinos recieve subsidized advertising through tax dollars sent to the Visitors Authority.
People shouldnt be allowed to force others to pay for their raises and benefits.
This is so hypocritical.The current school board,counting the two that are leaving because of term limits is nothing more than the good ol' boy system that had absolutely no regard for students or parents.These people are self serving bureaucrats whose only agenda was themselves and who they could elicit favors from.This is the main reason The Clark County School District is rated with Alabama nd Mississippi as one of the lowest performing school districts in America. A complete sham of an organization. Taylor would be a threat to these underperforming idiots.
Electing employees to set their own budgets,pay, and union contracts. Not just unethical, its totally stupid. It's bad enough we allow their donations to own the ones we have.
It would appear that a qualified candidate is being excluded by a self serving public official.The only requirements should be age and residency for which Taylor meets. Yes, most of Nevada's elected bodies encourage citizen legislators.
Only RON TAYLOR is a current teacher and popular candidate for a school board seat. Isn't it amazing how obscure rules (or perceptions of rules) are yanked out of closets in order to attempt to stop a candidate who is also a teacher from being elected. RON TAYLOR, as a teacher, KNOWS what the school board needs to do to improve your children's educational experience. DO YOU WANT CHANGE? DO YOU WANT YOUR CHILDREN TO SUCCEED EDUCATIONALLY? Then VOTE for the candidate the school district and faux union do not want to see elected - RON TAYLOR!
What is the difference between Rosenberg serving on the Board of Regents and Taylor serving on the CCSD Board of Trustees? Neither of these positions negotiate employee contracts, they simply sign off on them. As far as the CCSD administration working for an employee, perhaps that isn't such a bad idea. For sure, Taylor knows where the money ISN'T going and I'll wager he is well aware of the abuses currently running rampant by an unchecked CCSD administration and ineffective Teacher's Association. On second thought, I do see an ethics problem but it is not with Taylor serving on the School Board it is with those currently serving on the Board that have allowed the education of our kids to sink to the level that it has. I would imagine that the real power brokers in the School District will pull out all the stops to keep Taylor off of the School Board as he knows too much, specifically how the "system" works (or doesn't work) and just by who and how it has been exploited for personal gain and/or the gain of close associates. Wouldn't it make sense to put someone on the School Board that earned their stripes in the trenches working with your kids rather than someone that thinks it simply would be fun and actually believe that a couple of part-time years of PTA experience is more than adequate to qualify them to lead the 5th largest school district in the nation. Well, I have to admit the PTA experience is a superior qualification when compared to some currently serving or recently prohibited from running for re-election to a School Board seat. Maybe it just depends on which church you attend or don't attend.
Perhaps Ms. Mary Anne Miller should review:
NRS 386.240 Qualifications of trustees. A candidate for the office of trustee of a school district shall:
1. Be a qualified elector.
2. Have the qualifications of residence within the county school district required for the office for which he seeks election.
The above are the only requirements to hold a seat on any school board of trustees in the state of Nevada. I don't see any restriction relating to a trustee's employment. Surely, the founders of the State of Nevada would have included such a clause had they considered it a disqualifying factor to hold this elected office.
What Ms. Miller is correct in stating is the fact that back in 1996 the attorney general's opinion regarding Rosenberg serving as a university regent is specific in nature, narrow in scope, and only applies to Rosenberg being seated as a university regent. However, Ms. Miller's failed to advance the fact that the statute the attorney general cited back in 1996 and used to arrive at her opinion regarding Rosenberg being seated as a regent is still on the books and is just as valid today as it was back in 1996. If elected, Taylor should only have to request the current attorney general for another opinion based upon that particular statute as well as the precedent that was set back in 1996 and Rosenberg's subsequent 12 year tenure as a regent while concurrently maintaining a full-time professorship within the university system. Interesting enough, I cannot recall any difficulty with Rosenberg's service overseeing the administration of the University of Nevada system while being employed by that same system. I do recall when Rosenberg stood up to Jim Rogers when Rogers threw one of his patented childish tantrums when he didn't get his own way on an issue. Kudos to Mr. Rosenberg and I have no reason to believe that Mr. Taylor would not follow in his footsteps in this regard when excising the educational malignancy our school district is currently afflicted with.
Mary Ann Miller again. Is this the same Mary Ann Miller doing the bidding of her buddies on the schoool board who issued an opinion that would have allowed the term limited trustees to run? A unanimous Supreme Court dismissed her arguments and her opinion like so much mush. she needs to stay away from school board opinions where she may have an ethics issue. Doesn't she work with one of the trustee's relatives? Is there an Ethics Opinion on her?
If you want to know the real truth about Ron Taylor go to www.therealrontaylor.com