Last month, the Nevada Globe reported that 66 sexual assaults were recorded in Clark County School District (CCSD) this past school year. We based that on their response to a public records information request we filed and from a report by Las Vegas Channel 8 News. 

CCSD only provided us with three detailed sexual assault reports for this 2021-2022 school year, so we did a follow-up request for the 66 reports. Yesterday, the CCSD Public Information Officer issued the following statement to The Nevada Globe:

March 10, 2022

CCSD PIO 

“66 (Violent acts reported to CCSDPD Dispatch) was an incorrect number given to News 8. A system glitch was discovered. The correct number for 2021-2022 is 177. (Violent acts reported to CCSDPD Dispatch). These are alleged sexual assault calls into dispatch and may not result in an actual arrest.”

Last night the CCSD Board of Trustees held their bimonthly meeting and did their best to minimize the explosion of violence on school campuses, punting many action items to the next monthly meeting. Not once did any of the board members address the sexual assaults reported here and in the local media.

The Board did pass a resolution on sending police and school counselors to the homes of students who were facing disciplinary action.

Laura Martin,  Executive Director of Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada or PLAN, weighed in on Twitter:

Martin’s claims are factually incorrect but purposefully crafted. Police will not “crash into gated communities.” The vehicles will be equipped with technology to automatically open gated communities without the need for an access code.

The Board also reaffirmed their support of the Clark County School Justice Partnership (SJP). The SJP is a collaboration between CCSD, CCSD Police Department, Clark County Department of Juvenile Justice and the Clark County District Attorney’s Office. This social justice reform program was initiated 2 years ago.

Restorative Justice has been a hot topic in CCSD for years. The Las Vegas Review Journal highlighted the failures of the program in 2019, reporting:

“Violence increased in the Clark County School District after officials implemented a “restorative justice” discipline policy. Now a study of a similar program in Pittsburgh finds that it hurts student achievement.

For years, minority students, especially African-American males, have been overrepresented among suspended students. That’s not unique to Clark County. But there has never been any evidence suggesting widespread bias among Clark County teachers and principals. A 2013 district report, however, concluded that “bias” was the No. 1 cause of the disparity.

Teachers also thought their school climates improved. That was the good news.

The bad news was that students reported that teachers become more lax in terms of managing their classrooms.

Perhaps more concerning was what researchers found it did to student achievement. Math scores decreased for students in grades 3-8. African-American and middle-school students saw a decline in scores on a combined assessment testing math and reading.”

As reported by The Globe, testing scores of 3rd to 8th grade students in Clark County, taken and published by Smart Balance Assessments, show that only 3.9% of Black students and 7.4% of Hispanic students were proficient in Math. In English, 11.2% of Black students and 15.7% of Hispanic students were proficient. Overall, only 20 percent of Clark County students tested proficient in English Language Arts. In math, it was 11.5 percent.

Surprisingly, Mike Barton, CCSD Chief College, Career and Equity Officer claimed it would take another year to implement Step One of Restorative Justice practices. Wasn’t Step one implemented years ago?

In a tweet, Carrie Kaufman, contributor to the progressive blog, The Nevada Current, blamed racists and cited that “restorative justice is not being implemented.”

A highlight of the meeting, according to Kaufman, was teacher Jamie Tradrzynski bringing her “gay agenda”:

CCSD School Police we spoke with told us they are “stretched thin”–with only 161 police officers to protect 366 schools in the district. They claimed it can also be extremely difficult and dangerous for one school police officer to jump in and stop three or four brawling teenagers. 

CCSD School Board Trustee candidate for District D, Tavorra Elliott, told The Globe:

“Our schools are in a full blown crisis. Last night the school board, including Trustee Irene Cepeda, failed to use the word discipline once when addressing the sharp rise in violence in our schools. As a mother of two boys and one girl, discipline is an essential building block that we must instill in our kids. Our teachers and staff must be able to discipline kids when they misbehave. There must be real consequences for committing violence at our schools. When I am elected, I pledge to double the number of school police on campuses to protect our kids, our teachers and our staff. Violence will not be tolerated when I am elected.”

CCSD School Board Trustee candidate for District G, KC Freels, told The Globe:

“If my opponent, School Board Trustee Dr. Cavazos spent as much time and money on public safety as she spent last year on transgender bathrooms, mask mandates and CRT we would have the safest schools in America. As a Dad of a young boy attending a Clark County School, I will make protecting our kids and staff my top priority”.

Editors note: The Globe contacted Barton for further clarification of his comments, but was referred to the district communications office, who then requested that we email them with any questions.  We will provide an update if and when we receive a response.