MINUTES
CITY OF NORTH LAS VEGAS
EDUCATION ADVISORY COMMITTEE
SPECIAL MEETING
2250 Las Vegas Boulevard North, North Las Vegas, NV 89030
Council Chambers, August 11, 2022, at or after 5:00 P.M.
CALL TO ORDER
Chairman Johnson called the meeting to order at 5:00 P.M.
ROLL CALL
COMMITTEE MEMBERS PRESENT
Chairwoman Johnson
Vice Chairwoman Hirschi
Member Calvo
Member Garvin
Member Ortega
Member Mathis
Member Serrano
Student Representative Fatima Magallon
COMMITTEE MEMBERS ABSENT/EXCUSED
Committee Member Brier
Committee Member Magallon
Committee Member Pablo-Bazan
STAFF PRESENT
Community Services and Engagement Director Serafin Calvo
Senior Deputy City Attorney Rhiann Jarvis Denman
Education Initiatives Manager Ingrid Johnson
Deputy City Clerk II Justine McDowell
VERIFICATION
Justine McDowell, Deputy City Clerk II
PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE – BY INVITATION
Lead by Chairwoman Johnson
PUBLIC FORUM
Chairwoman Johnson open and closed the public forum. There was no public participation.
AGENDA
1. Education Advisory Committee Special Meeting Agenda of August 11, 2022 (For Possible Action; Recommendation – Approve)
Community Services and Engagement Director Serafin Calvo asked the Committee to approve the August 11, 2022 Agenda as Amended, with the removal of Item No. 3.
MOTION: Committee Member Mathis moved and Committee Member Calvo second the motion to approve the Agenda for this Advisory Committee Special Meeting today with the removal of Item No. 3 from the Agenda.
ACTION: APPROVED
AYES: 7
NAYES: 0
ABSTAIN: 0
CONSENT AGENDA
2. Education Advisory Committee Special Meeting Minutes of February 28, 2022 (For Possible Action – Recommendation – Approve)
MOTION: Committee Member Calvo moved and Committee Member Mathis second the motion approving the Education Advisory Committee Special Meeting Minutes of February 28, 2022.
ACTION: APPROVED
AYES: 7
NAYES: 0
ABSTAIN: 0
BUSINESS
3. SNUMA Presentation to the Education Advisory Committee (For Possible Action, Recommendation – Approve) WITHDRAWN
4. Report on Assignments and Data Points from the June 6, 2022 Education Advisory Committee Special Meeting (For Possible Action, Recommendation – Receive)
Chairwoman Johnson stated the City Council is in agreement with the four (4) schools that the Committee chose. She restated the list of schools selected by the Committee that includes: Cheyenne High School, Sedway Middle School, Lewis Craig Elementary School, and Antonello Elementary School.
The principal at Cheyenne High School, the items that he would like assistance with at his schools would be to help teachers with professional strategies, with WEIDA. He would also like funds to build capacity with teachers and possibly pay to be able to go toward the professional growth system that the teachers use to advance on the salary column.
That although Clark County School District provides the students with Chrome Books, he would like a second set of Chrome Books.
Vice Chairwoman Hirschi provided an update on her visit with Sedway Middle School. The principal is amazing. They signed up with Communities and Schools, as it would be of great help for them. On August 3, she and her husband hosted at Sedway Middle School a Teacher Appreciation Breakfast. She also reported on other activities of the school.
She asked Mr. Calvo for contact information for an organization that works with Amazon with the hope that we could get some of these donations through at a reasonable or discounted price. Mr. Calvo stated there are community partners that can provide support and would provide Vice Chairwoman Hirschi with that information.
Chairwoman Johnson added that the principal at Cheyenne is also seeking assistance with the same items as noted by Sedway Middle School.
Vice Chairwoman Hirschi reported on Lois Craig stating the she had met their liaison with Communities in School.
Chairwoman Johnson stated that Lois Craig is understaffed as many of our schools, and would like assistance with a strong SRA software to be able to train substitute teachers. With the vacancies that they have on campus when they have the substitute teachers they have a resource of substance to teach the students so just keep that in mind for further discussion. Antonello, the principal retired and thus far we have not been able to reach a point of contact. She asked the Committee for its thoughts and suggestions related to the requests made by the principals.
Vice Chair Hirschi stated that she likes the idea of providing assistance to the schools and teacher retention. This is a huge benefit for all of these schools. There is a huge population of dual language inside the home, would love to vote to move forward to figure out how the Committee can have this in the schools as well as possibly coming up with a program to where 200 credits can be earned where it can move them up to pay scale.
Committee Member Garvin commented on available resources within the District for teachers. She is not sure how teachers can navigate through WEADER for those resources.
Committee Member Serrano stated that there is a department within CCSD it's called the ELL Department. They provide that training. In obtaining CUs, professional development can only occur outside of contract hours, not during contract hours. She asked whether Cheyenne High School have an ELL teacher for those students. Chairwoman Johnson stated that she was not aware, but would reach out to the principal of the school.
Committee Member Calvo stated that it would be great if we can narrow down the principal’s recommendation with Cheyenne High School, and the same with Sedway. From there, we can narrow it down and then we can move forward to vote.
Chairwoman Johnson stated that the first request from the principal at Cheyenne High School, and the principal from Sedway Middle School seeking assistance to help teachers with professional strategies with WEIDA. She is considering reaching out to the ELL teacher to determine what resources are currently in place with those schools.
Mr. Calvo provided clarification of Item No. 4 stating this is for a recommendation to accept the data collected by the individuals of the committee from the different schools and administrators. Item No. 5 provides the Committee the opportunity to speak specifically as to how to support those schools.
Chairwoman Johnson asked for clarification for Item No. 4 asking if the Committee accept the items as requested by those schools, is the Committee agreeing to do all of those items, or to move forward with those items.
Mr. Calvo stated the purpose for Item No. 4 explaining that it is for the Committee to accept the data collected by the committee, and all the communications you have had with the different schools.
MOTION: Committee Member Calvo moved and Committee Member Mathias second the motion to accept the assignments and the data points that were reported today.
ACTION: APPROVED
AYES: 7
NAYES: 0
ABSTAIN 0
5. Recommendations Voted on at the June 6, 2022 Education Advisory Committee Special Meeting for Potential City Council Action Regarding Engagement and Special Support of Antonello Elementary School, Craig Elementary School, Sedway Middle School, and Cheyenne High School During 2022-2023 School Year (For Possible Action, Recommendation – Accept)
Chairwoman Johnson stated that the Committee discussed the WEIDA, and asked the Committee if they wish to move forward.
Committee Member Garvin stated that the WEIDA was specific to Cheyenne and Sedway Schools. Committee Member Serrano asked whether the Committee can determine what they have done before moving forward.
Mr. Calvo stated that the Committee has narrowed down the list of schools that the Committee want to recommend to Council for support, that recommendation has been made to Council. Now, the Committee is discussing how it want to support these schools. So some of the data that the Committee have collected is to support those ideas and recommendations. The Committee have some clear requests from some of the schools. This is the part where we get to identify how the committee want to advise Council to support these four schools. In which way, how do we move forward with that?
Chairwoman Johnson stated that the principals are voicing that they want additional help with WEIDA, perhaps that we could recommend to the Council to provide additional supports outside of whatever is already being provided.
Committee Member Calvo asked whether the Committee want to move on then to the next school before voting for the recommendations for Lois Craig and Antonello.
Committee Member Mathis stated she believes more research needs to be done with regards to Lois Craig. Vice Chairwoman Hirschi agreed stating she will add them to her follow-up list.
Committee Member Calvo inquired as to whether the principal of Lois Craig recommended or requested a strong SRA software for the vacancy subs. Chairwoman Johnson confirmed stating it is for Antonello without the principal.
Vice Chairwoman Hirschi she can reach out to Antonello in order to obtain additional information. Committee Member Calvo inquired of the type of information that is being sought after from Antonello as she has the 2021 and 2022 school performance plan.
Chairwoman Johnson stated she wanted to the percentage of Latino students to see if they possibly could also benefit from the extra support with WEIDA. Committee Member Calvo stated they reported 63.7% Hispanic.
Chairwoman Johnson asked of the Committee if it agrees with additional WEIDA support for all four schools. Vice Chairwoman Hirschi stated she would support that.
Chairwoman Johnson stated the second item on the list for Cheyenne and Sedway were funds to build capacity with teachers that was all inclusive of courses and the professional growth system in column advancement.
Committee Member Calvo stated that in planning professional development for teachers, she thinks it would depend how that course will support their performance plan. That, perhaps the Committee can offer support with food or providing compensation for their time, as it is outside contract time.
Chairwoman Johnson stated she was thinking of tuition reimbursement. However, she is not certain whether this is something that the Committee wants to recommend to the Council.
Mr. Calvo asked that the Committee focus its’ recommendations on the four pillars that was discussed which includes, family engagement, retention, and chronic absenteeism. Funding for those will kind of fall into place if the Committee identifies what would most benefit these schools.
Committee Member Calvo stated in reviewing Antonello Elementary School, their population of Hispanic students was last reported online was 47%. That may be the WEIDA support that we can offer to all the schools which would make it easier for us in supporting and delivering.
Committee Member Serrano stated that she likes the idea of tuition reimbursement.
Committee Member Mathis suggested the Committee check with Clark County School District to see what resources they have for teachers before expending resources. Mr. Calvo agreed.
Committee Member Garvin commented on professional development resources with outside agencies, AIMS and CCEA. There are a lot of teachers that have achieved second master's degrees, done additional training. CCSD will not continue to pay for additional master’s degrees or additional training.
Chairwoman Johnson stated her thought process was not us necessarily doing the professional development for approval, but rather suggesting that funds could be made available for tuition reimbursement and the teachers find out… They go through the same process to get approval as they always do and then that way I think that would help with retention. Any additional suggestions it could be surrounding family engagement, retention.
Committee Member Calvo stated that she I love the idea of the WEIDA for the four schools, as well as the tuition reimbursement for the four schools. She commented on family engagement, dates of possible volunteerism that can be shared with Council and the community to help support within our groups of professionals.
Committee Member Mathis asked for clarification of the CU’s for teachers, as that was all that they were looking to receive. If we find all possibilities of classes under family engagement, it is a three (3) credit hour course. Teachers’ could use it for recertification.
Chairwoman Johnson commented on the resources such as the WEIDA assistance, tuition reimbursement, and distributing activity dates for all four schools to the community. The Committee want to ensure that they have all opportunities for courses including family engagement.
Student Representative Fatima Magallon stated that she does not recall many activities at Rancho High school. During her freshman year, she experienced the most activities. Although, she wish those activities involved more parents, as they would know what was going on in school. It was very difficult for her mother to find out especially because she does not speak much English, as well as my dad. Additionally, there were not many Spanish speaking teachers as there were English speaking teachers that could translate.
She had recently attended two weeks ago an activity called Latino Youth Leadership Conference. It can help Cheyenne High School because it is mostly for high school students that are going to difficult times at home, and need assistance with food, or assistance in their junior or senior year of high school as they navigate graduating or college admission. This resource really helped her greatly. She learned about this resource through Communities in Schools.
Education Initiatives Manager Ingrid Johnson asked Ms. Magallon for the name of the organization that she had attended. Ms. Magallon replied stating Latino Youth Leadership Conference.
Mr. Calvo thanked Ms. Magallon for her input, and reiterated some of her comments including the need for more communication between parents and teachers specifically around language; sponsorships or scholarships for teachers that want learn to speak Spanish.
Ms. Magallon replied stating that would be great. Her English teacher she was African American who was trying her best to learn Spanish and was paying out of pocket. It became cost-prohibitive for the teacher, as well as it impacted her other classes of teaching juniors and seniors English. Mr. Calvo stated that would fall under family engagement.
Chairwoman Johnson stated we have five (5) items on our list to offer as suggestions to the Council as follows: WEIDA Assistance for professional strategies for our four schools, possible tuition reimbursement for the salary advancement, and the PGP, distribute activities dates for each school to the Council, our community and to the Education Advisory Committee, ensure teachers have information regarding resources for the PGP courses. We want to triple check that for these four schools and last but certainly not least sponsorship for teachers who want to learn Spanish at these four schools.
MOTION: Committee Member Calvo moved and Vice Chairwoman Hirschi second the motion to approve all items as read by Chairwoman Johnson.
ACTION: CARRIES
YEAS: 7
NAYES: 0
ABSTAIN: 0
6. Recommendations Voted on at the June 6, 2022 Education Advisory Committee Special Meeting for Potential City Council Action Regarding Backpack Pick-Up and Resource Fair (For Possible Action; Recommendation – Accept)
Chairwoman Johnson stated she is seeking a motion to accept the item on the backpacks that were discussed at the June 6, 2022 Education Advisory Committee Special Meeting.
MOTION: Committee Member Calvo moved and Vice Chairwoman Hirschi second the motion to accept the recommendations that were voted on at the June 6, 2022 EAC Meeting.
ACTION: CARRIES
AYES: 7
NAYES: 0
ABSTAIN: 0
7. Identify Action Items to Engage and Support North Las Vegas Schools (For Possible Action, Recommendation – Approve Action)
Chairwoman Johnson asked whether there is any further discussion on this item, as the Committee has already passed a motion.
Deputy City Clerk II McDowell stated to the Committee that because Item No. 7 is an agenized item, the Committee can either take a motion to reiterate the last motion that was taken or the Committee a motion to remove this agenda item.
MOTION: Vice Chairwoman Hirschi moved and Committee Member Mathis second the motion to reiterate Item No. 7.
ACTION: CARRIES
AYES: 7
NAYES: 0
ABSTAIN: 0
STAFF ITEMS
Mr. Calvo reported on the following:
· This information was provided by Mayor Pro Tempore Goins Brown and this is just a reminder that community Chrome Book and hotspot assistance has been available and made available through the library district here in North Las Vegas.
· There is 300 Chrome books and 62 Wi-Fi hotspot devices to help bridge the digital divide in our community. All of these devices were equipped with free high speed cellular Internet for homework, help and career assistance so these resources are available if you wish to share these with your schools, with your contacts, so that they can have access to this resource.
· Appreciates the Committee making the effort to attend the meetings as well as participate. He understands that progress can be slow, but behind the scenes, progress is moving quickly. Staff is working to bring some of those items to fruition.
· Relating to the four schools the Committee selected and recommended, there are opportunities to use this as a pilot program for use as a model for other schools.
COMMITTEE ITEMS
Committee Member Mathis acknowledged a North Las Vegas High School student who was recently awarded a full scholarship to attend UNLV.
Vice Chairwoman Hirschi stated she will reach out to some of the schools and provide an update to Mr. Calvo or Ms. Johnson.
PUBLIC FORUM
Chairwoman Johnson opened and one speaker provided comments.
Mayor Pro-Tem Goynes-Brown stated this is in addition to the Chrome books they are to be checked out by anyone; that, does not have to be a student. If students do check out the Chrome books they get it for an extended period. However, others may check out the Chrome book for up to three weeks from the library. If the patron is a student they get it for an extended period. Activities are slower at the libraries due to summer vacation; however, since school has resumed, she would encourage students to check those out sooner than later.
Last night she attended the open house Resource Fair at Finley Middle School. She acknowledged that is not one of the schools selected by the Committee, but were supported. However, thank you to Mr. Calvo and Ms. Johnson for the work with that and along with Ryan Ross who made a donation to the school. It was a tremendous support and lots of families so that just falls in line with family engagement and that was their goal to bring families out to their open house and it was very well attended last night. Las Vegas Paving are going to reach out and support Swainston Middle School.
ADJOURNMENT
Chairwoman Johnson adjourned the meeting. Meeting adjourned at 5:53 P.M.
CERTIFICATION
I certify that the foregoing are true and correct minutes of the City of North Las Vegas Education Advisory Committee Special Meeting held on August 11, 2022. I further certify that a quorum was present.
/s/ Jackie Rodgers
Jackie Rodgers, City Clerk