A Christmas Miracle Exclusive! CCSD Trustees Danielle Ford and Katie Williams in AGREEMENT on law.
A tumultuous 2021 is winding down for the Clark County School District, and with 2022 rapidly approaching a chorus of voices have rung out with suggestions for what can be done to make certain the District's Board of Trustees functions more efficiently in the future.
One solution that has been raised is for the Nevada Legislature to rewrite the existing law that allows for district specific, direct elections of Trustees to be held and replace it with a hybrid model consisting of a partially appointed, partially elected school board. This change is supported by the Clark County Education Association, along with the Vegas Chamber and several municipalities. However, pushback is now coming from an unlikely duo.
Trustees Danielle Ford (District F) and Katie Williams (District B) have long been on opposite sides of votes, most notably over the decision to retain Dr. Jesus Jara as CCSD's Superintendent. Yet, in exclusive comments to Political.tips, both officials are in agreement that the legislature would be wrong to change the current model of school district elections.
When asked to comment on why the push for a change in the Nevada Revised Statutes should be rejected again, Trustee Ford responded with the following statement:
"The people championing to move from elected to appointed school boards are the same ones who claim to be data-driven, yet national data does not show that appointed boards are any more effective than those publicly elected.
I do not support any type of appointed board. School boards were created as a way to ensure that power stays with the communities they represent and to protect education from being politicized from the ever-changing federal and state administrations.
Boards have become politicized unfortunately, but in my opinion the solution is not to strip away voters' rights to representation."
When reached on the matter, Trustee Williams offered her own fiery rejection of the idea:
"This is the same bureaucratic overreach that we have seen again and again. These people have been coming after the parents of Clark County ever since they began demanding our kids get shots and wear masks. Apparently that wasn't enough. Now they want to strip our voting rights away, all in an attempt to create a system that will allow for easier indoctrination, and the teaching of lies. Every voter and every parent deserves to have a choice and voice. And I will fight to make sure no one in Clark County loses those rights."
With Ford up for re-election, and Williams allegedly having been asked to run for a different position during the 2022 cycle, it will be soon seen if this overlapping alliance between the two firebrands will help or hinder their respective futures and that of the county as a whole.