We examine efforts to improve safety in Southern Nevada schools.
SEASON 4: EPISODE 42 | Airdate: 4/30/2022
The violence in Southern Nevada schools took a shocking turn in the past few weeks when students started attacking or threatening teachers. There were three such incidents in one day at Clark County School District schools.
The most horrifying attack happened in April at Eldorado High School. A 16-year-old student is accused of sneaking back into the school after the end of classes and attacking a teacher. He faces charges of attempted murder and sexual assault.
Superintendent Jesus Jara told Nevada Week that he was at the all-staff meeting at Eldorado High School after the attack to make sure the teachers knew that addressing the violence was a priority.
Jara said what we’re seeing in schools is a reflection of what is going on in the community. He said young people are making horrific choices but that’s not happening in every school. He said it is often not starting on campus but is starting in the community and being brought into the schools.
“Everything starts at home. Everything starts out in the community,” he said, “We are doing what we can to address it to keep our employees safe, and of course, our children.”
Marie Neisess is the president of the Clark County Education Association, the largest teachers’ union in Nevada. She spoke with the teacher who was attacked. She said one of the biggest concerns is the lack of adults on campus. Neisess said that because of the fights that have been breaking out during dismissal times, more teachers and other school employees have been out of the hallways and in the parking lot areas, which is why the student accused in the attack was able to get back in.
Neisess said there has been a critical shortage of specific jobs like social workers and school counselors. She said the lack of staffing comes back to a lack of funding.
Superintendent Jara agreed. He said the lack of staffing is a nationwide problem, but the lack of proper funding for schools in Nevada is coming to fruition after years of underfunding. He noted that the last time CCSD was fully staffed, with a teacher in every classroom, was in 1994.
He said only about 900 new teachers graduate in Nevada each year but he needs 2,000 teachers a year to account for attrition and other needs.
Some teachers and students at Eldorado High School expressed disappointment that some of the safety measures announced by the district in the wake of the attack had not been implemented over Spring Break, but Neisess pointed out implementing safety measures in all 360 schools around the district cannot happen overnight.
“Our educators have been angry. They’ve been scared and they’ve been frustrated,” she said.
Now, some of the new safety measures including panic buttons and better camera equipment are being rolled out in schools around the district. Neisess said morale is improving at Eldorado High School, but teachers are still concerned. She said most teachers never thought their lives would be on the line when they walked into a classroom.
One of the biggest questions around school violence has been around if the district is being strict enough with its discipline measures. A bill passed by the Nevada Legislature required the district to start using restorative justice practices. The idea is to help a student make amends and reconnect to the school after a discipline issue, but both Jara and Neisess agree that the state mandated the new practices but didn’t provide the funding to properly implement the new system.
DADS IN SCHOOLS
Local leaders have stressed how important parental involvement can be in helping stem school violence. It is a call to action that longtime community activist and organizer Pastor Troy Martinez answered. He created Dads in Schools, a non-profit that hopes to bring volunteer dads into schools.
Martinez told Nevada Week that he heard the need for this kind of volunteer group from teachers, students, parents and the school district.
He said the volunteers will go through FBI background checks so they can be on campus. They’ll be trained by individual principals about the specific needs of that school. Martinez believes just having another caring adult on school grounds will help deter some of the skirmishes that have turned into full-blown fights on campus.
Besides volunteers on campus, Dads in Schools would like to see volunteers on school grounds during dismissal times to provide a presence to protect younger students from fights between older students.
So far, 86 schools have requested volunteers and around 300 people have volunteered. Martinez would like to have 10 dads at every school that has requested help. They plan on deploying their first volunteers the week after Mother’s Day.
