Clark County School District

Not to be confused with Clarke County School District.

Clark County School District
Address
5100 W Sahara Avenue Las Vegas , Nevada, 89146 United States
Coordinates	36°08′44″N 115°12′43″W
District information
Type	Public
Grades	Pre-kindergarten – 12
Established	September 16, 1956 (1956-09-16)
Superintendent	Jhone Ebert
Budget	$3.813 billion (2021)
Students and staff
Students	309,787 (2022–23)
Faculty	15,452.20 (FTE)
Staff	16,473.40 (FTE)
Student–teacher ratio	20.05
Other information
Telephone	(702) 799-2273
Website	ccsd.net

The Clark County School District (CCSD) is the public school district serving Clark County in the U.S. state of Nevada. It is the largest school district in Nevada and the fifth-largest school district in the United States with 304,565 enrolled students in 2023–2024.

CCSD is the largest employer in both Clark County and Nevada with 43,786 employees in October 2024. The district operates 373 schools, composed of 233 elementary schools, 61 middle/junior high schools, 54 high schools, 21 alternative schools, and four special schools. It has limited involvement with charter schools, and with the exception of providing some bus service, does not have any involvement with the private schools in the county.

The district provides public education for the entire county, including the incorporated cities of Las Vegas, Henderson, North Las Vegas, Boulder City, and Mesquite; the unincorporated towns and communities of Laughlin, , Logandale, Bunkerville, Goodsprings, Indian Springs, Mount Charleston, Searchlight, and Sandy Valley, and the Census Designated Places of Blue Diamond and Moapa. The district is divided into three administrative regions. .

History

In 1956, Governor Charles H. Russell called a special session of the Nevada Legislature to pass a law to reorganize public education in Nevada, consolidating 208 school districts into 17 county-wide school districts, including the state capitol, Carson City, which is an independent city. This helped rural school districts with few students and teachers achieve economies of scale and provide higher-quality education by distributing tax revenue more equitably. When CCSD was consolidated, there were over a dozen school districts in Clark County alone.

During the 1960s and 1970s, CCSD became a focal point for desegregation efforts. Although Nevada did not have explicit segregation under the law, social customs and private businesses enforced segregation depending on the context, one of which was in schooling. In Kelly vs Guinn in 1972, the Ninth Circuit ruled that a lower court's order stand, requiring CCSD to implement policy to desegregate schools Kelly vs. Guinn prompted initiatives such as busing students and creating specialized programs to try to overcome long-standing segregation in West Las Vegas. These measures, including the later transition from the Sixth Grade Centers to the Prime 6 initiative, aimed to give all students more equitable access to quality education.

Growth

Since the mid-20th century, the southwestern United States has seen large population increase. Clark County's population increased from just over 3,000 at the 1910 census—five years after Las Vegas was incorporated—to 2.25 million by the 2020 census. This growth has created consistent challenges for the school district, among them a lack of teachers and lack of funds to build new schools quickly. enough.

In 2008, the statewide recession impacted the district. In 2012, voters failed to pass a school construction bond. By 2014, the district was overwhelmed with new students as the economy recovered. Elementary schools were operating at 117.6% of planned capacity, with some schools at almost 200%.

Controversies

Over 200,000 CCSD students’ data was leaked during a "cybersecurity incident" around October 5, 2023. Three weeks went by with a failure to address the situation and the CCSD lack of transparency in notifying the parents/guardians that their children's information had been exposed. While the district has not disclosed the scope of the breach of student information, the hackers started releasing it by dropping all the information online publicly for all to see.

Reorganization

Beginning in 2019, Nevada law concerning public education was changed to decentralize authority from school districts to schools requiring. Among the changes, the law shifted key decision-making powers from the central district office to individual schools, creating local school precincts with greater autonomy. Principals now oversee school budgets, staffing, and instructional planning, supported by "School Organizational Teams" composed of parents, staff, and sometimes students. Schools receive direct per-pupil funding and can select their own employees, while choosing district services through service-level agreements or seeking alternatives. This decentralization purports to make schools more responsive to local needs, while maintaining oversight through state regulations and formal dispute resolution .

Board of trustees

The school district is governed by a seven-member board of trustees elected from sections of the county plus four non-voting members appointed by the Clark County Commission and the city councils of Las Vegas, Henderson, and North Las Vegas respectively. The interim superintendent of schools is Dr. Brenda Larsen-Mitchell who was appointed by the board in February 2024. School board members serve staggered four year terms.

As of 2024, current members of the Board of School Trustees are:

• Evelyn Garcia Morales - President - District C
• Irene Bustamante Adams - Vice President - District F
• Lisa Guzmán - Clerk - District A
• Isaac Barron (non-voting) - City of North Las Vegas
• Vacant - District E
• Linda P. Cavazos - District G
• Ramona Esparza-Stoffregan (non-voting) - City of Henderson
• Adam Johnson (non-voting) - City of Las Vegas
• Lisa Satory (non-voting) - Clark County
• Brenda Zamora - District D
• Nakia Jackson-Hale - District B (interim appointment)

Clark County School District Superintendents

• R. Guild Gray, 1956–1961
• Harvey N. Dondero (interim superintendent), 1961
• Leland B. Newcomer, 1961–1965
• James Mason, 1966–1969
• Kenny Guinn, 1969–1978
• Claude G. Perkins, 1978–1981
• Charles Silvestri (interim superintendent), 1981–1982
• Robert E. Wentz, 1982–1989
• Brian Cram, 1989–2000
• Carlos A. Garcia, 2000–2005
• Walt Rulffes and Agustin Orci (interim co-superintendents), 2005–2006
• Walt Rulffes, 2006–2010
• Dwight D. Jones, 2010–2013
• Pat Skorkowsky, 2013–2018
• Jesús F. Jara, 2018–2024
• Brenda Larsen-Mitchell (interim superintendent), 2024–2025
• Jhone Ebert 2025-Present

Transportation

Since the district operates in a valley that has had air quality concerns, it currently operates most of its bus fleet with a fuel mixture containing 20% biodiesel. Due to its location in the Mojave desert, there is not much native material that can be used to create biodiesel fuel, so the district partnered with Biodiesel Industries to use the grease from area restaurants as an additive. Due to tourism, the area generates twice the national average of 3 gallons of grease per resident per year, making this a reliable feed source for biodiesel fuel.

A student must register for school transportation when they register for school. A routing and scheduling program determines student transportation eligibility, assigns bus stops to eligible students, and notifies parents of the arrangements. It is not uncommon to expect older students, middle school and high school, to walk to and from school with distances up to three miles one way. For these students, air quality is a concern, as is heat. Temperatures at the beginning of the school year have been known to exceed 100 degrees Fahrenheit. It is suggested that students susceptible to health conditions related to heat and/or air-quality receive transportation to school.

School buildings

Main article: List of Clark County School District schools

To reduce construction costs, most schools are being built to standard designs. These designs are adapted to the various sites to deal with different topographies and site sizes. While most elementary schools are single story buildings, the district has built some demonstration schools using two story plans so that smaller sites could be used allowing schools to be located in built up areas that do not have space for a traditional single story design. New school buildings after 2016 are using the two story designs.

Many middle schools built during the 1960s and 1980s were built in circular designs. An example of this design is the one story, 9-month middle school, B. Mahlon Brown Junior High School in Henderson. These schools are usually with one directional hallways with several different "wings" with each hosting different subjects (i.e., 100's Language Arts, 200's Mathematics, 300's Science). In May 2023, the district's Bond Oversight Committee announced plans to rebuild 30 aging schools by 2034.

During the 2010–11 school, all schools converted to a 9-month school year due to budget shortfalls. Two campuses were converted back to year-round schedules beginning in the 2013–14 school year. For the 2014–15, 10 additional elementary school campuses were converted to the year-round schedule. This conversion was due entirely to overcrowding in these school buildings.

The district also adds portable classrooms, which are modular buildings, at many schools to provide additional space for classes.

The district had contracted with Edison Schools to operate several schools in an effort to improvement performance at those selected schools. The contract was terminated at the end of the 2013–14 school year.

School police

Main article: Clark County School District Police Department

See also

• The Clark County School District Archive Committee documents the history of the CCSD.
• List of the largest school districts in the United States by enrollment
• KLVX Communications Group owned by the school district; which operates KLVX (PBS member station known on-air as "Vegas PBS")

External links

• Official website