CCSD asks state Supreme Court to delete transparency law

Robert Fellner
Nevada Policy Research Institute
September 13, 2018

The Clark County School District is once again wasting tax dollars on frivolous legal battles designed to keep the public in the dark and the district immune from consequence for its repeated, willful violations of the state’s open records law.

When a government agency unlawfully denies access to a public record, the only recourse available to the requester is to petition the courts to compel the agency to disclose the record.

The Legislature in 1993 amended the law to require that government agencies pay the requester’s costs and attorney’s fees, if the court determines the agency unlawfully withheld the requested public records.

The text of the relevant statute is remarkably clear and straightforward:

If the requester prevails, the requester is entitled to recover his or her costs and reasonable attorney’s fees in the proceeding from the governmental entity whose officer has custody of the book or record. NRS 239.011(2)
This is necessary as the reverse would be absurd on its face: absent this provision, members of the public would be required to pay tens of thousands of dollars on legal fees just to force the government to comply with its own transparency law.

Yet, that scenario — which would functionally delete the state’s public records law — is precisely what CCSD is arguing for in a just-filed brief before the Nevada Supreme Court.

Specifically, CCSD claims that agencies are only required to pay the prevailing requester’s legal fees if the court finds that they withheld records in “bad faith.”

CCSD cites two factors as the basis for this frivolous argument.

First, they cite comments made by a member of the public during the legislative hearings from when NRS 239.011(2) was enacted, who stated she believed agencies would only have to pay the requester’s legal fees if they had acted in “bad faith.”

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Quote of the week

Quote:

"The real problem isn’t CCSD’s awful legal reasoning in this particular case; it’s their continued willingness to take precious resources away from the children they are supposed to serve, just to fund endless legal efforts designed to keep them immune from transparency and accountability."

– Robert Fellner

Author

CCSD asks state Supreme Court to delete transparency law
 

Nation's leader in school choice dramatically outperforms peers, while spending much less.

By Robert Fellner

Nevada Policy Research Institue
September 10, 2018

Earlier this week, Education Week released their K-12 Achievement Index, updated with the most recent federal data. The score is a comprehensive assessment of student performance which factors in math and reading proficiency at both the 4^th and 8^th grade level, high school graduation rates and advanced placement (AP) levels and test scores.

Nevada fell two spots since the last update, from 38^th to 40^th.

Florida, however, catapulted from an already impressive 11^th to now having the 4^th highest K-12 achievement ranking in the nation!

Florida is also home to what is by far the most expansive school choice program in the nation. So while it’s obviously inappropriate to conclude that a full-throated embrace of school choice is why Florida’s schools perform so well, it would seem to throw cold water on the claims of some that school choice harms education.

(The fact that such claims are made exclusively by those who gain from and are a part of the existing monopoly public school system is also worth considering, as is the vast body of academic literature that finds school choice improves performance, civic engagement and parental satisfaction.)

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Lawsuit could finally give public answers on CCSD corruption

By Victor Joeks
Las Vegas Review-Journal
September 1, 2018

The Clark County School District loves to keep secrets. But even an agency notorious for ignoring Nevada’s public records statute can’t hide from a lawsuit.

That could be what it takes for the public to find out what the district did to help the husband of School Board President Deanna Wright.

Last month, the mom of Jayden Zelaya-Ramos sued the district and Jason Wright for Wright’s alleged assault on her son. Jason Wright is the husband of Deanna Wright and was Jayden’s fifth-grade teacher last year. Jayden claims Wright kicked him in the hand and yanked him by the collar. School police investigated the incident and found there wasn’t enough evidence to charge him, despite student testimony that backed up Jayden’s account.

The lawsuit alleges that the boy’s injuries “were caused as a direct result of CCSD having negligently hired, trained or supervised its agents and employees.”

Negligence should be easy to prove. There’s a long pattern of district officials giving Jason Wright special treatment because of his spouse. The district’s HR department didn’t originally accept him into the Alternative Routes to Licensure program. Former Superintendent Pat Skorkowsky overruled that decision, however, and ordered the department to approve Wright’s application. Nor was this the first time a student accused Wright of assault. In October 2017, one of Jayden’s classmates said Wright threw a desk, which hit her and bruised her leg.

District officials didn’t fire Wright — after either incident. They quietly moved him to another school to finish out the last school year after he kicked Jayden. The No. 2 individual in the district, Deputy Superintendent Kim Wooden, even attended Wright’s disciplinary meeting on his behalf, per a source who requested anonymity. That is unheard of — for teachers who aren’t married to the board president.

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Quote of the week

Quote:

“The Clark County School District loves to keep secrets. But even an agency notorious for ignoring Nevada’s public records statute can’t hide from a lawsuit.”

Vicotr Joeks
Las Vegas Review-Journal,
Spetember 1, 2018

Uncivil liberals want to suppress conservative views

By Wayne Allen Root
Las Vegas Review-Journal
September 1, 2018

I have an interesting Jacky Rosen campaign story. And I’ll bet you’ll be surprised by the ending.

First, a general overview of the hatred coming from liberals. It’s outrageous, shocking and un-American. It has to stop.

I don’t like your liberal views. You don’t like my conservative views. But that doesn’t mean I hate you — the person. I’m Jewish by birth, and most of my relatives are liberal. I may dislike their views, but I love my aunts and uncles. I know how to separate the politics from the person.

But the hatred and threats by liberals toward conservatives are ruining discourse and civility in America. They want to destroy us. They want to bankrupt us. They want to sic the IRS on us. They want to ban us, censor us, stop us from even speaking on college campuses, stop us from donating to conservative causes. But those views are un-American. Don’t we have freedom of speech and choice in America?

In California, liberal activists and the Democrat Party chairman are asking for a boycott of In-N-Out Burger for the “sin” of donating $25,000 to the California GOP. So now business owners can lose their business if they simply write a check to the GOP?

Closer to home, here’s an example of the incivility.

Last Tuesday, I was working out in my home gym at 9 p.m. when my cellphone rang. The person on the other end identified himself as calling from the Jacky Rosen for U.S. Senate campaign. Boy, do you have the wrong guy, I said. I told them I was Wayne Allyn Root, the conservative talk host and RJ columnist. “It’s probably a good idea not to waste your time calling me,” I said. I thought it was funny.

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