Latest news with #ClarkCountySchoolDistrict
Yahoo
09-05-2025
- Yahoo
Las Vegas driver hit with $417 ticket wants traffic laws changed: ‘When you're retired, that's a lot of money'
LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — Pay first, fight later: If you get a traffic ticket in Nevada, you have to pay the penalty before you even go to court — $417 later, a Las Vegas couple learned that the hard way. In January, a Clark County School District police officer pulled over Kim Ferguson for speeding. 'Hi, how are you doing?' the interaction began, according to body-camera video the 8 News Now Investigators obtained. But that quick, friendly greeting later gave Ferguson a not-so-pleasant feeling. 'I said, 'Oh my gosh. I've never had a ticket before. I don't know what to do,'' she said about the stop. Her ticket-free streak ended as the officer cited her for going over the speed limit in a 15-mile-per-hour school zone. 'The reason I'm stopping you is it's a 15-mile-an-hour school zone right now on Spencer,' the officer said. 'You're doing a 31 going through it.' The officer would lower that speed to 20 for Ferguson's ticket, telling her it would cost several hundred dollars. Ferguson, who said she drives below the speed limit and was following the flow of traffic as it sped up at the end of the school zone, expected a $200 bill. 'We looked on the thing and I told my husband, 'Oh my god, it's $417,'' Ferguson said. It's $417 a state law requires her to pay, whether she wanted to fight it or not. 'You're going to have to contact the court to pay the fine — if you want to go to court to court to contest it. All the information is right here,' the officer said before driving off. 'When you're retired, that's a lot of money,' said Kim's husband, Tom Ferguson, calling the system a revenue generator. 'Now maybe to some people it's not, but to us it is.' The Fergusons paid the ticket and said there was no point in fighting it. They added that it would cost more money to hire a lawyer. 'The punishment doesn't match the crime,' Tom Ferguson said. 'If you were doing 50 miles per hour in a school zone, I would understand that, but 20? It doesn't make sense to me.' It did not make sense to lawmakers either. Since 2021, Nevada lawmakers, both Democrats and Republicans, have changed most traffic infractions, like a speeding ticket, to be a civil infraction, not a criminal one. That means tickets no longer carry the threat of jail time, and missed court appearances do not really matter in the long run since the court may already have your money. The way state law is interpreted now: 'The court shall require the person to post a bond equal to the amount of the full payment of the monetary penalty,' means ticketed drivers have to pay in full, no matter what. 'I think the bigger issue, especially among my colleagues here at the Legislature, is just the unfairness in having to pay the fine first and then be seen by a judge,' Democratic State Sen. Melanie Scheible said. Her proposal, Senate Bill 359, would amend Nevada's traffic-ticket law to give courts flexibility to reduce that bond — that ticket payment. 'For many Nevadans, especially those with limited financial means, this upfront payment creates a financial barrier to their right to a hearing,' Scheible said during a recent legislative hearing. In Kim Ferguson's case, she paid the bond and lost faith in the system. In addition, changes in Senate Bill 359 would combine civil and criminal infractions — minor speeding offenses versus driving without a license — and allow a judge to deal with both in one hearing. 'We have to continue to develop legislation that still allows for our enforcement agencies to hold people accountable when they violate traffic laws,' Scheible said. The Fergusons feel the system is a money maker, adding that they paid an additional fee to pay online. Moving forward, Kim Ferguson, who said she always drives below the speed limit, said this was her first and final citation. 'I just go a lot slower now — there's no more tickets,' she said. The 8 News Now Investigators discovered a potential error on the ticket, leading to questions about the validity of the entire case. The officer who wrote the ticket noted a registration lapse, however, the Fergusons said they always keep up with their payments. A spokesperson for the Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles confirmed it did not appear the Fergusons ever had a lapse in coverage. Scheible's proposal passed unanimously out of the state Senate. It was moving forward in the Assembly and would likely pass in that chamber as well. 8 News Now Investigator David Charns can be reached at dcharns@ Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
02-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
CCSD opposes school choice bill, while lawmakers say it empowers families
LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — The Clark County School District is against a bill that would let parents enroll their children at any public school regardless of where they live. Nevada lawmakers held a hearing for Assembly Bill 533 (AB533), also known as the open enrollment bill, on Tuesday with CCSD providing the lone dissent among speakers. 'As we talk about open enrollment, I just want it to be clear that we are providing as many seats as we possibly can to any school that's underutilized,' Brad Keating, assistant superintendent at CCSD, said. Despite CCSD's opposition, the bill has support among Democrats, Republicans and the business community. During testimony, supporters argued the bill's lottery system for placing children in schools outside of their neighborhood will be fairer than what's currently in place. 'As an educator, as a school leader, and as a policymaker — I see the potential this bill has to change lives and to change the trajectory of so many students and close the equity gap for families,' Democratic Assem. Selena Torres-Fossett said. 'Parents should have freedom': Nevada law aims to allow open enrollment in schools AB533 would allow children to go to any school that has the room through a lottery system. Parents would have to apply first and if they're denied, there would be a mechanism where they could appeal the decision. Supporters said this proposal is about creating no address discrimination. 'Families will do what is best for them and I think we should empower those families to make those decisions,' Torres-Fossett said. The Vegas Chamber, the American Civil Liberties Union, Latin Chamber of Commerce, Americans for Prosperity and NAACP all came out in support of AB533. Keating said the district is against it. 'We're still struggling to figure out the difference between the COSA process and what this lays out in law, so we want to work with the stakeholders to figure that out,' Keating said. COSA is Change of School Assignment. According to CCSD, there are 16,000 students under COSA. Lesson learned: Lawmaker takes second crack at help for English learners in Nevada schools But unlike the new proposal, CCSD does not have a process to appeal a denial, according to the district's website. 'The reality right now is there is no equity. Those kids who are at schools where they aren't happy or not satisfied do not have other options unless they are attending a public charter school, or unless they're in a magnet program,' Torres-Fossett said. Another point that came up with the bill was public transportation, but according to the bill's text, school trustees will create and submit a report to the state every year evaluating the issue. Keating said the district has problems with the legislation's language on school capacity and the fact that a student's behavior will be used as a factor in their application. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
15-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Incoming Clark County School District leader suggests longer school days
LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — The incoming superintendent of the Clark County School District (CCSD) believes longer school days will help boost student reading scores, although questions remain as to what that would entail. While advocates for the longer school day believe students would have more time to study, skeptics worry that the change could cause harm to working parents who, they say, already face time limitations. 'Right now, we have a school day that doesn't match up with the average American workday,' said Rebecca Dirks Garcia, who has two students enrolled in the district. Dirks Garcia, who runs a Facebook parent group with 18,500 members dedicated to CCSD, added that there are positives and negatives to a longer school day. 'I'm not opposed to extending the day or the year, but I think we have to really look at how it impacts student understanding and learning,' she said, adding that consideration must be given to high school students and their schedules. Jhone Ebert, the incoming superintendent, raised the issue of longer school days at a community forum Monday at Rancho High School. 'In the Clark County School District, our fourth-grade students are half a year behind in reading.' Ebert said. 'We need to extend the school day. We need to extend the school year. We also need to make sure we're very intentional with the resources that we have.' During a media conference held Thursday night, shortly after Ebert's selection as superintendent, she said Nevada ranks near the bottom of states in time spent in the classroom. David Gomez, a parent of three district students, attended all the superintendent candidate interviews over the last three weeks and believes longer school days are a good idea if it will increase student achievement. 'When a child starts early in education, in reading and identifying words and phonics, and things like that – their literacy goes up,' Gomez said. 'As literate as a child is, the more successful they become. And I agree with her, we do need literate children.' Ebert was part of an effort by the Nevada Board of Education to change school start times to an hour later. The previous CCSD superintendent, Dr. Jesus Jara, threatened to file a lawsuit if the effort moved forward. It was eventually paused. It wasn't immediately clear what extending the school day would cost. CCSD officials say Ebert will still need to negotiate a contract with the school district and receive the approval of Clark County School District Board of Trustees before officially becoming superintendent. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
27-02-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
Lundy school repair work expected to get final approval
LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — The Clark County School District is expected to give the green light Thursday night for plans to repair Lundy Elementary School. Initially, the district recommended permanently closing Mt. Charleston's only school, Earl B. Lundy Elementary, due to low enrollment and the $7 million cost to repair damage caused by Tropical Storm Hilary in 2023. Students were rezoned for other schools much further away. In December, after public outcry from Mt. Charleston residents, the school board voted to repair and reopen Lundy which also serves as a community gathering place. The $7.8 million construction repair project is close to becoming a reality. It's listed for approval on Thursday night's school board consent agenda. If approved, the school could be ready by the start of next school year. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
30-01-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
CCSD's interim superintendent discusses successes, challenges and decision to not apply for role
LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — The Clark County School District is seeing improvements in student grades but they're still not where they need to be, according to its interim superintendent. Dr. Brenda Larsen-Mitchell has been the district's top leader for nearly a year. At Wednesday's annual State of the Schools address inside Del Sol Academy of the Performing Arts, she laid out her success and challenges. 'We've decreased suspensions and discretionary expulsions from quarter one this year to quarter one last year, and I attribute it to the hardworking educators within our schools,' Larsen-Mitchell, who has been with the district for about 30 years, said. Dr. Larsen-Mitchell presented data showing a decrease of 11% for suspensions and 17% for discretionary expulsions when comparing the first quarters of the 2024-2025 to 2023-2024 school years. CCSD's own data showed it experienced an increase over the years in suspensions. In the 2021-2022 school year, the district suspended 66,126 students. The next school year 87,174 students were suspended, and in the 2023-2024 school year, the district suspended 106,707 students. 'It's extremely important to remember that all of this data is about educators working really, really hard with our families and with our students,' Larsen-Mitchell said. She said middle school science scores improved in every student group, but not in elementary and high schools. She also said third grade reading is not where it needs to be. Test scores for 2024 revealed only 40% of third graders were proficient. These reading scores are from students who were home during the pandemic – instead of a pre-kindergarten or kindergarten classroom. 'We look at where students are with their reading, and if they need additional supports, if they have gaps in their skills, we provide extra time. Extra support for students,' Larsen-Mitchell said. 'That is a research-based framework that we will continue to use.' CCSD, the nation's fifth-largest school district, has been without a permanent superintendent since Dr. Jesus Jara was forced out in Feb. of 2024. The application deadline for prospective superintendent candidates closes next Wednesday, Feb. 5. Larsen-Mitchell said previously that she is not applying for that position and stated that she would help the newly hired leader on Wednesday. 'Of course I serve in support of the Clark County School District. I look forward to bridging the transition between myself serving as the interim superintendent and the next superintendent,' she said. 'My future right now is pretty open. God's got a plan.' She added she looks forward to the district having a fresh start. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
