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CCSD sued for hiding records that could expose misconduct within the district

The Clark County School District is unlawfully and deliberately withholding records necessary to investigate allegations of wrongdoing within two divisions of the district, a just-filed lawsuit alleges.

The lawsuit was filed by Nevada Policy (NPRI) after CCSD denied a request for copies of email correspondence between members of the district’s Employee Management Relations (EMR) division and Katrina Nicosia, a regional director of the Student Support Services Division.

Nevada Policy requested the emails to investigate whether Nicosia was pressured by EMR leadership to suppress and seek termination of a whistleblower who reported a new incident of test falsification to the district, about the time of the Matt Kelly testing scandal.

NPRI Senior Vice President Steven Miller made the request as part of his research into the abuse of special-education students within the district, and unlawful retaliation against whistleblowers who refused to go along, as documented in his upcoming 8-part investigative series, “Catch Me If You Can.” 

Despite the fact that emails sent by government employees on their government-provided email accounts are unquestionably public records — and have been routinely disclosed by all governments across the state, including CCSD previously — the school district denied the request in its entirety and refused to disclose even a single email.

The district claims that all of the requested emails contained confidential information and were thus exempt from disclosure. But even if this highly unlikely claim were true, the school is still required to disclose the non-confidential portions of those emails, according to NRS 239.010(3):

A governmental entity… shall not deny a request…to receive a copy of a public book or record on the basis that the requested public book or record contains information that is confidential if the governmental entity can redact, delete, conceal or separate the confidential information from the information included in the public book or record that is not otherwise confidential.

Sadly, CCSD has a well-documented history of violating the state’s public records law, which not only denies Nevadans their fundamental right to a transparent government, but also takes millions of dollars out of the classroom, according to NPRI Policy Director Robert Fellner.

“CCSD has spent millions of dollars on legal fees fighting to keep the district’s affairs shielded in secrecy. That’s millions of dollars that should have gone to children and classroom needs, not the district’s self-serving efforts to conceal crucial information from the public,” Fellner said.

“Despite state law mandating government agencies to be fully transparent to the people they ostensibly serve, CCSD knows it can violate the law with impunity, secure in the knowledge that none of its officials will ever face any penalty for their deliberate lawbreaking.”

Nevada Policy is calling on the Nevada Legislature to ensure government officials are treated the same as all Nevada citizens, and finally impose penalties on those who violate the law.

“Nevada citizens face a litany of penalties for failing to comply with any of the numerous edicts passed by the Legislature, so why should government officials be treated any differently?”

NPRI filed the lawsuit on October 15, 2018 in the Eighth Judicial District Court of Clark County, Nevada and is represented by Clark Hill PLLC.

 

For more information about this lawsuit, please contact NPRI Policy Director Robert Fellner at 702.222.0642 or via email at Robert@NevadaPolicy.org.
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New public records lawsuit highlights why the law needs teeth

Nevada governments are becoming more brazen in their willingness to flout the state’s public records law, a direct result of the fact that officials who choose to knowingly violate the law face no penalty of any kind.

Yesterday’s public records lawsuit filed against the Incline Village General Improvement District (IVGID) by area resident Mark Smith is just the latest example of that agency’s long history of fighting transparency.

IVGID was previously cited by the Attorney General’s Office for numerous violations of the state’s open-meetings law, as well as for having actively “discouraged public participation” in its public meetings.

Last year, NPRI filed a formal complaint with the Attorney General after learning that IVGID adopted the felony-level crime of concealing public records as a matter of policy.

In fact, IVGID has even gone so far as to deny its own Board Treasurer access to key financial records.

Against that backdrop, the mishandling of Smith’s recent request for copies of emails between IVGID General Counsel Jason Guinasso and other executives is par for the course, according to NPRI Policy Director Robert Fellner:

“The pattern alleged in Smith’s lawsuit is consistent with IVGID’s well-documented hostility to transparency. First, IVGID unlawfully denied the request outright, forcing the requester to educate IVGID of its obligations under the law just to get the request processed. After it became clear that its initial denial was unlawful, IVGID then agrees to provide the records, but delays production for nearly an entire year only to then demand payment of an unlawful fee before agreeing to turn over the records.”

Because Nevada imposes no penalties for government officials who unlawfully withhold public records, Nevadans are being denied their fundamental right to a transparent and accountable government, said Fellner.

“By failing to impose penalties on government officials who violate the state’s public records law, the Legislature has created a loophole the size of a Mack Truck that some governments are exploiting in an ever-more flagrant fashion.”

Beyond IVGID, Fellner points to recent examples like

  • The state retirement system denying a request for information expressly ruled public just months prior by the Nevada Supreme Court.
  • The Clark County School District’s denial of a request for a copy of an employee directory.
  • CCSD’s denial of records relating to its decision to bar a school trustee from the property.
  • Metro’s denial of records relating to the 1 October shooting — creating a level of secrecy and uncertainty that almost certainly increased the wild speculation and fearmongering that followed in the immediate aftermath.
  • The Washoe County School District hiding a taxpayer-funded investigation regarding allegations of bullying and harassment within its special education department.

While Fellner said he’s confident Smith will ultimately prevail in his lawsuit, the agency will still have succeeded in keeping the public in the dark for the many years the legal process takes to complete — highlighting just how broken the current system is.

“The Legislature was correct to recognize the importance of a transparent government,” said Fellner. “It now needs to follow the same process used for all other laws and impose penalties on those who break this law. Only then will Nevadans realize the transparent and accountable government that has been promised to them for over 100 years.”

Viable solutions include amending the law to allow courts to hold government officials violating the law personally liable for the requester’s fees, as well as allowing for additional monetary sanctions above and beyond the prevailing requester’s attorney’s fees, he said.

You can read a copy of Smith’s lawsuit by clicking here.
For more information, please contact NPRI Policy Director Robert Fellner at 702.222.0642 or via email at RF@NPRI.ORG.

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Supreme Court’s ‘Janus ruling’ affirms Nevada Teachers’ right to leave their union

This morning the US Supreme Court released a 5-4 ruling, affirming that non-union workers cannot be forced to pay fees to public-sector unions.

“The ruling affirms a right that, thankfully, Nevada teachers already have: The right to decide for themselves whether or not they wish to financially support their union,” explained Nevada Policy Research Institute Communications Director Michael Schaus.

The ruling comes the week before Nevada’s annual “Opt-Out” period of July 1st through 15th, when Nevada Teachers can opt out of paying dues to their respective unions.

The landmark case of Janus vs AFSCME represents one of the most crucial labor cases to come before the Supreme Court in years, if not decades. The majority decided unions are unable to force public workers who have opted out of membership to pay so-called “agency fees” in lieu of membership dues.

“We applaud the decision,” says Schaus. “No worker should ever be forced to financially support an organization with which they don’t agree, and in affirming the position of Mark Janus, the Supreme Court has extended all public-sector workers the same basic right Nevadans have enjoyed for years.”

The ruling makes it possible for public-sector workers in non-right-to-work states to decide for themselves whether they wish to pay dues or fees to a collective bargaining agent or union — a right that, until this morning, did not exist for government workers in roughly half of the United States.

According to Schaus, the decision should be welcome news for public-sector workers, regardless of whether they belong to their local union.

“For too long, union leadership has taken their members for granted — treating them as little more than a bunch of walking membership dues. But when members are given the right to opt-out, suddenly workers are free to vote with their wallets on how well union leaders are representing their interests,” explained Schaus.

“In some cases, we’ve seen this in dramatic fashion. In Clark County, for example, over 40 percent of teachers have already exercised this right over the years — deciding to keep their hard-earned money rather than hand it over to an organization that continually fails to provide its members with substantial value.

“Thankfully, this right is now available to every public-sector worker in the United States.”

Nevada teachers who are interested in opting-out of paying union dues can visit NVTeacherChoice.com for more information on how to opt-out of membership in the first two weeks of July.

“We congratulate Mark Janus on his victory at the Supreme Court, and we’re pleased that the Supreme Court has affirmed the right that a growing number of Nevada teachers are already exercising,” said Schaus.

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SEIU of Nevada: When being in the top 1% still isn’t enough

The average wage for Clark County local government workers is richer than what their peers in 99 percent of counties nationwide receive, according to an NPRI analysis of the most current wage data available from the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics.  

In the 2017 third quarter, local government workers in Clark County received an average weekly wage of $1,155 — which ranked 55th out of the 2,867 counties surveyed nationwide, and was about 22 percent higher than the $943 received by local government workers nationally.

When the average wages are adjusted to reflect the different price levels faced by the average consumer in each state, as calculated by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis’ Regional Price Parities 2015 report, Clark County jumps to number 25 on the list — placing its employees firmly within the top 1 percent of counties with the highest paid local government workers nationwide. 

Cost borne by taxpayers who, on average, earn much less themselves

“The findings are significant, given that much of the cost for this excess is borne by Nevada residents who, on average, earn much less themselves,” explained Nevada Policy Research Institute Director of Transparency Research Robert Fellner.

“Clark County local government workers are among some of the best paid in the nation, but this excess is being funded by a private sector that earns significantly less than the national average,” explained Fellner.

While the $1,155 average weekly wage received by Clark County local government workers was 22 percent above the national average, the $866 earned by private-sector workers was 15 percent less than the national average of $1,013.

But Clark County government workers don’t just fare well in comparisons of wages, they also receive vastly richer non-wage benefits than the average private-sector worker.

The NPRI analysis found that Clark County government workers receive nearly twice as many paid holiday and sick days, significantly greater job security and a retirement plan that costs nearly 6 times more than what the average private-sector worker receives.

Despite receiving wages that already place them in the top 1 percent of counties nationwide, the SEIU of Nevada recently rejected Clark County’s offer of a 2 percent pay increase, and is instead demanding a 3.25 percent raise instead.

The move shows why collective bargaining in the public sector was historically opposed by so many, including some of the labor movement’s greatest champions like former President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

“As the SEIU of Nevada has made clear, unions in the public sector are not about eliminating an imbalance that results in below-market wages.  Instead, the incentives are such that both government unions and campaigning lawmakers profit from inflated public pay and the increased burden that imposes on taxpayers.

“That is precisely why extending collective bargaining to the public sector was opposed by so many across the ideological spectrum, for so long. ”

Click here to see the full study.

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How self-serving union contracts help allegedly abusive teachers remain hidden

In response to the news that CCSD Board President Deanna Wright’s husband Jason Wright, a district educator, was recently accused of assaulting a 5th grade student and subsequently transferred to a new school, the Nevada Policy Research Institute once again highlighted the importance of transparency in government-union contract negotiations.

“This situation reeks of favoritism and secrecy and should be investigated by an independent third-party to ascertain the underlying facts,” says NPRI policy analyst Daniel Honchariw. “However, it also underscores the urgent need for sunlight on government-union contract negotiations.”

Honchariw says a bad situation was made worse “because of a dangerous contractual provision agreed to by the district and its teacher union behind closed doors.”

Per Article 12, Section 10 of the district’s collective bargaining agreement with the Clark County Education Association, all allegations of misconduct, no matter how well documented, are automatically wiped from employees’ personnel files — with the sole exception of allegations that resulted in a criminal conviction. The accused can then be transferred to a different district school whose staff, administrators, students and parents are wholly unaware of the past accusations, increasing the potential for more students to be victimized.

“This provision — which explicitly serves the narrow interest of the union and its dues-paying members, at the expense of student safety — is a reflection of Nevada’s fundamentally broken collective bargaining laws for local government unions,” says Honchariw.

Due to the outsized political influence of government-sector unions, Nevada lawmakers agreed decades ago to exempt union negotiations from the purview of Nevada’s Open Meetings Law. This exemption means that all aspects of the collective bargaining process occur beyond public view.

“Such secrecy leaves unions free to demand, and oftentimes receive, contract provisions that are unable to withstand public scrutiny,” Honchariw explains.

Just last year the Las Vegas Review-Journal’s “Broken Trust” series documented the real-world harm of such provisions. For example, before former CCSD teacher Jeremiah Mazo eventually pleaded guilty to three felony counts of attempted lewdness with a child in August 2015, his file had been completely wiped of other allegations dating back to 2008.

Had those allegations been reported on his confidential personnel file when he was transferred to a different school after the 2008 incident, perhaps administrators could have taken necessary steps to prevent the later abuses to which Mazo eventually pleaded guilty.

“This so-called ‘pass the trash’ policy is unacceptable and must be immediately ended for the safety of all CCSD students,” says Honchariw. “To do this, the first step is bringing transparency to union negotiations.

“There is no justification for secrecy in the collective bargaining process — especially when such a culture of secrecy puts the safety of Nevada’s 490,000 students at risk.

“Moreover, members of government unions are paid with taxpayer dollars, and as such, the public has every right to witness these negotiations in real time, in public view.

“The legislative fix is simple: Strike NRS 288.220 from Nevada law. Keeping such an unacceptable law on the books is merely a testament to the corrosive, undue influence government unions have over the legislative process.”

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Nearly 60% of Clark County teachers were “chronically absent” last year, new data show

A staggering 10,553 Clark County School District teachers were “chronically absent” during the 2015-2016 school year, according to just-released data from the U.S. Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR).

Absent for at least 11 school days throughout the year, these 10,553 chronically absent teachers accounted for 59 percent of CCSD’s total full-time teaching staff in 2016 — a rate that was more than triple the 19 percent of chronically absent teachers found at the median school district nationwide.

Because academic research has found a significant reduction in student learning when teachers are absent for more than 10 days of the school year, there has been an increased focus among policymakers and academics to better understand, and hopefully fix, this problem.

In 2017, the Thomas B. Fordham Institute found that teachers in public schools were almost three times as likely to be chronically absent as teachers in charter schools nationwide.

That analysis found that things were even worse in Nevada, with public school teachers being more than seven times as likely to be chronically absent than teachers in charter schools — the highest disparity of any state in the nation.

That disparity demonstrates the important role school choice programs can play in addressing educational issues that Nevada’s public schools have been unable — or unwilling — to tackle in the past.

“Students deserve — and need — their teacher to be in the classroom. It is simply unacceptable that nearly 60 percent of CCSD teachers are absent for 11 or more days of regular, classroom instruction,” explained Nevada Policy Research Institute Communications Director Michael Schaus.

“The dramatic difference between the levels of chronic teacher absenteeism at Nevada’s charter schools and public schools reaffirms the importance of introducing choice and competition into the public school monopoly.

“Instead of waiting for CCSD to finally fix this problem — keeping thousands of children captive to a failed system in the meantime — the Legislature should embrace the proven solution of school choice, which already enjoys widespread, bipartisan support among Nevada voters.

“Even the limited options already offered to parents — like Nevada’s charter schools and the state’s Opportunity Tax Scholarships — have shown tremendous promise. The Legislature needs to heed the call of frustrated Nevadans and expand on these successes by promoting charter schools, funding ESAs and expanding the state’s Tax Scholarship program.

“Doing so would finally put quality educational options within the reach of every Nevada family.”

To learn more about how choice and competition can help empower all Nevadans with access to a quality education, please visit NPRI.ORG.

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