The Clark County School District began in 1956 when the Nevada Legislature mandated consolidation of all state school districts into 17 county school districts. This change meant that 14 separate school districts in Clark County would become part of the new Clark County School District.
R. Guild Gray, superintendent at the time of the former Clark County School District No. 2, stated before a Board of School Trustees meeting on February 1, 1956, that the district would be larger than political subdivision in the state of Nevada. Gray believed the district would be larger than the state highway department with 1,300 employees and an annual budget of $7,250,000.
Prior to 1956, each of the individual school districts in the county ran independent of each other, serving their respective cities and/or CDPs.[clarification needed]
When the district began in 1956, enrollment was just over 20,000[4] and Clark County had about 103,000 residents. The district would continue to face challenges in the coming years. Funding was its biggest challenge and had been for many years as it contended with explosive population growth.
Growth
Due to the large number of families moving into the Las Vegas area, the school district saw tremendous growth in student enrollment from the 1990s through 2007. Several bond issues were approved by the voters to help the district deal with this growth. This has resulted in many new schools being constructed. In some years, as many as 16 schools have opened.[citation needed] 320,400 students were enrolled during the 2015–16 school year.
This resulted in a very high demand for teachers to staff the classrooms. As a result, the district had to be creative in finding teachers to hire including recruiting of teachers from other states and other countries.[citation needed]
In 2008, the statewide recession impacted the district.[citation needed] In 2012, voters failed to pass a school construction bond.[5] 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%.[5]
Controversies
Over 200,000 CCSD students’ data was leaked during a "cybersecurity incident" around October 5, 2023.[6] Three weeks went by with a failure to address the situation and the Clark County School Districts 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.[7][8][unreliable source?]
Regions
Beginning in the 2019–20 school year, CCSD schools were reorganized into three Regions. Each Region is led by a team of Region Leadership - one Region Superintendent and four School Associate Superintendents per Region. Directly reporting to the Senior Deputy Superintendent of School Instruction
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:[9]
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
Lola Brooks - 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)
Brenda Larsen-Mitchell (interim superintendent), 2024–present
Transportation
Since the district operates in a valley that has had air quality concerns, it currently operates most of its busfleet 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.
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.[12]
During the 2010–11 school, all schools converted to a 9-month school year due to budget shortfalls.[13] 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.[14]
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.
^"Calendar Watch". Clark County School District. Archived from the original on April 15, 2010. Retrieved May 28, 2010. All elementary schools will operate on a 9-month calendar as of the 2010/11 school year.
