LAS VEGAS (KLAS) -- The Clark County Commission named a charter school principal as the final non-voting member of the Clark County School District's Board of Trustees on Tuesday.
Lisa Satory of Pinecrest Academy Sloan Canyon fills the county's spot on the board, one of four created by the 2023 Nevada Legislature to give local governments more representation -- but not votes -- on the school board. Satory previously worked as an assistant principal at Basic High School in Henderson and was a CCSD teacher before that.
The selection of Satory brings another voice from the charter school community to the board. The terms for non-voting members begin on Jan. 2 and are for four years. The other three non-voting members selected last month are:
- Adam Johnson, selected by the City of Las Vegas. Johnson is a former charter school principal.
- Ramona Esparza-Stoffregan, selected by Henderson. She is a former teacher and principal at Valley High School.
- Isaac Barron, selected by North Las Vegas. He is a city councilman and a Rancho High School history teacher.
County commissioners said they would give Satory direction at a future meeting.
The Legislature passed Assembly Bill 175 (AB175), which passed 29-11 in the Assembly and 16-4 in the Senate before it was approved June 2 by Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo.
CCSD's staunch opposition to the bill during a May hearing failed to sway lawmakers. “It’s trying to fix this kind of episode of ‘Desperate Housewives’ that goes on,” Republican Sen. Carrie Buck said.
A principal who testified described the school board at the time as "dysfunctional." Public squabbles between board members and the board's move to fire CCSD Superintendent Dr. Jesus Jara created a distraction.
CCSD implored the Legislature to show some trust in the board. AB175 “seeks to experiment on the school-age children in Southern Nevada by imposing a non-evidence-based board structure that puts adult issues and power struggles ahead of the needs of kids,” according to Patricia Haddad, CCSD’s director of government relations.
“We can’t just keep doing what we’re doing,” Democratic Assemblywoman Bilbray-Axelrod said. She was one of the bill's sponsors, along with Republican Toby Yurek. “Is this perfect? Probably not.”
“At least we’re moving the needle,” she said.
AB175 stopped short of other recent efforts to break up the fifth-largest school district in the nation.