Emergency teacher rule mulled
Sandoval may act on family engagement course regulation
Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval is considering emergency regulations that would allow teachers in the state who do not complete a required family engagement course to stay in the classroom next year.
A spokeswoman confirmed Sandoval was reviewing possible measures Wednesday afternoon after the Las Vegas Review-journal revealed as many as 900 educators are at risk of losing their provisional licenses if they fail to complete the college-level course as required by state law.
The Nevada Department of Education is involved in the conversation, said Greg Bortolin, a spokesman for the department, adding that he couldn’t provide any details.
“They are looking at this closely to see what, if any, action can be taken,” he said.
State Senate Minority Leader Michael Roberson, R-henderson, said he began pushing for the emergency regulation Wednesday after reading about the issue in the Review-journal. Roberson said he didn’t vote for the measure when it was passed in 2011. The regulation took effect in 2015.
“The point is that we can fix this so that hundreds of teachers aren’t out of work,” he said. “We cannot be adding burden after burden and obstacle after obstacle to come to Clark County and come to the state,” said Roberson, who is running for lieutenant governor.
The law requires Nevada teachers to take and pass a state-approved college-level course on parent and family engagement. The three-credit course takes a full semester. The department said Tuesday it plans to notify as many as 900 teachers who have not yet completed the course via email this week.
Some of those teachers are likely working toward compliance, either having already taken the course but not filed the paperwork or signed up for summer courses, state officials say. But those
TEACHERS
arrested for domestic violence or other violent offenses.
Jones said he would bolster punishment for gun owners who allow their weapons to be used in a crime.
Sanctuary state?
When asked about whether Nevada should be a “sanctuary state” to protect its undocumented immigrants, all but one candidate supported the idea.
Giunchigliani said she doesn’t believe local police officers should be doing the work of U.S. Immigration and Costoms Enforcement agents. She said some officers are arresting Nevadans on decades-old crimes, and ICE agents are looking for them in jails.
Thorns said that everyone in America is an immigrant and that young immigrants who were brought to the country illegally by their parents “deserve to stay.” Jones agreed, saying he “believes in humanity.”
But Dewan took a different approach, saying Nevada might not be able to care for all the immigrants who want to live here.
“What is Nevada capable of?” he asked. “If we declare ourselves a sanctuary state, will we be able to take care of those people?”
Education
Giunchigliani said that the current education system caters to students who pass tests and that it needs to change. “In the long run, we’ve got to get rid of all the testing,” she said.
Thorns said he’d like to see schools teach a curriculum that allows students to land jobs in the casinos and other Nevada industries. Jones advocated for getting rid of Common Core and called it a “failed experiment.”
Dewan said universities, including UNLV, should only receive state money for students who graduate their programs.