With federal grant, CCSD set to hire police officers for duties in middle schools

The Clark County School District Police Department is hiring up to 30 officers to be stationed at middle schools.

A $3.75 million grant from the U.S. Department of Justice will partially cover the salary and benefits for the officers for three years. The district will cover the rest at a cost of about $3.5 million.

CCSD Police has about 180 officers, with one assigned to each of the district’s roughly 40 comprehensive high schools; others may be assigned to roving patrol or traffic enforcement.

CCSD doesn’t have officers assigned to middle schools fulltime — it has in the past, though. Chief Mike Blackeye got his start with the department in 2003 as a grant-funded campus officer at Monaco Middle School.

CCSD has about 60 middle schools, so not every campus will be assigned an officer. Department spokesman Lt. Bryan Zink said they would be allocated based on how many calls for police service the schools generate. Principals may also choose not to have an officer, Zink said.

The department wants officers in middle schools to develop positive relationships between students and law enforcement, enhance school safety and provide visibility with the goal of “prevention through presence,” according to a memo to the School Board, which on Thursday approved the district accepting the federal grant.

CCSD must commit to keeping the 30 officers on payroll, at the district’s full expense, for at least one additional year after the grant funding runs out, according to the terms of the grant.

Study to gauge bid-awarding diversity

CCSD is studying diversity in its construction firms to ensure equity of opportunity for small, minority, and women-owned businesses in bidding.

The district said in an announcement this past week that it had contracted with national economic consulting firm Keen Independent Research for a study to analyze district contracts and marketplace conditions to determine if any disparities exist in the utilization of diverse firms.

Researchers will survey businesses by phone to identify companies interested in CCSD contracts and interview local businesses and trade associations, the district said.

Keen has performed more than 200 similar disparity studies, including for the Nevada Department of Transportation, the city of Las Vegas, Clark County, UNLV and school districts in other states.

The CCSD study will be completed in the spring.

Raises due for some classroom aides

Some CCSD special education classroom aides are getting raises of up to 10%.

The school board confirmed raises Thursday for teaching assistants in the district’s four “special schools,” which serve children with significant intellectual, developmental and emotional disabilities. Depending on seniority, the aides currently make between about $15 and $24 an hour, according to a district salary grid.

With the raises, the aides at Helen J. Stewart, Variety, John F. Miller and Miley Achievement Center schools would earn between about $17 and $26 an hour.

Aides will get about half of the raise next month, and the rest starting next May if they complete internal “professional learning.” The Education Support Employees Association and CCSD negotiated the wage adjustment.

Special ed aides work closely with students, both in class and, if needed, with personal care, sanitary and medical needs.

Two from CCSD are teacher of year finalists

Two CCSD teachers were named finalists for 2023 Nevada Teacher of the Year.

Laura Jeanne Penrod, who teaches English at Southwest Career and Technical Academy, and Jaime Tadrzynski, who teaches social studies at Canyon Springs High School, took two of the four finalist slots. The other two Nevada finalists were Adrienne Wiggins from Empire Elementary School in the Carson City School District and Michaela Marich of Mcgill Elementary School in the White Pine County School District .

Connie Hall, a kindergarten teacher at Lloyd Diedrichsen Elementary School in Sparks, received the top honor. She will vie for National Teacher of the Year with other state winners from around the country.

Anyone can nominate a teacher for Nevada Teacher of the Year, a program administered by the Nevada Department of Education. The state superintendent of schools picks the winner.

Learn more at https://doe. nv.gov/teacher_of_the_year/ TOY/.

SUN FILE (2014) The Clark County School District Police Department is looking to fill up to 30 slots for officers in middle schools, thanks in part to a $3.75 million grant from the U.S. Department of Justice. The grant will partially cover the salary and benefits for the officers for three years.