CCSD on high wire balancing discipline

THE Clark County School District faces a tough balancing act. Not the challenge of balancing a checkbook — although that’s pertinent too — but of keeping students safe while also steering them away from prison.

This week brought the ninth occurrence involving a gun on or near school grounds during this school year.

The district had planned to hold a news conference on guns even before 18-year-old Dalvin Brown was shot and killed at Canyon Springs High School last week. I was planning to speak with officials even before a 9-year-old brought a gun to Helen Smith Elementary on Wednesday.

It’s getting hard to keep up with how quickly these events are happening.

Superintendent Jesus Jara has announced a school safety advisory committee to address the rash of guns on campus.

But at the same time, the district is hoping to reduce the flow of the school-toprison pipeline with a new School Justice Partnership, which ultimately seeks to reduce the number of student referrals to the justice system.

How will the district balance giving students like Ryan Johnson a second chance at life out of prison while also protecting students like Faith Ancheta, who had to go into a hard lockdown the day her classmate was shot?

Ancheta, a 16-year-old Canyon Springs sophomore, was at tennis practice when she heard shots. She heard a voice over the intercom about 15 minutes later instructing students to come

PAK-HARVEY

on Patty said the FBI team is comprised of representatives of different law enforcement agencies throughout the Las Vegas Valley and the FBI and typically investigates high-profile murder cases.

Brown died on Sept. 11 at University Medical Center after being shot

near the school’s baseball field.

French was certified as an adult and booked at the Clark County Detention Center for murder with a deadly weapon and possession of a dangerous weapon on school property, according to police.

Superintendent Jesus Jara on Friday said the killing demonstrates the need for students and parents to say something if they see something suspicious.

“When you look at the situation that happened, it goes back to things that are happening outside of our schools,” Jara said. “As I said before, safety is our top priority. We want to make sure our children are safe, here to learn.”

Contact Amelia Pak-harvey at apak-harvey@reviewjournal. com or 702-383-4630. Follow @ Ameliapakharvey on Twitter.