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Clark County School District
School district in Nevada, US From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The Clark County School District (CCSD) is the public school district serving Clark County in the U.S. state of Nevada. It is the largest school district in Nevada and the fifth-largest school district in the United States with 304,565 enrolled students in 2023–2024.[3] The district also operates Vegas PBS (KLVX) television, a PBS-member station licensed to the district's board of trustees.
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CCSD is the largest employer in both Clark County and Nevada with 43,786 employees in October 2024.[4] The district operates 373 schools, composed of 233 elementary schools, 61 middle/junior high schools, 54 high schools, 21 alternative schools, and four special schools.[5] It has limited involvement with charter schools, and with the exception of providing some bus service, does not have any involvement with the private schools in the county.
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History
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The first Western pioneers to settle Clark County were members of LDS church, represented by fewer than 100 settlers in 1851.[6] The county was part of the Utah Territory until 1867, when Utah gave the region Nevada.[7] At the time, Nevada was only three years old at the time the area was given to it. The first permanent settlement, St. Thomas, was established in 1865 and built the region's first school made of adobe.[8]
Prior to the 1956 consolidation, Nevada law allowed county commissioners to establish a school district if there were five or more school-aged children in a community. As a result, there were sometimes very large numbers of school districts within counties with very few people.[9] Although much of the early 20th century was prosperous Nevada, like much of the rest of the country after World War II, the costs and complexity of so many districts gave rise to consolidation.[10]
In 1956, Governor Charles H. Russell called a special session of the Nevada Legislature to pass a law[11] to reorganize public education in Nevada, consolidating 208 school districts into 17 county-wide school districts, including the state capitol, Carson City, which is an independent city.[12] This helped rural school districts with few students and teachers achieve economies of scale and provide higher-quality education by distributing tax revenue more equitably.[13] When CCSD was consolidated, there were over a dozen school districts in Clark County alone.[14]
During the 1960s and 1970s, CCSD became a focal point for desegregation efforts. Although Nevada did not have explicit segregation under the law, social customs and private businesses enforced de facto segregation depending on the context, one of which was in schooling.[15] In Kelly vs Guinn[16] in 1972, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that a lower court's order stand, requiring CCSD to implement policy to desegregate schools Kelly vs. Guinn prompted initiatives such as busing students and creating specialized programs to try to overcome long-standing segregation in West Las Vegas.[17][18]
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Growth
Since the mid-20th century, the southwestern United States has seen large population increase. Clark County's population increased from just over 3,000 at the 1910 census—five years after Las Vegas was incorporated—to 2.25 million by the 2020 census. This growth has created consistent challenges for the school district, among them a lack of teachers and lack of funds[19] to build new schools quickly.[20] enough.
In 2008, the statewide recession impacted the district.[citation needed] In 2012, voters failed to pass a school construction bond.[21] 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%.[21]
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Controversies
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Over 200,000 CCSD students’ data was leaked during a "cybersecurity incident" around October 5, 2023.[22] Three weeks went by with a failure to address the situation and the CCSD 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.[23][24][unreliable source?]
In November 2023, 17-year-old Rancho High School student Jonathan Lewis was beaten by a group of students and later died from his injuries. On April 9, 2025, Lewis' mother Mellisa Ready filed a lawsuit against CCSD, accusing them of wrongful death and negligence. She stated that the district "failed to take reasonable steps to supervise students in or near the area, implement preventive measures, or notify law enforcement", the perpetrators "were known to the school administration and had exhibited prior aggressive or violent behavior", and there had been at least one altercation or conflict involving Lewis or his peers prior and school staff "were on notice or should have been on notice of escalating tensions." CCSD did not respond to the lawsuit.[25]
On August 12, 2025, an investigative report aired discussing concerns and frustrations in the community regarding the rehiring and promotion of Darlin Delgado, Lewis' former Principal to School Associate Superintendent. [26] The Board of Trustees approved Delgado's contract with a 4-2 vote on July 10, 2025.
Reorganization
Beginning in 2019, Nevada law concerning public education was changed to decentralize authority from school districts to schools requiring. Among the changes, the law shifted key decision-making powers from the central district office to individual schools, creating local school precincts with greater autonomy. Principals now oversee school budgets, staffing, and instructional planning, supported by "School Organizational Teams" composed of parents, staff, and sometimes students. Schools receive direct per-pupil funding and can select their own employees, while choosing district services through service-level agreements or seeking alternatives. This decentralization purports to make schools more responsive to local needs, while maintaining oversight through state regulations and formal dispute resolution .[27]
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Board of School Trustees
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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 Superintendent of Schools is Jhone Ebert who was appointed by the board in April 2025. School board members serve staggered four year terms.
As of 2025, current members of the Board of School Trustees are:[28]
- Irene Bustamante Adams - President, District F
- Brenda Zamora - Vice President, District D
- Tameka Henry - Clerk, District C
- Isaac Barron (non-voting) - City of North Las Vegas
- Lorena Biassotti - District E
- Linda P. Cavadios - District G
- Lydia Dominguez - District B
- Ramona Esparza-Stoffregan (non-voting) - City of Henderson
- Adam Johnson (non-voting) - City of Las Vegas
- Lisa Satory (non-voting) - Clark County
- Emily Stevens - District A
Clark County School District Superintendents
- R. Guild Gray, 1956–1961
- Harvey N. Dondero (interim superintendent), 1961
- Leland B. Newcomer, 1961–1965
- James Mason, 1966–1969
- Kenny Guinn, 1969–1978
- Claude G. Perkins, 1978–1981
- Charles Silvestri (interim superintendent), 1981–1982
- Robert E. Wentz, 1982–1989
- Brian Cram, 1989–2000
- Carlos A. Garcia, 2000–2005
- Walt Rulffes and Agustin Orci (interim co-superintendents), 2005–2006
- Walt Rulffes, 2006–2010[29]
- Dwight D. Jones, 2010–2013[30]
- Pat Skorkowsky, 2013–2018
- Jesús F. Jara, 2018–2024
- Brenda Larsen-Mitchell (interim superintendent), 2024–2025
- Jhone Ebert, 2025-Present
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Transportation
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Since the district operates in a valley that has had air quality concerns, it currently operates most of its bus fleet 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.
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School buildings
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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.[31]
During the 2010–11 school, all schools converted to a 9-month school year due to budget shortfalls.[32] 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.[33]
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.
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School police
See also
- The Clark County School District Archive Committee documents the history of the CCSD.
- List of the largest school districts in the United States by enrollment
- KLVX Communications Group owned by the school district; which operates KLVX (PBS member station known on-air as "Vegas PBS")
References
External links
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