After voting to appoint Clark County teacher and Councilman Isaac Barron as its nonvoting representative on the Clark County School Board, the North Las Vegas City Council revisited the decision Wednesday — this time voting to temporarily appoint a teacher union staff member to the role to give Barron time to finish his career as an educator.
The council had appointed Barron, who works as a teacher at Rancho High School, to the role in mid-October but weeks after his appointment, questions remained on whether he would be allowed to hold both positions simultaneously.
A district regulation states that serving on the school board concurrently with employment presents an “unacceptable conflict of interest” under Nevada ethics laws and a violation of the separation of powers doctrine. Under the regulation, any employee of the district who is elected or appointed to a position on the school board must terminate his or her employment with the Clark County School District (CCSD) before being sworn into the role.
It is against state law to hold two elective offices at the same time, but it’s not clear whether the appointed, nonvoting nature of the role is considered an exception to these policies.
According to a staff report attached to Wednesday’s meeting agenda, Clark County School Board President Evelyn Garcia Morales sent an email to Barron on Nov. 6 expressing concerns over his appointment potentially conflicting with a district policy. The report states Barron requested the city council appoint a new representative “in an effort not to distract from the board’s stated mission.”
Before the vote, Mayor Pamela Goynes-Brown said she was disappointed that Barron’s appointment was blocked by the district given his nearly 30 years of experience as an educator who knew the ins and outs of the CCSD. But Barron said he intended to take over the role from Clark County Education Association employee Dane Watson and be reappointed as the city’s nonvoting trustee once he retires as a district teacher at the end of the school year in May.
“At that time, it will no longer be an issue for me to be appointed,” Barron said.
But Barron may face another hurdle to his reappointment as it’s against state law to hold two elective offices at the same time. It’s not clear whether the appointed, nonvoting nature of the role is considered an exception to these policies.
Ross Armstrong, executive director of the Nevada Commission on Ethics, said in an interview last month with The Nevada Independent the answer could come down to whether the position meets the definition of a public officer under state law.
The city has previously argued that holding positions on the city council and the school board is no different than elected officials serving on regulatory boards such as the Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada, an argument that Barron reiterated in an interview after the meeting.
“I think we’re wasting time trying to argue something that’s going to be inevitable anyhow,” he said. “Whether it’s in January or in June, I’m going to be on the board.”
In an interview prior to the start of the city council meeting, Watson said that he has been involved in education for more than 30 years, including 20 years with CCEA. His role focuses on membership recruitment.
Watson also has experience working in Arkansas teaching social studies to eighth and ninth graders.
He said something he’d like to see the district improve its recruitment and retention of all types of educators.
Watson won’t be the only teacher union staff member on the school board. In addition to serving on the board, Trustee Lisa Guzman is the assistant executive director of the Nevada State Education Association, which represents licensed educators and school support staff across the state.
Guzman previously worked as the executive director of the Education Support Employees Association, an NSEA affiliate that represents the district’s support staff such as bus drivers, custodians and teacher aides, while simultaneously holding her NSEA position, but resigned from ESEA prior to taking office in 2021. As an NSEA employee, Guzman said her salary is paid through revenue generated from the dues of members statewide, while her previous ESEA position was funded through the dues of ESEA members, meaning any decisions she made could have had a direct financial impact related to district employees.
Watson’s employer, CCEA, was previously under NSEA’s umbrella until the county union broke away from the state organization in 2018. The two unions often find themselves at odds with each other.
Shortly after Guzman entered the trustee role, CCEA filed an ethics complaint against her. In a 2021 letter to the district’s general counsel, CCEA argued that Guzman stood to financially benefit from her NSEA and ESEA positions (despite having resigned from the latter) and that the organization would also benefit from Guzman’s votes. The complaint was later dismissed by the state’s ethics commission.
Guzman said in a Monday interview that she “absolutely believes” union staffers should be allowed to serve on school boards because they know the school system better than most, yet aren’t paid by the school district.
“We understand how policies affect not only the students, but also the staff that are implementing them, so it is critical to have that perspective,” she said.
Guzman, who’s not running for re-election, said she’s been able to navigate being a trustee while working for a union by establishing parameters with the help of the board’s previous attorney Mary Ann Miller and NSEA Executive Director Brian Lee to prevent any potential conflicts of interest.
That includes abstaining from discussions during open meetings that are related to bargaining talks with ESEA and CCEA, and abstaining from any type of discussion involving ESEA during closed sessions even though she was previously told by Miller that she’s permitted to stay in those as long as it doesn’t affect her job and she doesn’t provide feedback or try to influence the board’s vote. Guzman said the district’s general counsel, Luke Puschnig, also helps her know when she should abstain from a closed session meeting.
She added that ESEA has not asked her for any kind of inside information related to the school board.
The Clark County School District did not respond to a request for comment on whether Watson’s appointment would have similar parameters as Guzman as an employee of the union that represents the district’s licensed educators, or if the nonvoting nature of his position would create exceptions. Watson said he hasn’t received guidance from the district but he doesn’t foresee having a conflict of interest as a CCEA staff member since he’s not on the bargaining team.
As trustees, Watson and the other appointees will serve four-year terms and have the same responsibilities as the elected members, including attending closed-door sessions and policy and operational discussions, but they won’t be able to vote or serve as an officer.
