Lander County School Board member and former chair Susan Davis has been working with the Nevada Association of School Boards for eight years to help the group keep boards throughout Nevada updated on legislative issues that members need to address.
NASB is also dedicated to the professional development of school board members throughout the state, Davis said.
She gives NASB reports at each Lander County School Board meeting to help the district implement new policies and update old ones to conform to state mandates. She also provides information on the latest issues in education.
NASB CEO Dotty Merrill is aiming to get all of the state's school boards to have policies addressing bills passed during the 2013 Legislature pertaining to education. At the March 19 school board meeting, Davis talked about how the board will be addressing these policies.
In her NASB update, she also discussed ways to comply with the Nevada Ethics Commission's request that all elected and appointed officials submit paperwork saying they have read and are familiar with ethics law documents.
She also talked about the ways that the organization, Retired Public Employees of Nevada (RPEN) is addressing issues surrounding PERS and the importance that the program stay intact.
In the 2015-16 school year, the local school board will begin implementing the pay for performance that came out of the Legislature, Davis said. It mandates for school boards to enact a policy that awards teachers based on student achievement as well as other factors.
Another issue Davis is keeping board members apprised of is a law passed that requires school boards to negotiate with local teachers' organizations on alternative elements to factor in when laying off teachers other than a seniority system.
Lander County is waiting to see what criteria come from the Teachers and Leaders Council before implementing its Reduction in Force policy.
NASB is made up of two groups - 17 directors, one from each county, and the executive committee, composed of current officers and past presidents. Davis, who was elected to the Lander County School Board in 2006, serves as a director.
NASB holds its meetings via teleconference or in person around five or six times a year. There are state conventions every November in either Reno or Las Vegas.
Davis attended an NASB workshop called the 24-Hour Professional Development Conference March 28-29 in Reno that covered many current issues, she said.
Contact Heather Hill at h.hill@winnemuccapublishing.net.[[In-content Ad]]
