LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — After a rocky road that saw the Clark County School District lose its superintendent, face down an ugly budget deficit and problematic recruiting, Interim Superintendent Dr. Brenda Larsen Mitchell delivered this year's State of the Schools address.
District leaders emphasize they've made progress on key issues impacting our schools, but they admit they have a long way to go.
"We are making progress in the Clark County School District, " said Larsen-Mitchell. "I will be the first one to say, we are not where we need to be."
Larsen Mitchell delivered the address to staff and administrators Wednesday at Del Sol Academy, telling the audience that together, district employees have inched closer to reaching academic goals.
WATCH the Clark County School District State of the Schools address:
She also said there have been improvements in teacher recruitment and retention. She says 96% of CCSD classrooms are now filled with a licensed educator.
CCSD chief Human Resource officer RoAnn Triana told the audience the district's outreach goes worldwide.
"We are hosting teachers from the Philippines, Kenya, Jamaica, and Colombia," Triana said. "We started this school year with a 13 percent decrease in classroom vacancies. That is 25 percent less than the year prior to that."
The district tells us they have also made headway with chronic absenteeism.
So far this school year, attendance officers have made 20,000 home visits in an attempt to reconnect students with the classroom.
Chronic absenteeism decreased by three percentage points when you compare the first semester of this year to the first semester of last year, Larsen-Mitchell said.
"And that is coming off the nine-percentage-point decrease that we made in the last two years," she added. "Very grateful to our schools who are working with their families and their kids to get them engaged."
Last October, Channel 13 told you about the "Everyday Matters" campaign. The district sent attendance officers door-to-door to offer students and their families encouragement and resources to get them back in school.
"We really tried to change the narrative from punitive to positive, building relationships and providing resources," said Danielle Jones, the district's director of Education Services.
And in another key development, CCSD also reports an 11% decrease in suspensions and a 17% decrease in expulsions.
Recently, newly elected School Board Trustee Lydia Dominguez told us voters were demanding improvement.
Larsen-Mitchell says despite the progress made, there is still room for improvement, especially when it comes to the district's budget and avoiding a repeat of the ensuing chaos. But she tells us the budget deficit has been paid off.
Next up, CCSD will look to resume the process of searching for its next superintendent. According to the updated search timeline, a new application deadline was set for Feb. 5. As of this report, the official hiring is expected to happen during the Board of Trustee's March 27 meeting.