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Power shift in CCSD schools giving more say to parents, teachers

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Changes are coming to how Clark County School District schools are operated.
 
Decisions will still belong to the principal, but parents will have a lot more say.
 
Each school will have a school organizational team (SOT) made up of parents, teachers and support staff to advise the principal on decisions like budgeting and staffing.
 
Joe Petrie, the principal at Bonanza High School, has been working with parents who want to be on the team.
 
"I showed them how much money we had, where it all went, every penny, how it's calculated, where it's spent," Petrie said. "They saw that and they never realized. One of the biggest surprise comments I got was, 'We spent $7 million in ten minutes!'"
 
Lisa Mayo-DeRiso is lobbying to join Bonanza's SOT in one of the three parent positions.
 
Those elections were Wednesday night.
 
"Each of us know our own little area of expertise," Mayo-DeRiso said. "Like any team, whether it's a football team and you're on the defense or the offense, you have your area of experience."
 
She says the parents on the committee will aim to represent all the parents at the school.
 
Petrie says he's looking forward to working with the SOT and seeing things from another perspective.
 
Parents not on the committee will be able to have their voices heard at open meetings that will take place at least once a month starting in January.