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Artifact 1

Jeffery Urbina

Nevada Law 210

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Abstract

The CCSD school board meeting of March 22,2018 discussed a couple of controversial

topics dealing with education. The main points of discussion were safety at school concerning

school shootings. The next discussion point was the benefits concerning support staff and

substitute teachers. The biggest talking point was the discussion of bullying in schools. A lot of

people had a lot to say to the board and even some of the board members had different

viewpoints they shared. Bullying lead into the problems trans and other different students have to

deal with. Along with that many schools administrators have problems trying figure out how to

deal with the situation. Teachers and the public are seeking a policy from the board that would

help solve the issues trans students have

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The school board meeting began with a couple of guest speakers. Robert Koles was the

first guest speaker. He brought up the topic of school safety concerning school shootings in

specific. He brought up the fact there are over 2,000 portables in CCSD with not enough

protection. He alleged the fact that they are detached from the main school building which makes

them more vulnerable towards an attack because they are easier to get to. He even shared his

emergency plan for his school in the chance of something tragic happening. Unfortunately this

plan is not district wide and that’s why he is seeking help from the board on finding a solution.

The next thing he brought up was the fact that there are schools with glass buildings and how

easy they are to get through he asked what the board plans to do about that. He also expressed

the importance medical assistance. He claimed that students in the Florida tragedy could have

survived with more medical help as it takes 2-4 minutes to bleed out in the event of an

emergency from a shoot wound to the chest. I agree a lot with what Robert brought up hopefully

the board will offer solutions to help out schools with these problems before a tragedy occurs.

The next topic brought up was health care and benefits for support staff and substitute

teachers. With the argument was made that it would not be a waste to offer support staff and

substitutes these benefits to them as they are qualified employees doing the same type of work as

teachers. The topic quickly switched back to school safety. Jerry Dickson came up to speak about

a couple of solutions. He brought up the point that self defense classes offered as elective classes

would help in certain tragedies. He then brought up having metal detectors at every entry point at

schools would help prevent students from bringing weapons to school. Jerry claimed the metal

detectors for this will come from local airports donating the older models they do not use
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anymore. He also talked about the previously mentioned glass problem of it being to get easy to

get through stating that they should make glass at school and school busses bulletproof.

After the guest speakers came the most important part of the meeting. The situation

concerning bullying and bullying towards trans people included a diverse group of concerned

people. The majority of the people in attendance speaking for and against new policy. The public

and school principals looking for a solution they had to handle trans students locker room

/bathroom weret. The line of people waiting to speak and passion the public showed towards this

topic and demonstrated how passionate and important this topic is to the community of CCSD.

The argument for a policy came with a lot of good points. They worried about the safety

and inclusion of trans and LGBTQ students. The main thing they were worried about was what

bathroom and locker rooms trans students could go into and feel most comfortable. Principals in

particular said they always had a hard time because you cannot ignore a student but you never

know how the other students will react. A lot of trans people came to speak to the board and

request them to issue a policy expressing why they needed it from personal experience.

With people for policy. For as many in favor there were also those that had opposing

views on the subject. Parents, students and others expressed why they are not in favor of a policy.

Students expressing how they do not feel safe or comfortable with a trans person in the same

bathroom or locker room. These people also pointed out how there will be people that abuse the

policy claiming to be trans to enter bathrooms not designed for them with the intention to take

advantage of other students.

Each board member had a different idea on how to deal with this problem. Most seemed to

lean towards inclusion but some did not express their views on it, instead kind of avoiding it.
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Others claimed before they can make a policy they first have to figure out the bullying policies

already in place claim that they have not been working. A Lot of the public are begging for a

policy before the next school year. After 3 hours of public comments the choice was made to

have a policy to protect gender diverse students.

Ultimately, where I fall on this is I hope they do come up with a good policy because no kid

should ever feel like they don’t belong and much less be targeted for being different. Hopefully

students and parents not happy with this can continue to voice their concerns. Because something

does need to be done about this.