As the Clark County Education Association (CCEA) President, I am extremely honored to represent more than 18,000 educators in the Clark County School District. As I reflect on the past school year, I am incredibly grateful for the dedication of our CCEA educators, who, despite the challenging school year, stepped up and helped CCEA during the 81^st Legislative Session. CCEA has worked to become the political leader for educators in the Clark County School District. We must have a solid educational policy and the funding to support it so our students and educators can succeed. It is essential that we lead on social justice issues, have safe and well-funded public schools, and have a voice within our schools supporting these needs.

One thing I have learned firsthand is that if CCEA is not leading on winning more funding for our schools, then no one else is. Also, for the past several Legislative Sessions, CCEA is the only union from Clark County that has consistently fought for more money for salaries and benefits. One of my greatest moments of pride is when we achieve our objectives and win for educators and students. And I know none of that can be possible without the active participation and support of our CCEA members during the Legislative Sessions.

While we had significant wins in Carson City, the fight to improve the education system in Nevada continues. CCSD continues to struggle with recruiting and retaining fully credentialed educators. Educators continue to leave the profession at the highest rate on record, and class sizes are still some of the largest in the nation. Many of our classrooms have instructors who are not fully credentialed. Most disturbing of all, those Clark County schools serving a majority of students of color and students living in poverty experience the highest educator turnover rates. Turnover rates have an enormous negative impact on students’ education.

During my first year as the CCEA President, I focused on advocating for educators by building a working relationship with key CCSD leaders and school board trustees. Since CCEA is the only educator union recognized by the CCSD, I met with CCSD leadership and individual trustees to share members’ concerns throughout the school year.

I will continue to focus on increasing the number of CCEA building leaders.  The fight for our profession isn’t new, but we will continue to change the landscape of education by working together. We must continue this fight as a team of educators to accomplish some very specific outcomes over the next few years. It matters that we have safe communities, welcoming well-funded public schools, affordable healthcare, good wages, a secure retirement, and a voice within our schools supporting these needs.

I look forward to continuing to fight alongside you, and together we will continue to improve public education.