NSEA represents educators across the state of Nevada who dedicate themselves to the education of every Nevada student. NSEA believes that existing state law which provides for at-will employment for an initial probationary period and the possibility of having to revert to an additional period of at-will employment following an evaluation of “ineffective” properly balances the due process rights of the individual employees, the rights of students, and the needs of the school community.
The prospect that upon the loss of a star rating based in part on standardized testing and staff transfer requests—which may be from certain schools for commute or other reasons—is concerning. Both of these factors may have no relation to an individual administrator’s performance, so an immediate termination of an administrator, potentially through no fault of their own, would have a chilling effect on education in Nevada. Administrators will be disincentivized from accepting positions in rural schools or in schools with large populations of at-risk students making critical shortages worse. Such shortages will only harm our students.
Lastly, the requirement that all associate and assistant superintendents reapply to the superintendent for reappointment demolishes the protections inherent in the civil service system. Political gamesmanship and fealty to the current regime should not come before the needs of students. Current law allows a superintendent to dismiss any employee at any level for sufficient cause. Therefore, periodic reaffirmations of allegiance are not necessary.
