"We're going nowhere quickly," the woman pipes.
It's 6:10 p.m., inside the Durango High School theater, and the forum on the Clark County School District's 2001 reorganization was supposed to start 10 minutes ago. Problems with the sound equipment. Isn't it always?
As the crowd files in, Superintendent Carlos Garcia speaks into a pinned-on microphone: "Can you hear now? Can you hear me now?" On either side of him are the five regional superintendents overseeing the carved-up, supposedly easier-to-manage regions. Pacing the stage and in jovial chat-mode is the evening's moderator, Las Vegas Sun political columnist and Face to Face with Jon Ralston host … Jon Ralston.
Certainly not who you'd expect in the role of a stay-out-of-the-way, keep-everyone-on-track, please-honor-the-time-limits referee. Giving Ralston a platform and proximity is like giving a sniper a free head shot. So at least the evening would be lively.
6:15: Still going nowhere, but slowly.
We're here to assess the results of the reorganization. Some history first: Garcia brainstormed it as a way to help our chronically underfunded, perpetually underpeforming, terminally overcrowded school district. Smaller, generally autonomous regions, the thinking goes, would let supes address area-specific issues.
6:20: Action!
Yes, those results. Mr. Garcia: Well, there's more accountability. And better communication between secondary and elementary administrators. And something termed "articulation," in which everyone now understands each other's role. Apparently they didn't before. It's hasn't all been gravy. The district still needs streamlining in many areas, from books to report cards to programs and could use…
Ralston stops him mid-bluster: "You could teach the senators in Washington a thing or two about filibustering."
It'd go on like this for much of the night, Ralston, in Face to Face mode, slinging zingers.
Garcia: "They're thinking about consolidation in Arizona ..."
Ralston: "Are you thinking about going down there?" Which would've been the night's highlight if it weren't for pointed questions unearthing problems largely obfuscated by the teeth-gnashing over Nevada's woeful education funding. Such as:
Why is decentralization better than deconsolidation?
Garcia tells us it's a lot more cost-effective; you have socioeconomic issues to deal with and we don't want segregated schools.
Ralston: "Don't we already have that?"
No, says Garcia, apparently forgetting that several schools have predominantly black and Hispanic populations.
Is there grade inflation?
Garcia: Yes. (At least he's honest).
Blacks comprise 9 percent of the population and 329 were expelled last year, compared to 350 whites. Why?
Collective "huhs," followed by safe answers. Garcia: It's a U.S. trend. Northeast Region Superintendent, Marsha Irvin: We take it on a case-by-case-basis.
Why is the district sticking with English Language Learners programs that don't work?
East Region Superintendent Maurice Flores (his district has schools that are 80 percent Hispanic): "We're forming a task force to look at it."
Is there a plan to reintroduce regular parent-teacher conferences?
Kohul-Rost: "We're exploring it."
Why are so many Millennium Scholarship winners in remedial classes in college?
Southwest Region Superintendent Allen Coles: It's something we talked about in a meeting. (To which Ralston retorted: "You guys and your meetings. You're sure getting a lot accomplished.")
Aren't you frustrated there's no all-day kindergarten?
Kohul-Rost: "We're working on this."
Ralston: "Whose fault is this, Mr. Garcia?"
Garcia: "All of us."
Ralston: "Here we go."
Garcia: InVest (state superintendents funding plan) was defeated and it asked for all-day kindergarten. "When I first got here, we were $1,000 below the national average in student funding, now we're $2,000 below. People think we got all of this $800-something million in new taxes. All we got was $140 million. We're scheduled to grow by 15,000 students in the next year. Given per-pupil funding of $5,000, that's $75 million right there. We don't have the money."
Ralston: "Do any of you talk to lawmakers about this? You got some right here in the audience."
Silence.
Finally, Kohut-Rost: "I talk to the ones who represent me."
The question-and-answer-go-round continues to 7:52. Like the man said:
You guys and your meetings. You're sure getting a lot accomplished.