CCSD board president faces challenger in District C

Trustee President Evelyn Garcia Morales faces a challenge from Tameka Henry. The district includes the Historic Westside and North Las Vegas.

In 2020, Garcia Morales got 53 percent of the vote, topping Henry’s 47 percent. In this June’s primary, Henry took the lead, with 37.6 percent compared with Garcia Morales’ 29.1 percent.

Both candidates are Clark County School District graduates and parents, and have devoted their careers to education advocacy.

Henry told the Las Vegas Review-Journal she got her start working with Head Start, which offers services to children under age 5 to prepare them for school. She has served on several other boards and advocacy groups — at one point, she served on three separate CCSD School Organizational Teams for her children.

Garcia Morales is the former executive director of the fulfillment fund, a nonprofit that helps first-generation students attend college. As chair of the school board, she takes pride in her work to reopen schools during the pandemic, improve funding and the curriculum, and help establish goals for the board to monitor student outcomes.

Equitable school district

Both candidates emphasized the goal of making the district more equitable.

“I just want all students to have access to quality education no matter the ZIP code that they’re in,” Henry said.

She said she would bring representation from the community to the board, including but not limited to race and socioeconomic status.

Garcia Morales said she originally ran because she was seeing discrepancies in reading and writing for Black and brown students. When it comes to proficiency discrepancies among English language learners, Garcia Morales said it was a “continued growth point for the district, and at the same time, there is room to celebrate the work that has been done.”

Relationship with union

Garcia Morales has faced a tumultuous past few years on the board: Former Superintendent Jesus Jara resigned after a series of contract negotiations with the board; former Trustee Katie Williams resigned after the district attorney said she was not a resident of Nevada; and most recently, the district has come under fire for its message about a potential budget deficit.

Throughout, the Clark County Education Association has publicly criticized her for being an ineffective leader, and accused her of covering up issues.

Garcia Morales said that during her tenure, she has done her best to “stay above the noise” as she focuses on improving the school system.

The CCEA has endorsed Henry both times she has run. Executive Director John Vellardita told the Review-Journal she is both student focused and educator supportive.

“She’s going to ask the type of tough questions, offer the type of suggestions to get our school district on track to increase the proficiency levels among our students in reading, writing and math,” he said.

Henry said she has heard concern from people within the district that Garcia Morales is not present and does not come to the schools. When it came to the Williams situation, Henry said, she is not sure what Garcia Morales knew or did not know, but from serving on boards herself, she knows how important it is to establish relationships with other members and check in.

“I don’t know everything. I’m not an expert in everything, but I pride myself in building relationships with others and also leaning into their expertise to make sound decisions,” she said.

Focus on future

Both candidates said they are focused on improving the school district.

“We hear all the noise of what’s going on and the negative now, and I’m really focused on the solutions of what’s next and how do we get there,” Henry said.

If re-elected, Garcia Morales said she hopes to create stability in a board that will have three new members.

“The board can create a tremendous amount of distractions for the school district,” she said.

Contact Katie Futterman kfutterman@reviewjournal.com.