Clark County school officials OK over $1.8M to settle abuse lawsuits
The Clark County School District will pay more than $1.8 million to settle two lawsuits alleging that a special education teacher abused students in her classroom.
The School Board on Thursday authorized the district’s legal counsel to start the settlement process in two cases involving former Adams Elementary School teacher Kasey Glass, who was accused of physically and verbally abusing students.
A lawsuit brought by a plaintiff known as “HH” alleged Glass repeatedly pushed his head down with her foot and deprived him of food and drink at mealtime. Another lawsuit said that the teacher yanked a student known as “LR” by the arm and forced him into a bathroom as he resisted.
The lawsuits also named administrators Allison Pokornik and Mark Connors, alleging a failure on the district’s part to investigate and take action. The lawsuit brought by LR said that the minor’s mother took the issues with Glass to Pokornik, who failed to investigate, and that a police investigation into the matter was closed without follow-up.
The district will pay $1.2 million to settle the case brought by HH and another $640,000 for LR’s case.
Glass did not return a request for comment from the Review-Journal. She now teaches in the Nye County School District.
The Clark County School District does not comment on pending litigation, but previous records obtained by the Review-Journal indicated the district spent $529,224 on litigating the cases as of June 6, 2019.
The settlement sum in both cases is higher than that in other recent litigation. In November, the district approved a $100,000 settlement in a lawsuit filed by an alleged victim of Maysen Melton, who is accused of sexually assaulting underage classmates at Shadow Ridge High School. The lawsuit alleged CCSD put students at risk by allowing Melton to stay in school despite a record of disciplinary action for sexual harassment.
In August, the district approved a $100,000 settlement to the mother of teenager Dalvin Brown, who was shot and killed at Canyon Springs High School in 2018.
In 2018, the district approved a $250,000 settlement with employee Elena Rodriguez, who said she was demoted after bringing attention to the use of hidden cameras at Academy for Individualized Study High School.
Contact Aleksandra Appleton at 702-383-0218 or aappleton@reviewjournal.com. Follow @aleksappleton on Twitter.
Teachers shorted on pay
Clark County School District teachers say they're being shorted on pay as a result of the district's new Human Capital Management System, which is failing to pay out for work done outside of normal hours, such as teaching night school or picking up work during prep hours.
Their concerns were brought forward at Thursday night's School Board meeting by teachers Vicki Kreidel and Alexis Salt, who said that teachers who take on this extra work depend on receiving their full expected paychecks to pay rent and buy groceries.
The district's chief financial officer, Jason Goudie, said the payroll department is working to resolve the issue and that anyone with concerns should call 702-799-5351.
Goudie added that the district may process additional rounds of payroll to make up for the shortages.
