District B Trustee candidates face unusual election process

The race for Clark County School Board District B is unfolding differently than in other districts, with an election scheduled to take place just days after someone is temporarily appointed to the currently vacant seat.

Trustee Katie Williams resigned Sept. 11 after the district attorney found she was not a resident of Nevada and declared her seat vacant. The board plans to fill her seat by Oct. 30. But that person will serve for only a few months before one of the two candidates elected in November takes the seat in January.

Former special education teacher Eileen Eady and former U.S. Air Force and Moms for Liberty member Lydia Dominguez are vying for the seat.

At the Sept. 26 board meeting, there was discussion of what would happen if the candidates applied for the position. Dominguez told the board she was seeking its appointment through the application process, noting she was the leading candidate. Dominguez received 2,404 more votes than Eady in the primary election. Eady told the Las Vegas Review-Journal she will not submit an application and will wait for the election.

“I want to earn it. Not just be appointed,” she wrote in a message.

Dominguez said she pulls her values from her Christian beliefs, and she cited her Air Force career as making her ready to lead. She was appointed by Williams to serve on CCSD’s Attendance Zone Advisory Committee, a commission that makes recommendations to the superintendent about attendance boundary changes.

Eady said that her experience as a teacher for 15 years has made her understand firsthand what educators go through and need. She told the Review-Journal that she already has a relationship with legislators, and will use them to improve conditions for staff during her tenure.

Opposing outlooks

Eady said the biggest issue is communication: There are parents who cannot access information in the language they speak, a feeling that the superintendent is detached from the classroom and staff who find it difficult to access clear, streamlined information.

In addition to looking at the schools’ general funding structure, Eady said she wanted to figure out a way to incorporate what the nonprofit sector as well.

“I keep hearing over and over again that they’re trying to work with schools, and they’re trying to get in there and partner with the schools, but it’s really difficult,” Eady said. “I’ve really, honestly never lived anywhere with the kind of nonprofit and union presence that we have here in Nevada, and we could be thinking outside the box a little bit better.”

Dominguez’ three goals are student achievement, parental rights and supporting educators and staff.

She announced her departure from Moms for Liberty on Aug. 29. She told the Review-Journal she left due to personal reasons, and that she remains an advocate for parental rights.

“I stand by the parents’ pledge. I stand with parents in making sure that they have their right given by God over their children’s education,” Dominguez said.

In response to whether she viewed her platform as political, Dominguez said that in this day and age, everything seems political. She acknowledged that she and her opponent seem to have opposing viewpoints, and Dominguez encouraged voters to choose the values they stand by.

Contact Katie Futterman at kfutterman@reviewjournal.com.