Judge throws out charge against CCSD teacher
A judge on Monday dismissed a misdemeanor charge against a Las Vegas middle school teacher who was removed by police from a Clark County School Board meeting last year.
Aramis Bacallao, an English language arts teacher at Becker Middle School, was initially charged with disturbing the peace.
During court proceedings Monday, Justice of the Peace Diana Sullivan granted a motion to dismiss for lack of notice.
It was one of two motions to dismiss filed last month by the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada on behalf of Bacallao.
A trial is scheduled for Feb. 14 for Kristan Nigro, a kindergarten teacher at Schorr Elementary School and a teachers union executive board member, who was removed from the same August School Board meeting.
“This morning, the court granted our motion to dismiss the charge against Mr. Bacallao, and we are working on getting the same outcome for Ms. Nigro, the other teacher targeted at the CCSD Board of Trustees meeting,” the ACLU of Nevada said in a Monday statement to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
In its motion last month, the ACLU argued that the only charging document filed against Bacallao was a citation from the Clark County School District Police Department, which did not allege any facts to meet requirements under state law.
The matter was scheduled for a bench trial last week, but both sides agreed to call it off.
Prosecutors did not file an opposition to the motion to dismiss.
Bacallao was cited after refusing to leave an Aug. 24 School Board meeting where Clark County Education Association members were protesting amid contentious collective bargaining.
Bacallao pleaded not guilty to the charge in November. He was eligible for a pretrial diversion program but declined the offer.
The district declared an impasse in bargaining in September. And last month, an arbitrator approved an agreement between the Clark County School District and Clark County Education Association that includes pay increases.
Contact Julie Wootton-Greener at jgreener@reviewjournal.com. Follow @julieswootton on X.