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Ralph Krauss
Ralph Krauss was a candidate for the District F seat on the Clark County Board of Trustees in Nevada. Krauss and incumbent Carolyn Edwards defeated Ileetha J. Groom in a primary election on June 10, 2014. Krauss and Edwards faced off in the general election on November 4, 2014, where Krauss was defeated.
Biography
Krauss' professional experience includes working as elementary school teacher in the Clark County School District beginning in 2006.[1] He began working at Pinecrest Academy of Nevada in 2016.[2]
Elections
2014
Three seats on the Clark County Board of Trustees were up for election in 2014. The June 10 primary featured Charles Ware running against Stavan Corbett, Kevin Child and Wesley Cornwell. Corbett and Child advanced to the general election on November 4, 2014. The District F primary included incumbent Carolyn Edwards and challengers Ileetha J. Groom and Ralph Krauss Edwards and Krauss advanced to the general election. Incumbent Erin E. Cranor faced Ira Kimball and Joe Spencer in the District G primary. Cranor and Spencer advanced to the November 4 ballot.
Results
General election
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nonpartisan |  Carolyn Edwards Incumbent |
63.4% | 24,827 | |
| Nonpartisan | Ralph Krauss | 36.6% | 14,356 | |
| Total Votes | 39,183 | |||
| Source: Nevada Secretary of State, "Silver State 2014 Election Night Results," accessed December 29, 2014 | ||||
Primary election
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nonpartisan | Carolyn Edwards Incumbent |
55.2% | 7,729 | |
| Nonpartisan | Ralph Krauss |
31.9% | 4,467 | |
| Nonpartisan | Ileetha J. Groom | 12.9% | 1,801 | |
| Total Votes | 13,997 | |||
| Source: Nevada Secretary of State, "County Results Clark," accessed October 13, 2014 | ||||
Funding
Krauss has reported $6,600.00 in contributions and $7,304.43 in expenditures to the Nevada Secretary of State, leaving his campaign with $704.43 in debt as of June 5, 2014.[3]
Endorsements
Krauss was endorsed by the following:[4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12]
- Veterans in Politics, International
- Las Vegas Review-Journal
- The Armenian Council of America
- The Libertarian Party of Nevada
- The Independent American Party
- The Calvin Coolidge Institute
- The Clark County Republican Party
- Hispanics in Politics
- VegasDesi
Campaign themes
2014
Political advertisement from the Committee to Elect Ralph Krauss attacking incumbent Carolyn Edwards posted to YouTube on October 3, 2014. |
Krauss' campaign website explains his themes for the 2014 campaign:
| “ |
Education For the past eight years, Ralph has been on the front lines of education. He has worked tirelessly helping children in his class receive the best education possible. However, the District's administration has become a deterrent to the children's academic potential. CCSD's budget has lost its way, and our children are suffering as a result. Parents are losing their voices, and this must end. CCSD is ranked 47th in the nation for reading proficiency. Past spending increases did not lower this ranking; in fact, our ranking has gotten worse. The answer to this problem is not more spending. Money will not fix this problem, resolution lies with the utilization of our quality teachers, support staff, and site administrators. What is more concerning is the message taught to our children. They are learning that it is ok not to be accountable. We are teaching them that it is ok to spend out of control. Let us not fool ourselves. Most of the older children in this District recognize this wasteful spending too. We can and must set a better example of fiscal management, by doing the following three things: 1) becoming transparent; 2) becoming accountable; and, 3) improving the quality of education. Transparency As a state entity, our School District needs to be more financially transparent to the public. The District is overly top heavy, with more money being spent on programs and personnel that ultimately offer no benefit to students in the classroom. Accountability Our District has been known to protect Administrators, Area Superintendents, Deans, Academic Managers, Superintendents, and School Board members with poor performance, and with known ethical violations. As State employees, there should be zero tolerance, and accountability regardless of pay grade or title. Improving the quality of education Our District has some poor performing teachers; however, most are talented and skilled. Unfortunately, teachers are not getting the proper support in their classrooms. Nevada schools have adopted the Common Core State Standards from the Federal government. This new set of standards has higher expectations for the lower grades. Teachers cannot effectively teach to these new Standards if we do not supply updated books and materials. It is far too regular a practice that teachers are given outdated and obsolete materials. It has been proven that some of the materials are having negative effects on students' educations. All classrooms in our School District are equipped with the latest technology; however, we lack sufficient funds to pay for computer specialists to properly maintain it, and train our teachers on how to use it.[13] |
” |
| —Ralph Krauss' campaign website, (2014) | ||
What was at stake?
Issues in the election
State ethics investigation
NBC story about the ethics commission's ruling. |
Local resident and District G candidate Joe Spencer filed complaints against four board members to the Nevada Commission on Ethics in late 2013. Spencer claimed that Erin E. Cranor, Linda Young, Chris Garvey and Deanna Wright used district resources to support a property tax increase in 2012. The complaints included emails sent by district secretaries asking for volunteers to promote a $669 million tax measure that was ultimately defeated. State law allows board members to advocate for ballot measures but they are not allowed to use district personnel or resources for advocacy. Spencer also filed a complaint against school district attorney Carlos McDade with the State Bar of Nevada for his approval of the advocacy emails that has not been resolved as of April 23, 2014. The Nevada Commission on Ethics ruled on February 21, 2014, that Cranor's actions did not "willfully violate" state law and no penalty was issued.[15]
Spencer's ethics complaints echoed a similar complaint filed by Ken Small against board member Carolyn Edwards in 2013. The ethics commission was scheduled to hold a hearing in November 2013 but ended the investigation with an undisclosed settlement after McDade's role in approving the advocacy emails became clear.[16]
Business Benefits lawsuit
Incumbent candidate in District G Erin E. Cranor came under heavy criticism over union influence in the negotiation of health plans for district employees. In 2011, former superintendent Dwight Jones hired Business Benefits, a consulting company, to negotiate a health plan for support staff with Unified Healthcare. The district had not had a unified health plan. Instead, there was separate coverage for teachers, support staff, administrators and school police. While the unified plan would have provided lower costs, the teachers union was reluctant to join the plan. Two years later, however, the union changed course and sought to join the unified plan during 2013 labor contract negotiations. Executive director of the district's teachers union, John Vellardita, advocated for the school to drop Unified Healthcare as the provider and for the creation of a district-wide self-funded plan, instead. According to a deposition by Edward Goldman, the chief labor negotiator for the district, Vellardita also sought to become the administrator of the proposed plan.[17]
At that time, Cranor began investigating Business Benefits. According to Goldman, Cranor accused him of accepting kickbacks from Tim DeRosa, president of Business Benefits. Additionally, an attorney for Business Benefits stated in a deposition that Cranor accused school district officials of taking bribes, but failed to provide evidence of these activities. Superintendent Pat Skorkowsky reported on the state of the support staff healthcare plan at a closed September 23, 2013 meeting, discussing issues with prior year deficits despite a healthy surplus that year. He stated that Cranor had "been the pushing force for us delving into this deeper." The district's chief financial officer told the board that former superintendent Jones had directed Business Benefits to hid the deficit with reserve funds. DeRosa was criticized in the discussion, as well, for having negotiated a $2.5 million commission from United Healthcare which would be included in health plan premiums during the two-year contract.[17]
In October 2013, Cranor e-mailed Skorkowsky, saying, "It appears there may be intent to continue to the current contract with the broker (Business Benefits), even though the contract is now known to be unfavorable to the district. The reason this is a concern is that it would seem to limit both our ability to sever the existing unfavorable contract and to limit our options going forward with a plan that includes the CCEA (teacher union) employee group." In November 2013, Cranor provided Skorkowsky with her research from the allegations she had made regarding bribes and misconduct regarding the healthcare plan.[17]
At the end of 2013, Skorkowsky canceled the district's contract with Business Benefits providing them with just one day's notice instead of the contractually required six months notice. The move made the school liable for more than $2 million due to the breach of contract. Skorkowsky stated that Cranor did not direct him to make the decision. However, Business Benefits included Cranor as a named individual in their lawsuit against the school district. The lawsuit argued that she overstepped her authority in working to end the contract. It also questioned the district's direct communication with Vellardita on the issue.[17]
District officials offered Business Benefits a $100,100 settlement to drop Cranor as an individual in the lawsuit. Without receiving board input, district officials sent the check on September 12, 2014. Challenger Joe Spencer has filed an complaint with the state ethics board and called on Cranor to resign over the matter.[17]
Issues in the district
ACLU lawsuit over bullying incidents
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Nevada has filed lawsuit on behalf of two Clark County parents related to bullying incidents at Greenspun Junior High School in 2011. The lawsuit filed with the Eighth Judicial District Court in April 2014 claims that the district failed to address frequent harassment of two 13-year old boys who attended the school. Parents Mary Bryan and Aimee Hairr claim that their sons were physically harmed and verbally harassed in their band class between August 2011 and February 2012. Bryan argues that she attempted to work with the school starting in September 2011 to protect her son but received no response from the principal, band instructor or counselor. Hairr also attempted to contact the district regarding attacks against her son but claims that the district failed to remedy the issue. Bryan and Hairr ultimately removed their students from the school in February 2012 after the district failed to develop appropriate safety measures. The ACLU lawsuit argues that the district violated the equal protection rights of both students.[18]
The lawsuit by Bryan and Hairr followed the suicide of Hailee Lamberth on December 12, 2013. Lamberth was a student at White Middle School who was harassed by a fellow student only a few weeks before committing suicide. Hailee's father, Jason, was not told about the bullying incidents and only learned the details when he requested her student records. The ACLU case and the story of Hailee Lamberth both feature academic manager Andre Long. Long has been blamed by Lamberth for his failure to provide adequate information prior to his daughter's suicide. Bryan suggested that Long failed to follow through on promises to provide assistance after bullying incidents.[18]
State investigation into cheating
The Nevada Department of Education conducted a two-year investigation into allegations of cheating on state tests by employees of Matt Kelly Elementary School. These allegations stemmed from a significant jump in proficiency scores by students at Kelly Elementary between 2011 and 2012. The state's findings published in April 2014 found that the district failed to maintain accurate records of personnel responsible for test administration in 2012. District officials were also criticized for failure to conduct a more rigorous investigation of test irregularities. Score results from 2012 have been invalidated and district administrators will conduct testing at Kelly Elementary in 2014. The district has responded by placing Associate Superintendent Andre Denson and two school administrators on indefinite paid leave pending review of the report.[19]
Graduation rate inflation
Clark County School District's high school graduation rates were investigated by state officials following a significant jump in 2013. The district's graduation rate jumped by 10 percent in 2013, which contributed to an eight-percent increase for the state graduation rate. State officials worked with the U.S. Department of Education to evaluate the district's calculation of graduation rates. This evaluation found that the district excluded high school seniors who transferred into adult education programs without earning diplomas or earned high school equivalency degrees not considered diplomas when calculating graduation rates. Federal officials asked school administrators across the country to calculate graduation rates by following each freshman class through a four-year period. This policy was not strictly followed by state education officials, who allowed districts to exclude adult education students from the four-year graduation rate. The adjusted rate for 2013 would likely be at least three percent less than the inflated rate, according to state officials. The 2013 graduate rates will not be adjusted though the addition of omitted students in 2014 will likely contribute to a drop in graduation rates.[20]
Recent news
This section links to a Google news search for the term "Ralph + Krauss + Clark + County + School + District"
See also
External links
Additional reading
Footnotes
- ↑ Committee to Elect Ralph Krauss, "Home," accessed April 23, 2014
- ↑ Information submitted on Ballotpedia via email on April 16, 2019
- ↑ Nevada Secretary of State, "Nevada Contributions & Expenditures," accessed May 21, 2014
- ↑ Veterans in Politics Talk Show, "Educational and Legislative State and County Candidates Compete for the Most Valuable Veteran Endorsement in Nevada," April 20, 2014
- ↑ Las Vegas Review-Journal, "EDITORIAL: For Clark County School Board," October 6, 2014
- ↑ Massipost, "ACA Issues Nevada Elections Endorsements," accessed October 9, 2014
- ↑ Libertarian Party of Nevada, "2014 Libertarian Voting Guide," October 17, 2014
- ↑ Facebook, "Independent American Party of Nevada Endorses Non-Partisan Candidates," July 16, 2014
- ↑ The Calvin Coolidge Institute, "Endorsements," accessed October 22, 2014
- ↑ The Clark County Republican Party, "Candidates," accessed October 22, 2014
- ↑ VegasDesi, "Election 2014 Endorsements," September 29, 2014
- ↑ Margaret Koenig, "Email correspondence with Ralph Krauss," October 22, 2014
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Committee to Elect Ralph Krauss, "Education," accessed April 23, 2014
- ↑ Nevada Commission on Ethics, "Stipulated Agreement," February 21, 2014
- ↑ Las Vegas Review-Journal, "2 more Clark County School Board members face ethics complaints," January 16, 2014
- ↑ 17.0 17.1 17.2 17.3 17.4 Las Vegas Review-Journal, "Union money troubles drove CCSD to dump consultant," October 25, 2014
- ↑ 18.0 18.1 Las Vegas Review-Journal, "CCSD sued over allegations of bullying at Henderson school," April 29, 2014
- ↑ Las Vegas Sun, "State investigation finds cheating at Las Vegas elementary school," April 16, 2014
- ↑ Las Vegas Review-Journal, "State corrects flaw that allowed graduation rate inflation," April 19, 2014
| 2014 Clark County School District Elections | |
| Las Vegas, Nevada | |
| Election date: | November 4, 2014 |
| Candidates: | District D: • Kevin Child • Stavan Corbett District F: • Carolyn Edwards • Ralph Krauss |
| Important information: | What was at stake? • Key deadlines • Additional elections on the ballot |
