LAS VEGAS (FOX5) — The Clark County School District has created a new “Passion Team” aimed at re-energizing staff as part of Superintendent Jhone Ebert’s long-term goal of becoming a destination school district.
The 25-member team includes Principal Kelly Wright from Kesterson Elementary in Henderson and School Associate Superintendent Rebecca Lucero.
Their mission extends beyond Ebert’s initial 100-day priorities, which included re-energizing passion, strengthening communication, engaging in partnerships and rebuilding trust.
“I have worked really hard at my own school to make it a place that people really want to work, so I was hoping that I could help bring that to more of a district level,” Wright said.
The district started the school year with a 73% decrease in teacher vacancies. Wright said the team hopes to help retain those new teachers.
“We’ve been able to hire teachers now. We want them to stay, and people stay at a job where they feel appreciated and they enjoy their work,” Wright said.
Among the team’s first initiatives is a campaign to recognize teacher attendance.
“We do a really good job of recognizing student attendance, but we don’t recognize employee attendance,” Wright said. “Just letting people know, hey, thank you for showing up.”
The team will also review results from a recently distributed “temperature check survey” asking district staff to rate their passion for their work and how recognized they feel for their contributions on a scale from “strongly disagree” to “strongly agree.”
“It started from an idea in our team of, how do we get a feel for how people are thinking,” Lucero said.
Lucero said these efforts ultimately benefit students.
“We know that it’s important to recognize the hard work. We know that when we do that, it’s going to be really powerful for making a difference for kids, which is what we’re here for,” she said.
The Passion Team is in its beginning stages but plans to continue long-term efforts to transform the district culture.
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