LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) – Some parents have accused a northwest Las Vegas Valley elementary school of abuse and neglect, including towards special needs students.
During a public comment period in the March 14 CCSD board meeting, multiple parents voiced their concerns with actions at Ruth Deskin Elementary School, which Principal Jessica Robbins leads.
Jeremy Herman identified himself as the parent of a third grader and he began bluntly.
“We are here because our school is in crisis,” he told the board. “And our principal, Jessica Robbins, is the cause of that crisis.”
He added that he has had children attend Deskin for eight years and he was a member of the School Organizational Team there that hired Robbins.
“I thought she was going to be great for our school,” he explained. “And I was sadly mistaken. She has damaged our school significantly.”
Herman said that he started a petition requesting an investigation and had collected more than twice as many signatures as required. He said his problems with Robbins, including “escalation and retaliation,” began about six months ago.
He said his “breaking point” came when she ended the school’s first SOT meeting just nine minutes in, which he says violates state law. He added that discussions with other parents revealed matters he felt were much more serious, including things happening in special needs classrooms at the school.
He explained that students “eloped” from the campus on a regular basis before they were physically restrained and brought back to school. He noted that a specific form needs to be filled out after such an occurrence and said this has not been happening.
Another parent present didn’t find out until two weeks later.
“We are a school in crisis and we need help,” he concluded. “And we want Ms. Robbins dismissed.”
CCSD Board President Evelyn Garcia Morales then said that the board was unable to “discuss or have a dialogue during public comment, however, we’d love to hear your public comment.”
She also noted that the interim Superintendent had heard the concerns about Deskin and was “working hard to address that with her staff.”
Ashley Searcy was next to address the board.
“I am here because I believe that our leadership is failing our students,” she stated, her voice trembling. She has a third grader at Deskin and said she had seen “multiple safety issues” at the school. She detailed putting on a construction vest herself in order to help at school drop-off time to help keep children safe.
She said it took “a couple days” of her doing that before a school employee set up safety cones in the area.
“The fact that parents have to step in and do this, it’s not okay,” she said. She went on to speculate that things will only get worse at the school, which she believes needs as much parental involvement as possible.
She noted another safety issue due to children walking around construction vehicles at work on a playground. She moved on to the topic of children going home at the end of the school day with clothing soiled by urine and feces.
“There’s something wrong,” she said of children being so scared at school that they wet their pants. “Something needs to be done,” she added as she fought through tears.
More parents raised similar concerns, including the mother of a boy in the school’s autistic program coming home with “diarrhea all the way to his shoes.”
Another tearful mother said that Robbins simply isn’t helping the children, describing her daughter’s kindergarten class as “violent and chaotic.”
“It terrified my little girl,” she said as she described hitting, spitting, kicking, and other violent acts.
“Kindergarten is supposed to be fun,” she continued. “It’s supposed to make kids love school. But it made my daughter afraid.”
She added that Robbins “bullies” her and other parents and “she does everything she can to keep us out of the school.”
The next CCSD board meeting is scheduled for March 28. An agenda has not yet been released.
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