Student Voices Shape CCSD’s Future

We sit down with members of the Superintendent Student Advisory Council to unpack what they learned this fall and how their ideas are shaping CCSD’s strategic plan. From AI in the classroom to school start times, student leaders offer clear insights, tradeoffs, and next steps we can act on now.

• Three Cs of leadership and why each matters
• Operations behind buses, zoning and facilities
• AI use cases, misuse and ethical guidelines
• Strategic plan co-design and Portrait of a Learner
• Ensuring student input drives real decisions
• Later start times benefits and activity tradeoffs
• AP and IB grading alignment and coherence
• Why joining SSAC grows voice and impact

As we discussed in this episode, CCSD is hosting community dream sessions throughout February, and CCSD invites anyone to attend and provide their voice to the future of education in the district. For more information about the dream sessions or listen to previous episodes, please visit CCSD.net.

Transcript

Welcome & Why Student Voice Matters

SPEAKER_00 0:02

2026 has been busy, off and running. We'll be touching on so many of the announcements and exciting changes we have implemented in future episodes. But today I'm excited to check in with some of the fantastic members of the Superintendent Student Advisory Council. We will discuss what they've learned about CCSD during their meetings in the first semester, what they will discuss in the second semester, and what they, as students, want to see in our district's strategic plan. I'm Superintendent Joan Ebert, and this is the Destination District Podcast. Welcome back to the Destination District, a Clark County School District podcast. Thank you to all of our returning listeners, and if this is your first time listening, we're excited to have you. As I've mentioned before, the Destination District Podcast was created based on the recommendation of last year's Superintendent Student Advisory Council, or what is also known as SSAC. The council brings together juniors and seniors from across the district to share student perspectives on key CCSD issues. Over the first semester, they met monthly to discuss topics that are important to our school communities. The students interacted with district staff and leadership and provided meaningful questions and offered ways to improve the district for students and staff alike. The first semester focused heavily on student leadership foundations, district operations, technology, and academic policy. Joining me today are the director of events and special projects, Kelsey Rodman. I'm excited to have Ellie here, a junior at Coronado High School, Caden, a senior at Legacy High School, and Gianna a senior at Spring Valley High School. Thank you all for joining me today. So, Kelsey, you've been able to work with this group for the last several years. Why is the work that these students do so important to the success of making CCSD a destination district?

SPEAKER_01 2:09

Thank you, Superintendent Ebert. I would say the work is critical. I've been involved in supporting the Superintendent Student Advisory Council for the last three years. What I think is incredible about this group is it brings together juniors and seniors from across the district, all over. We have over 53 high schools represented on our Superintendent Student Advisory Council, 11th and 12th grade students. And I don't know of another place or format where we can get all those students in one room deciding what we're going to talk about and then bringing in the folks who know the most about it. And I think that's critical becoming a destination district because we want to create a district where students choose to come to school and choose to enroll in CCSD and that and thrive. And the only way to do that is to take into consideration their honest perspective.

Summer Leadership Institute: The Three Cs

SPEAKER_00 2:52

Yeah, you think about 53 high schools. There are very few school districts that have that many high schools and you're able to get them all together. I really want to thank you for all the work that you do and setting the context for today's podcast. We have, as I said, the three amazing students, and we're going to touch on many topics from the first semester, but let's go back to the end of summer, even before the first day of school with the two-day Summer Leadership Institute, which I was excited to pop in at that time. July, it was nice and hot, but you all came together. The summit focused on establishing the council's culture and leadership qualities, which include compassion, character, competence, three amazing C's right there. Students also participated in nonverbal communication activities like silent lineup to understand the importance of tone and body language. They also worked on identifying council priorities for the 25-26 school year. So as you jump into these questions that we're going to have today, you know, your authentic self. Again, I want to thank you for being here with me because student voice is very important to me. All the adults across the nation have not experienced what you are experiencing. So we need to lift up your voice, hear exactly what you're feeling, how school is going, and more importantly than that, how you think about the future and what we all need to do to be successful. So we talked about servant leadership, the three C's, compassion, character, competence. Which of these do you feel most critical, what is most critical for a student leader today?

SPEAKER_04 4:33

Personally, I would say that the most important out of the three C's would be compassion. I find being a student leader when you're serving others, you're stepping outside of your own personal wants and needs, and you're really trying to focus on what other people need and being an active listener. So really just having compassion for other people outside of yourself.

SPEAKER_00 4:52

Thank you, Gianna.

SPEAKER_03 4:53

I think competence really stands out to me because when student leaders actually understand how systems work, they're able to advocate more effectively and follow through on ideas, which ends up helping everyone in the I would agree with both of those, but honestly, I think character, honestly, I I mean obviously it's a good thing.

SPEAKER_00 5:10

Did you guys plan that? You do it with a different one. No, okay, okay.

SPEAKER_02 5:14

But honestly, I think character, cause I mean, it if you have a good character and other students can see that you have a good character, I feel as though a lot of times it becomes easier to be someone that like be a good friend, be a good person, and then it becomes easier to be like a role model for those people. So you c they can kind of lead by example, if that makes sense. So I mean obviously combatance, compassion, I feel like they kind of all go hand in hand, but I feel like having character to lead by example it would be the best.

SPEAKER_00 5:44

But uh Do you have any younger siblings?

SPEAKER_02 5:47

I do. I do have a younger sibling.

SPEAKER_00 5:48

And so do you think about that at home with your siblings?

SPEAKER_02 5:52

I mean, yeah, I do. I mean, with him, he's so close to me in grade that it's kind of one of those things. I mean, we almost act as if we were the same. Does that make that make sense? So it's a lot less, oh, I need to be the role model for him. It's like kind of like we're working through things together, if that makes sense. But yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:10

Kelsey, what do you think? I was just gonna say, you just I mean, I think there's no better representation of what SAC is than the fact that we had three different perspectives that were all incredibly valuable but incredibly different. And that's how our meetings are. When you bring, you know, 60 kids, 70 kids into a single room to talk about topics, you get so much different perspective because all of our kids come from different school communities. So that was just a glimpse into how our conversations go, I think.

August Deep Dive: Operations & Transportation

SPEAKER_00 6:35

That is so amazing. So tell me about the summit. What was that like? Two days spending time together and and talking about the three C's.

SPEAKER_02 6:43

It was it was very cool to see all the I mean, I had never seen like how many schools we actually have in the district. I mean, obviously I know we have a lot, but I didn't I really didn't think like 53, so like a hundred kids like in a room was kind of like kind of it was kind of crazy to see how many people we have and then to discuss all those things with that many people was very interesting to see so many different perspectives on it at once.

SPEAKER_00 7:12

Well, and the diversity because you even have colleagues, classmates, I call them classmates even though a different school, but from Indian Spa Springs, right, driving in. Uh so yeah, a lot of differences.

SPEAKER_03 7:23

So I'm a junior and it was really cool to see how every school is so different. Like my our school is a 5A school, so it's a really big school. And it was so interesting to see how Indian Springs is such a smaller school and how they work as a counselor school together.

SPEAKER_04 7:42

And then being a returning member, I really thought it was cool, just like I knew what was gonna happen and what was going on, but it was like a full circle moment because we had the old members who went to the board the year before. So it was good to hear like what we had all discussed and how they presented it to the board and hear the overall outcome of it. Um, and it was just really exciting to just get back into the room with everyone and just plan out and like see where the year is gonna go and just all the topics that we were gonna talk about and just being excited to be engaged in all those topics rather than just be part of the result, but be part of like initiating it.

SPEAKER_00 8:17

Great. So you made it through the July meeting and then it came to August, and the council heard about the district infrastructure, including school capacity, zoning, and transportation. That was one of the meetings that I attended. I heard the excellent questions that you all ask. Kelsey, this meeting introduced students to the logistical side of our district, right? Operations behind the scenes. How do you support 280,000 students, getting 120,000 students to school every day? How do you plan for facilities? The guest speakers. I'm really thankful that you had the directors from facilities, comprehensive planning, and demographics, Rick Baldwin, who I've known for decades, and he is very passionate about his work. He's an amazing human being. And you also discussed the first 100 days, the blueprints that we published. So I imagine these topics provided plenty of lively discussion. Actually, I know they provided lots of uh lively discussion. Tell me a little bit more about the, you know, how you felt. I mean, I saw graphs and all of those things. What was the flow of that August meeting?

SPEAKER_04 9:26

Um, for me personally, it was really eye-opening. I've never been one to take the bus. I always had like a parent take me and now I drive myself to school. But it was definitely like an interesting thing to understand because it's something I never think about. But just having to like see the graphs, see the divisions, and based on where you are and like just the routes of it was really interesting to see and gain that perspective that other students do see and how much planning goes into it was really interesting to see.

SPEAKER_01 9:53

Yeah, and I think the nice thing about Superintendent Student Advisory Council is there's a level of respect from the presenters who come and speak to our students, and vice versa. We give them our all. As you mentioned, there was a ton of graphs, right? I think I don't know that all of our students were prepared exactly to get all the information they got, but similarly, our students are asking very important questions and they're not holding back. And I think that's something when you talk about we just talked about transportation, right? Understanding that CCSD operates the largest fleet in the country is incredible. And I don't think that we, to Gianna's point, I don't think all the students understand the capacity, like the magnitude operations has to perform to keep all of our schools and students in line. Um, and I definitely heard from several members that that was eye-opening.

Buses, Capacity, And Electric Fleets

SPEAKER_03 10:35

I thought it was really interesting to see the different types of buses as well. Like I didn't realize there is so many different types, like there's the flat nose buses, or there's the round buses, or there's the Was there an electric bus? Yes, we have electric buses as well. Yeah. It was really interesting because I've never seen an electric school bus because it seems so, I don't know, out of the ordinary. Like it's an electric school bus. But it was really interesting to see all of the different ones.

SPEAKER_00 10:59

So if we move forward to September, kind of rolling through the fall here. Um, the focus was on innovation and wellness, including artificial intelligence, food and nutrition. Uh, this cut this session covered two distinct impactful areas. Again, another fine uh staff member here in CCSD, Lucas Levitt, who is the director of digital learning, led the discussion on AI. Well, food service department executive discussed the menus and the nutrition. I remember thinking about that time in the room, and it they brought the cinnamon rolls, right? We're very proud of CCSD cinnamon rolls. I saw everybody enjoying, which was wonderful as well. Uh, and for our listeners too, we did a topic, uh, I think it was our second podcast where we discussed AI and all of the components where we are within CCSD. So when we think about this, moving on, how are you seeing artificial intelligence being used in your classrooms right now and used or not used? I mean, I would like to have the full discussion. And do you feel students have enough guidance on how to use AI ethically?

SPEAKER_02 12:14

I mean, honestly, I'm just gonna say straight up, I've seen a lot of people using it and just using it to write essays for them. That's that's the most common use I probably see for AI or in a math class, just using AI to solve problems. But I feel like we could totally like I I could and I know for a fact because I've seen a lot of kids using it. A lot of people create study guides with AI for like math assignments um or I guess math quizzes and tests. Um and there's a definitely a lot of applications for like such programs that you can totally use them ethically and like use them to age you rather than just doing the work for you. Because I feel like when it does the work for you, you just kinda lose out on that. Like obviously you're losing out on that like gaining that knowledge. So definitely like using it rather to aid yourself rather than just do it for you is definitely to bring you to the next level. Yeah, to bring you up to that next level.

September Spotlight: AI And Nutrition

SPEAKER_03 13:14

Right. I I also see AI using being used every day, like even in our conversations at lunch or anywhere we go, like AI is always somehow a topic. And I I not only see it with students, but I see some teachers using it as well. They use it to create their lesson plans, which can be good and bad. Um I also What's the good part of that? Um I think it's good because it can help them plan out the entire year and they can follow that timeline so that they don't get fall fall behind. Do they share that timeline with you? No. I just know one of my teachers uses it and it was just interesting to see that they use it as well. It's not just like a generation thing.

SPEAKER_00 14:04

Right, right.

SPEAKER_04 14:05

Diana, anything to add? Yeah, I just feel like the use of AI, it's definitely, I think being in high school is given to us on like, it's interesting because it's like we know what it is, but it's also not necessarily restricted from us. Like we still have access to it. So it's like our schools are encouraging us to use it. And I also do believe, at least at my school specifically, they are teaching us how to use it responsibly. And I feel like they're really giving us that autonomy of like, are you going to use it correctly? You know how, whether you choose to is up to you. Because in reality, if Chat GBT does all your assignments, then you're setting yourself up. So I feel like I like that autonomy of being able to just to use Chat GBT and AI, how you find it best suited for yourself and how it's gonna set you up for success.

SPEAKER_00 14:48

Is there anything that you see, you know, as the superintendent for the school district, right? I'm not in 18,000 classrooms. When we think about that, is there anything that you would recommend for our teachers, our principals, or myself to make sure that we're keeping up and supporting our students?

SPEAKER_02 15:08

I mean, yeah, totally. I like AI can totally, it's it's really not hard to teach students and individuals how to address AI with rather using it to do everything for you. I feel like it's very like straightforward teaching them this is what we can do, this is what like you should do. Cause obviously, I mean, I'm sure some people have seen like you can look something at w up with AI and it will totally give you a wrong answer. Um it can it can totally be like not accurate, and uh it's not always gonna be accurate. So you should still look into your stuff, but uh by rather teaching your students to lean on it and not necessarily lean completely on it, but kind of use it as like a way to help push you forward, you're gonna find that there's a lot less errors with it just does everything for you. There's gonna be a lot less errors with fact checking and things like that than if you just used it as a way to push you forward.

SPEAKER_03 16:08

I think it'd be really interesting and cool if there was some way that you could create a guideline for all of CCSE so that every teacher has a certain guideline of like how you can use AI because some of my teachers are really strict on it and like don't use it at all. Or some are kind of like, yeah, you can use it, but just don't copy straight word for word. But I think it'd be really interesting to create a guideline of like, this is how you can use it, this is how you shouldn't use it, and things like that.

SPEAKER_01 16:39

And as an adult in the room, I remember the conversations around AI that we were having that that night, and uh all of us were pretty astounded with the different ways our students are using AI. Um, I mean, we talked about writing the essay, doing the work, but then measuring it up to the rubric and seeing where you would land, like different things like that. And I think one of the big recommendations that came out that night um that our students really advocated for is kind of what Ellie just touched on. Um, some sort of like consistent training that maybe we can provide to our staff that would help them support our students in in responsibly using AI, right? To help support their education. So great.

SPEAKER_00 17:14

And so you had two big uh multiple topics that night, but the other one was nutrition, advice there.

SPEAKER_04 17:20

Um nutrition, actually, I thought it was kind of interesting this year because we have that big change in our vending machines and just like all of that was crazy. And my I myself am in student council, and a big way that we fundraise in student council is like through food trucks. So just coming back this year and not being able to like necessarily sell what we would used to to just make profit, it was definitely a big change. And I know at first like everyone was a little bit rowdy about it, but I feel like we were able to just come to an understanding, like you can't necessarily argue with what the district is trying to do or like what the goal was with that. It wasn't to make your life worse, it was ultimately to help our students. And I think we found ways around it and it all worked out um for the better. But I thought that was something that was just new this year that was really interesting.

Using AI Ethically In Classrooms

SPEAKER_00 18:10

Okay. Keep moving through the fall in October. You were provided insight into the future of learning, the strategic plan. And this meeting was one that I really was looking forward to and engaging in all of those things. I know the presenters were able to give great background on the Nevada Portrait of a Learner, uh, which I don't know if all of you know I was involved in as the state superintendent and went around the entire state to get student voice once again. So, Kelsey, what did the students hear during this discussion?

SPEAKER_01 18:45

So there was a lot of group discussion. Um, there was a lot of, you know, sticky notes, putting ideas in different places. And ultimately the whole goal of that meeting, right, was one, to let our students know that CCSD is working to create the upcoming strategic plan, that it is a, you know, a co-designed uh effort, that our we want our student voices and our community and our staff and everyone involved. Um, and so really giving them an understanding of what that process looks like, letting them know how they can get involved, and then almost, you know, just almost piloting some of what our our upcoming dream sessions will be and things like that um with our students. So ha having, you know, important conversations about as a student of CCSD, what is, you know, your your dream for CCSD. And so we shared a lot of opinions and perspectives. Students talked about, you know, flexibility and student choice and their real world experiences and applying that to the classroom. But I will also leave it up to you guys if you want to add anything.

SPEAKER_04 19:36

It was definitely a lot of discussion at that meeting. It was something where it was more reflective of your thoughts and our thoughts as councils and our thoughts as people who went to different schools. So I thought it was really eye-opening to just hear everyone's perspective.

SPEAKER_00 19:49

So when we think about that work and how we can include student voice in everything that we do, I was really proud of the surveys with the school start time. They had the survey results was over 60% of the respondents were students, which I was just so proud of everyone that participated. I hope that you all participated as well. How can we ensure, not just through surveys, but how can we ensure that student voices remain a central part of the work as we develop the strategic plan? I know we have Gianna, who's a senior, ready to go on, Caden, but you have a younger brother. You're gonna be here with us, Ellie, for another year, thank goodness. And I don't like to wait to make change in the positive direction. So, so what how can we make sure that student invoice continues to be part of our strategic planning?

SPEAKER_03 20:48

I think the biggest thing is that making sure that in the student input isn't just collected, but actually used. And you can see that through the school time, the di actually use. But when students see their feedback actually reflected in real decisions, it builds trust and encourages more people to speak up and like, hey, you can have input on this decision, do it. Yeah, yeah, have your voice be heard. Right.

SPEAKER_02 21:13

And I think another large part of that could also come from like maybe individual schools, like the schools themselves definitely implementing more things from the students. Because obviously, like I I go to legacy, so my stuff might be completely different from like a basic or like someone who's all the way across town. So I feel like having individual schools be changed also around their own environment and schools knowing that within their respective environments they can be heard. That can also ensure that, oh yeah, this is like a me thing, and then like I can respond to the district too. Like I can I know that my voice is going to be heard in some way. I feel like that those are the things, like even just the small things that matter.

SPEAKER_00 21:52

So I'm gonna go there. What did you think about the final determination that was made with school start times?

Districtwide AI Guidance Students Want

SPEAKER_03 22:00

I think for me, 'cause it's gonna affect me next year. Yeah. I like that it's definitely an hour and a half later, but I am a little worried about activities and sports after school. It'll be kind of late. So if you have a like a three hour practice or two and a half hour practice, you'll be getting out at six. And I it's just really late because then you get home, you have to drive home, eat dinner, do your homework, and so it just leaves a lot less time in the day. But I do really appreciate that it's a lot later so that I can get a little bit healthier sleep schedule.

SPEAKER_02 22:34

I kind of agree with that. I mean, obviously I'm not gonna be here next year because I'm a senior, but I feel like definitely for activities and sports, I mean, you can't really make more daylight in the day. So it's gonna be very interesting to see how some students in athletics maybe like how they fare with academics. Because I mean, I know for a fact for golf, they start at like middle of the day and they already miss out. Yeah, they already miss out on two classes. And they're gonna have to miss out on a guaranteed at least another class. Maybe even they might just not go to school if the place that they play is far enough away. So it'll be very interesting to see how they fare with not only like their academics, but also maybe other clubs. Like if an athletics, if they're gone all day, they might not be able to make it back for another club. I mean, it'll it'll be very interesting to see schedule-wise how things go.

SPEAKER_00 23:26

Yeah, when you make a shift and a change, kind of like the food nutrition we were just talking about earlier, right? There was an opportunity that was created. And obviously, I believe it's an opportunity as well as we move forward, but we'll we'll continue to collect that data and see. Um, so November was academic standards. You had Dr. Jesse Welsh and Dr. Deanna Joskolski there with you, specifically talking about grading policies. And that has been a topic for a few years within our school district. So there, you know, do you feel that our current grading policies are accurately reflecting student learning?

Wellness, Vending Changes, And Fundraising

SPEAKER_02 24:04

The whole thing with AP classes is nothing against AP classes, but I've noticed that a lot of teachers will teach them differently, resulting in different like I know for my school they do uh dual credit UNR classes, and you have to do what UNR says. Like you have to teach the curriculum UNR teaches, whatever, whatever. And it it shows because you have to take the UNR tests. The tests are administered by them. So maybe, I mean, I don't know if this is necessary because I know how a college board with AP classes, I know it's like a nationwide thing, but maybe having a more standardized system with how you teach AP classes. I had an AP class last year. There was some students that had like a B or an A in the class, and they thought they were faring really well. And on the AP exam, they ended up getting like a two or a one because they just weren't necessarily sure. And that isn't necessarily any fault of the teachers, but they don't know exactly what to teach, or maybe they don't know where they're supposed to be going. So having a more straightforward and knowing what we need to learn would be a lot more, I feel, beneficial.

SPEAKER_04 25:10

Great, thank you. And for me personally, I go to Spring Valley and we have the IB program, which is the international baccalaureate program. So my grading policy is slightly different because IB, they do their own kind of um reflection on that. And I feel like for my school and myself personally, my grades are a reflection of what I understand because the big goal for my IB teachers is for to get us prepared for our IB exams. And so ultimately, every assignment and every project that we do is to prepare us for those. So the grade that I get is sort of a reflection on how much I understand that I B curriculum and aiming to take those exams in the fall. So, me personally, I would feel that it reflects that.

Strategic Plan And Portrait Of A Learner

SPEAKER_00 25:52

I love the diversity within what you all are sharing at the different schools, what your friends are sharing, IB, AP, different classes, the scoring. What I hear from you is definitely more alignment to make sure that the activities within the class align with the grades that are issued, align with any other national or international in the case of IB, national with AP, that the clearly articulate knowledge and then demonstrating their outcomes. So as we wrap up what has been a great discussion, I am so thankful that you made time for us today. These topics that you've had during the first half of the school year, I want to go around and ask each of you what makes you excited to be part of the superintendent student advisory council and why students should continue to participate in opportunities to let your voices to be heard in the Clark County School District.

SPEAKER_04 26:52

Personally, I like to challenge myself and being a part of SEC has really grown me. I've been exposed and I've been able to explore many more opportunities that I'm so thankful for. Just being with Kelsey and Neil, they've just given me opportunity that I never like I never would have thought I would be sitting at the table with the superintendent. Like just all these things that have just shaped me as a leader, as a person, as a woman who's about to go off into college and just really explore this next in my previous years.

SPEAKER_03 27:20

I've hadn't heard of the super superintendent student advisory council. But when I got an email from my principal saying, like, hey, there's this really cool opportunity. You're very involved, like you should do this. And it was eye-opening to really see what's available to you. And it was it's super cool.

SPEAKER_02 27:40

I mean, yeah, what they said, it's it's really cool. It's an amazing opportunity to be able to have your voice and opinion heard in a room where there's so many different people doing like, I mean, really just doing different things. I mean, I'm sure that when we have S SAC at like I think it's four, whatever whenever we have it, it's I'm sure that we're all coming from different places. I mean, some kids probably got out at 111 and they stayed at their house until they came here. And I mean, I know for me, I was at the school until I went to the S SAC meeting. So to know that there's so many different people doing different things in that room and having their own opinions on things and then coming together to really show those and present them to people that can make that change is really, really nice to see.

Making Student Input Count

SPEAKER_00 28:33

You know, Caden, thank you so much for being here. Ellie, Gianna, this has been wonderful to spend this time with you. You bring my heart such joy. And then Kelsey's here with us as well. I heard you mention Neil earlier, too. We need to give Neil some love and shout out as well. So I want to thank you again for taking the time to be here today and for all of your hard work on the superintendent's student advisory council. I'm really excited for when you come to the school board meeting in May and present your ideas and concept for the future and help lift it up. So thank you again from the bottom of my heart for being here, and I look forward to seeing you next month.

SPEAKER_04 29:16

Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 29:18

As we discussed in this episode, CCSD is hosting community dream sessions throughout February, and I invite anyone to attend and provide their voice to the future of education in the district. For more information about the dream sessions or listen to previous episodes, please visit CCSD.net. This has been Destination District, a CCSD podcast recorded at Vegas PBS Podcasting Studio. Remember, the destination is better when we get there together. Have a great day.