Meet the candidates running for CCSD school board District E

Lorena Biassotti and Kamilah Bywaters face to represent the School Board district representing Summerlin and west Las Vegas Valley.

Voters in Clark County School District (CCSD) Trustee District E will decide next week who they want to represent the district’s students and parents on the CCSD school board —  Lorena Biassotti, the former Clark County Moms for Liberty vice chair, or Kamilah Bywaters, a former special education teacher.

District E includes Summerlin and west Las Vegas Valley, meaning voters who reside within the district vote for who they want to represent them on the school board. Check out the district boundaries map to find your trustee district.

District E is currently represented by Lola Brooks, who was first elected in 2016 and reelected in 2020, but is not seeking reelection this time around. The district’s nonpartisan school board seats are elected to four-year terms on a staggered basis. The board oversees the district’s 300,000 students and roughly 40,000 employees, hires and manages the district’s superintendent, and approves the district’s budget. 

Biassotti is a real estate agent turned full-time mom of four. In September, she withdrew her membership with Moms for Liberty, a far-right political organization that advocates against school curricula that mention LGBTQ rights or race and ethnicity, after previously being endorsed by the group during the June primary. Moms for Liberty has pushed for book bans in school libraries and classrooms, and many members have harassed students, teachers, parents, and school officials. 

According to her campaign website, Biassotti’s priorities are safety, “parental rights,” and academic success.

“The goal must be students’ success in the core subjects, an education devoid of progressive ideas and radical ideologies that serve as further distractions,” her website states. 

Biassotti is also the founder of the conservative nonprofit My Children’s Advocate, which aims to “eradicate” social justice, LGBTQ+ topics, and critical race theory from public schools, according to the nonprofit’s website.

Bywaters is an education advocate and a former special education teacher in CCSD — she is currently pursuing a PhD in the field. She serves as president of the Las Vegas Alliance of Black School Educators, and is a member of the Black Leadership Advisory Council, a subcommittee of the Nevada Office of Minority Health and Equity. 

According to Bywaters’ campaign website, her top issues include dropout prevention, reducing the achievement gap, student safety and discipline, community engagement and collaboration, improving the board’s transparency and accountability, and investing in students. 

In a candidate questionnaire, Bywaters said her vision includes fostering “a positive culture and climate within CCSD, where every student feels supported and valued, and where the educational system is strengthened to ensure equitable opportunities for all.”

Bywaters is endorsed by several nonprofit organizations and community advocacy groups, including the Nevada State Education Association, Make the Road Action Nevada, the Culinary Union, and Planned Parenthood.