Require Cameras in All CCSD and Nevada Special Education Classrooms
The Issue
A child should never have to describe their abuse perfectly to deserve protection.
We call on the Clark County School District Board of Trustees, the Nevada Legislature, the Governor of Nevada, and the Nevada Department of Education to require and fund safety cameras in all special education classrooms in CCSD and Nevada public schools, including public charter schools.
Children with communication, developmental, intellectual, and other disabilities deserve safety, dignity, and an education free from abuse. Some children cannot reliably explain what happened, identify who harmed them, or tell a parent why they are afraid to return to school. Families need a reliable way to investigate concerns, and educators deserve an accurate record when allegations arise.
Recent CCSD reports show why action is urgent.
• January 2026, J. E. Manch Elementary School: FOX5 reported that an arrest report described a teacher assistant dragging a student approximately 30 feet down a hallway. Surveillance footage was part of the investigation. The assistant was arrested and later pleaded not guilty.
• August 2026, Ruben P. Diaz Elementary School: FOX5 reported that police reviewed hallway video allegedly showing a Life Skills teacher dragging a student with autism and Down syndrome by his shirt collar three times. The teacher was arrested on a battery charge.
• September 2026, Rex Bell Elementary School: News 3 reported allegations involving two nonverbal autistic students. An aide alleged that a teacher pushed one student, who struck his head and required stitches, and struck another student's hand. The teacher disputed the account of the head injury. Police arrested her on child abuse/neglect and battery charges.
• September 2026, Robert L. Taylor Elementary School: FOX5 reported that police alleged a teacher aide struck a six year old student with disabilities with a stack of papers, knocking him down, after the child struck the aide. Police relied on hallway surveillance footage and witness statements.
• February 2024, C. V. T. Gilbert Elementary School: KTNV reported allegations that an early childhood special education teacher pinned a five year old autistic student to a table, confined another under a desk, and pulled a third by his shirt collar. The teacher was arrested. A cafeteria recording was part of the reported evidence.
• January 2024, Robert E. Lake Elementary School: KTNV reported allegations that a substitute harmed students with disabilities, including pulling a child's hair and throwing a heavy backpack. A later federal court filing records a January 2025 guilty plea to a gross misdemeanor child abuse, neglect, or endangerment charge.
• October 2023 incident, Molasky Junior High School: The Las Vegas Review Journal reported that CCSD trustees approved a $1 million settlement in August 2026 in a lawsuit alleging that a substitute struck a nonverbal autistic student with a shoe. A settlement is not a criminal conviction or an admission of liability.
These are separate publicly reported cases. Arrests and lawsuits do not establish guilt. The purpose of this petition is to demand safeguards and reliable evidence, while respecting due process.
Existing recordings have helped investigators examine incidents in hallways and cafeterias. We are asking leaders to extend that accountability into special education classrooms, where students spend their learning time.
WHAT WE ARE ASKING FOR
1. Cameras in every special education classroom.
Require video recording during school and program hours in self contained classrooms, resource rooms, and rooms routinely used for special education instruction and related services. Include early childhood programs and separate special education schools. No family should have to wait for an injury before a classroom qualifies.
2. Privacy and dignity built into the system.
Exclude bathrooms, toileting areas, changing spaces, and intimate personal care. Provide written notice and clear signage. Protect recordings through encryption, limited authorized access, and access logs. Prohibit public livestreams, facial recognition, advertising use, and use of footage to train commercial AI systems. Any audio recording must have clear legal authorization and notice.
3. Meaningful access when a child may have been harmed.
Create a written process for parents and guardians to request preservation and review of footage involving their child after suspected abuse, injury, restraint, seclusion, or another serious safety concern. Provide prompt, legally compliant access with protections for other students. Require written explanations and an independent appeal when access is denied.
4. Evidence that cannot disappear before families learn the truth.
Retain routine recordings for at least 90 calendar days. Immediately preserve relevant footage when a concern, incident, complaint, investigation, or preservation request arises. Keep it through the final resolution of related proceedings and any longer legally required period. Log outages and repairs, and prohibit unauthorized disabling, alteration, or deletion.
5. Independent oversight and prompt reporting.
Establish an independent complaint and footage review process, protect students, parents, and staff from retaliation, and require prompt parent notification and legally required reports to investigative agencies. Publish annual data about camera coverage, outages, complaints, and responses without identifying children.
6. Funding and a firm timeline.
Ask CCSD to place this proposal on a public board agenda within 60 days and publish a funded implementation plan within 90 days. Ask Nevada lawmakers to enact a statewide requirement in the next regular legislative session, with installation deadlines, enforcement, and funding for equipment, maintenance, secure storage, and independent review.
7. Cameras alongside skilled care.
Maintain adequate staffing, disability informed training, positive behavior support, de escalation, and proper incident documentation. Cameras are one safeguard. They cannot replace compassionate teaching, active supervision, or action when harm is reported.
No child should lose access to an inclusive education because a school chooses where to place cameras. Installation must never be used to justify segregation or change a child's educational placement.
Our children deserve protection before another family is left asking what happened behind a classroom door.
Sign and share this petition. Ask CCSD and Nevada leaders to make safety, transparency, dignity, and accountability a funded priority.
Sources:
Manch incident: https://www.fox5vegas.com/2026/01/14/report-ccsd-assistant-teacher-seen-dragging-special-needs-student-across-hallway/
Manch plea: https://www.fox5vegas.com/2026/02/10/ccsd-teacher-assistant-pleads-not-guilty-child-abuse/
Diaz incident: https://www.fox5vegas.com/2026/08/25/local-teacher-charged-with-battery-repeatedly-dragging-special-needs-student/
Rex Bell incident: https://news3lv.com/news/local/ccsd-police-arrest-special-education-teacher-on-child-abuse-neglect-and-battery-charges
Taylor incident: https://www.fox5vegas.com/2026/09/24/report-ccsd-aide-faces-child-abuse-charge-after-incident-with-6-year-old-student/
Gilbert incident: https://www.ktnv.com/news/crime/arrest-report-ccsd-teacher-accused-of-abusing-autistic-students-at-elementary-school
Lake incident: https://www.ktnv.com/news/crime/ccsd-substitute-teacher-arrested-on-charges-of-abusing-special-needs-students
Lake court filing: https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/nevada/nvdce/2:2026cv00616/179950/20/
Molasky settlement: https://www.reviewjournal.com/local/education/settlement-approved-over-las-vegas-substitute-accused-of-hitting-student-3870621/
85
The Issue
A child should never have to describe their abuse perfectly to deserve protection.
We call on the Clark County School District Board of Trustees, the Nevada Legislature, the Governor of Nevada, and the Nevada Department of Education to require and fund safety cameras in all special education classrooms in CCSD and Nevada public schools, including public charter schools.
Children with communication, developmental, intellectual, and other disabilities deserve safety, dignity, and an education free from abuse. Some children cannot reliably explain what happened, identify who harmed them, or tell a parent why they are afraid to return to school. Families need a reliable way to investigate concerns, and educators deserve an accurate record when allegations arise.
Recent CCSD reports show why action is urgent.
• January 2026, J. E. Manch Elementary School: FOX5 reported that an arrest report described a teacher assistant dragging a student approximately 30 feet down a hallway. Surveillance footage was part of the investigation. The assistant was arrested and later pleaded not guilty.
• August 2026, Ruben P. Diaz Elementary School: FOX5 reported that police reviewed hallway video allegedly showing a Life Skills teacher dragging a student with autism and Down syndrome by his shirt collar three times. The teacher was arrested on a battery charge.
• September 2026, Rex Bell Elementary School: News 3 reported allegations involving two nonverbal autistic students. An aide alleged that a teacher pushed one student, who struck his head and required stitches, and struck another student's hand. The teacher disputed the account of the head injury. Police arrested her on child abuse/neglect and battery charges.
• September 2026, Robert L. Taylor Elementary School: FOX5 reported that police alleged a teacher aide struck a six year old student with disabilities with a stack of papers, knocking him down, after the child struck the aide. Police relied on hallway surveillance footage and witness statements.
• February 2024, C. V. T. Gilbert Elementary School: KTNV reported allegations that an early childhood special education teacher pinned a five year old autistic student to a table, confined another under a desk, and pulled a third by his shirt collar. The teacher was arrested. A cafeteria recording was part of the reported evidence.
• January 2024, Robert E. Lake Elementary School: KTNV reported allegations that a substitute harmed students with disabilities, including pulling a child's hair and throwing a heavy backpack. A later federal court filing records a January 2025 guilty plea to a gross misdemeanor child abuse, neglect, or endangerment charge.
• October 2023 incident, Molasky Junior High School: The Las Vegas Review Journal reported that CCSD trustees approved a $1 million settlement in August 2026 in a lawsuit alleging that a substitute struck a nonverbal autistic student with a shoe. A settlement is not a criminal conviction or an admission of liability.
These are separate publicly reported cases. Arrests and lawsuits do not establish guilt. The purpose of this petition is to demand safeguards and reliable evidence, while respecting due process.
Existing recordings have helped investigators examine incidents in hallways and cafeterias. We are asking leaders to extend that accountability into special education classrooms, where students spend their learning time.
WHAT WE ARE ASKING FOR
1. Cameras in every special education classroom.
Require video recording during school and program hours in self contained classrooms, resource rooms, and rooms routinely used for special education instruction and related services. Include early childhood programs and separate special education schools. No family should have to wait for an injury before a classroom qualifies.
2. Privacy and dignity built into the system.
Exclude bathrooms, toileting areas, changing spaces, and intimate personal care. Provide written notice and clear signage. Protect recordings through encryption, limited authorized access, and access logs. Prohibit public livestreams, facial recognition, advertising use, and use of footage to train commercial AI systems. Any audio recording must have clear legal authorization and notice.
3. Meaningful access when a child may have been harmed.
Create a written process for parents and guardians to request preservation and review of footage involving their child after suspected abuse, injury, restraint, seclusion, or another serious safety concern. Provide prompt, legally compliant access with protections for other students. Require written explanations and an independent appeal when access is denied.
4. Evidence that cannot disappear before families learn the truth.
Retain routine recordings for at least 90 calendar days. Immediately preserve relevant footage when a concern, incident, complaint, investigation, or preservation request arises. Keep it through the final resolution of related proceedings and any longer legally required period. Log outages and repairs, and prohibit unauthorized disabling, alteration, or deletion.
5. Independent oversight and prompt reporting.
Establish an independent complaint and footage review process, protect students, parents, and staff from retaliation, and require prompt parent notification and legally required reports to investigative agencies. Publish annual data about camera coverage, outages, complaints, and responses without identifying children.
6. Funding and a firm timeline.
Ask CCSD to place this proposal on a public board agenda within 60 days and publish a funded implementation plan within 90 days. Ask Nevada lawmakers to enact a statewide requirement in the next regular legislative session, with installation deadlines, enforcement, and funding for equipment, maintenance, secure storage, and independent review.
7. Cameras alongside skilled care.
Maintain adequate staffing, disability informed training, positive behavior support, de escalation, and proper incident documentation. Cameras are one safeguard. They cannot replace compassionate teaching, active supervision, or action when harm is reported.
No child should lose access to an inclusive education because a school chooses where to place cameras. Installation must never be used to justify segregation or change a child's educational placement.
Our children deserve protection before another family is left asking what happened behind a classroom door.
Sign and share this petition. Ask CCSD and Nevada leaders to make safety, transparency, dignity, and accountability a funded priority.
Sources:
Manch incident: https://www.fox5vegas.com/2026/01/14/report-ccsd-assistant-teacher-seen-dragging-special-needs-student-across-hallway/
Manch plea: https://www.fox5vegas.com/2026/02/10/ccsd-teacher-assistant-pleads-not-guilty-child-abuse/
Diaz incident: https://www.fox5vegas.com/2026/08/25/local-teacher-charged-with-battery-repeatedly-dragging-special-needs-student/
Rex Bell incident: https://news3lv.com/news/local/ccsd-police-arrest-special-education-teacher-on-child-abuse-neglect-and-battery-charges
Taylor incident: https://www.fox5vegas.com/2026/09/24/report-ccsd-aide-faces-child-abuse-charge-after-incident-with-6-year-old-student/
Gilbert incident: https://www.ktnv.com/news/crime/arrest-report-ccsd-teacher-accused-of-abusing-autistic-students-at-elementary-school
Lake incident: https://www.ktnv.com/news/crime/ccsd-substitute-teacher-arrested-on-charges-of-abusing-special-needs-students
Lake court filing: https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/nevada/nvdce/2:2026cv00616/179950/20/
Molasky settlement: https://www.reviewjournal.com/local/education/settlement-approved-over-las-vegas-substitute-accused-of-hitting-student-3870621/
The Decision Makers
Supporter Voices
Petition Updates
Share this petition
Petition created on October 8, 2026