Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 46–Senators Raggio, Amodei, Care, Carlton, Coffin, Jacobsen, James, Mathews, McGinness, Neal, O’Connell, O’Donnell, Porter, Rawson, Rhoads, Schneider, Shaffer, Titus, Townsend, Washington and Wiener

 

May 16, 2001

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Joint Sponsors: Assemblymen Dini, Anderson, Angle, Arberry, Bache, Beers, Berman, Brower, Brown, Buckley, Carpenter, Cegavske, Chowning, Claborn, Collins, de Braga, Freeman, Gibbons, Giunchigliani, Goldwater, Gustavson, Hettrick, Humke, Koivisto, Lee, Leslie, Manendo, Marvel, McClain, Mortenson, Neighbors, Nolan, Oceguera, Ohrenschall, Parks, Parnell, Perkins, Price, Smith, Tiffany, Von Tobel and Williams

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Read and Adopted

 

SUMMARY—Urges City of Sparks to name park in memory of Jeanne L. Botts. (BDR R‑1534)

 

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EXPLANATION – Matter in bolded italics is new; matter between brackets [omitted material] is material to be omitted.

 

Senate Concurrent RESOLUTION—Urging the City of Sparks to name a park in the memory of Jeanne L.Botts.

 

1-1    Whereas, Jeanne L. Botts was born on June 1, 1948, in Reno, Nevada;

1-2  and

1-3    Whereas, Jeanne was a life-long Nevadan, having lived in various

1-4  areas throughout this state, including Virginia City, Toulon, Lovelock,

1-5  McDermitt, Carson City and Sparks; and

1-6    Whereas, Jeanne attended the University of Nevada, Reno, where she

1-7  majored in home economics; and

1-8    Whereas, After graduation from the University and employment as a

1-9  nutrition education specialist for the Nevada Cooperative Extension

1-10  Service in Reno, Jeanne moved to McDermitt, where she worked as an

1-11  assayer at the McDermitt mine; and

1-12    Whereas, While in McDermitt, Jeanne became interested in public

1-13  education and went on to serve as a member of the Board of Trustees of the

2-1  Humboldt County School District and President of the Nevada School

2-2  Boards Association, as well as chief negotiator for teacher contracts; and

2-3    Whereas, In the early 1980s, Jeanne moved to Carson City and began

2-4  her long career in service to the State of Nevada, where she held the

2-5  positions of Education Coordinator for the Nevada Department of

2-6  Commerce, Deputy Commissioner of Insurance and Senior Program

2-7  Analyst for the Fiscal Analysis Division of the Legislative Counsel Bureau;

2-8  and

2-9    Whereas, Jeanne’s comprehensive knowledge of Nevada’s system of

2-10  public education, educational finance and the Nevada Plan was without

2-11  parallel, and many legislators and staff relied upon her expertise and her

2-12  willingness to explain these complex issues; and

2-13    Whereas, During the 1997 session of the Nevada Legislature, Jeanne

2-14  worked countless hours in assisting with the development and preparation

2-15  of the “Nevada Education Reform Act,” which is a sweeping reform that

2-16  provides for accountability of public schools and adopts rigorous academic

2-17  standards to ensure that the school children in the City of Sparks and all of

2-18  Nevada’s school children can perform at a high level of academic

2-19  achievement in the global economy of the 21st century; and

2-20    Whereas, The high academic standards adopted by the Nevada

2-21  Education Reform Act serve as a strong foundation today for the classroom

2-22  instruction provided to school children in the City of Sparks and all of

2-23  Nevada’s school children; and

2-24    Whereas, As the first Chief of the Legislative Bureau of Educational

2-25  Accountability and Program Evaluation in the Fiscal Analysis Division of

2-26  the Legislative Counsel Bureau, Jeanne assisted public schools, including

2-27  schools in the City of Sparks, in securing the remediation funding

2-28  necessary to ensure that students were prepared to meet the rigorous

2-29  academic standards, resulting in increased academic achievement of those

2-30  students; and

2-31    Whereas, Jeanne’s commitment to public education and her steadfast

2-32  support of professional development for teachers contributed to the

2-33  development of four regional training programs for the professional

2-34  development of teachers, one of which is located in Washoe County and

2-35  provides exemplary training and assistance to teachers employed at public

2-36  schools in the City of Sparks; and

2-37    Whereas, After 10 years of service to the Legislative Counsel Bureau,

2-38  Jeanne became the Senior Director of Business and Financial Services for

2-39  the Washoe County School District, where she immediately took charge

2-40  and supervised a district-wide, in-depth review of the financial process of

2-41  the school district, which resulted in increased per-pupil funding for the

2-42  students enrolled in public schools in the Cities of Sparks and Reno; and

2-43    Whereas, In October 2000, Jeanne was awarded an Honorary Degree

2-44  of Doctor of Humane Letters by the University of Nevada, Reno, in

2-45  recognition of her service to Nevada’s system of public education and to

2-46  Nevada’s school children; and

2-47    Whereas, In the fall of 1999, Jeanne was diagnosed with amyotrophic

2-48  lateral sclerosis (ALS), commonly referred to as “Lou Gehrig’s Disease,”

3-1  and she endured that disease with the same integrity, perseverance, courage

3-2  and forthrightness that marked her professional career; and

3-3    Whereas, During her final year of life, Jeanne was generally confined

3-4  to her home because she was physically unable to move, but she was able

3-5  to view the outside world because her home in Sparks was located by a

3-6  proposed 2-acre park at Wingfield Springs; and

3-7    Whereas, Jeanne spent many hours in her home looking through a

3-8  window that faced the proposed park, and she was grateful for her

3-9  “window to the world” because it allowed her to remain connected to life

3-10  by watching people interact and enjoying the natural beauty of the

3-11  landscape; and

3-12    Whereas, Although Jeanne lost her battle with ALS on March 9, 2001,

3-13  her legacy is reflected in the vastly improved system of public education in

3-14  this state, the benefits of which the school children in the City of Sparks

3-15  and the rest of Nevada will continue to reap for many years to come; now,

3-16  therefore, be it

3-17    Resolved by the Senate of the State of Nevada, the Assembly

3-18  Concurring, That the members of the 71st session of the Nevada

3-19  Legislature hereby urge the City of Sparks to recognize the life-long

3-20  accomplishments and contributions of Jeanne L. Botts by naming the

3-21  proposed park at Wingfield Springs the “J. L. Botts Memorial Park” in her

3-22  memory; and be it further

3-23    Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate prepare and transmit a copy

3-24  of this resolution to Stan Sherer, Director of the Parks and Recreation

3-25  Department of the City of Sparks, and James P. Dana Jr., Jeanne’s long-

3-26  time companion and friend.

 

3-27  H