Nevada State High School CEO admonished, fined $2.5K for ethics violations

The interim CEO of a Nevada charter school system was admonished and ordered to pay a $2,500 fine Wednesday for violating state ethics laws regarding contracts.

The Nevada Commission on Ethics unanimously found that Melissa McCormick, the head of Nevada State High School, executed her own employment contract to earn a $179,000 annual salary and countersigned a contract that allowed her spouse to continue providing nursing services at the charter system shortly after she became interim CEO.

Through an agreement with the commission, McCormick’s actions were found to be two non-willful violations of the state’s ethics law, said Ross Armstrong, executive director of the commission, at its Wednesday meeting.

Armstrong said McCormick must pay a $2,500 civil penalty, complete ethics training for the Nevada State High School organization and have no Nevada ethics law violations through Dec. 8. Armstrong added that Nevada State High School must submit its ethics policy to commission staff within 90 days.

“This agreement, and all the consideration of it, presents to me an important reminder for our charter schools that they need to follow the ethics commission requirements,” Armstrong said at the meeting.

He added: “It’s not as though Mrs. McCormick pursued some sort of secret contract for herself or family members. That whole piece was transparent, but still was a violation of the ethics law.”

Should McCormick not comply with the commission’s order, she would be issued a willful violation and “be invited back to the commission to argue about what the appropriate remedies would be,” Armstrong said.

Jonathan Blum, counsel for McCormick, had no comment during the meeting.

Nevada State High School operates 10 campuses across the Silver State, with nine of them located in the Las Vegas Valley, according to its website.