By DR. LARRY MOSES
No one asked me but… For those of you who are tired of reading about the adventures of the Clark County School District (CCSD) as it attempts to right the ship should stop reading now. Being an educational wonk, I spend a great deal of my time wondering what happened, over the last 30 years, to make one of the best school districts in the nation fall to the very bottom rung of the educational ladder in the United States. I understand the growth of the district has something to do with the inability of educational bureaucracy to keep up with the change. I also understand we are “not in Kansas” anymore.
In fact, the recent years in the CCSD are best characterized as being down the “rabbit hole” with Alice.
We are emerging from six years of a lack of leadership at the top levels of the District, however, a new sheriff is now in town. Dr. Jesus Jara has been on the job for less than a year and he has already taken some major steps in reforming an out of control district. He has made major moves to restore the dignity of the classroom teacher. He has settled contract disputes with all of the labor organizations representing the 40,000 employees of the Clark County School District. This is something the past superintendent could not do during the entire six years of his reign as the “Benevolent Dictator.” Just a side note: Dr. Jara is now the chief executive of the organization that employs the greatest number of people, either public or private, in the State of Nevada.
Dr. Jara has simplified the unnecessarily cumbersome and dignity robbing evaluation process within the schools allowing the local principal time to get out of his/her office and actually make decisions as to how his/her school should operate. Dr. Jara is planning a reorganization of the district that will return the running of the local school to the local administration and the local community. Emphasis of central office personal will be service rather than one of dictatorial edicts from on high. While Dr. Jara’s plan is different than that of those who championed the breakup of the District it is designed to reach the same goals.
One must remember the successful education of the students of Clark County was the motivating factor for the reorganization law. The reorganization law was designed to bring some local control to the schools and to help raise student successes within the CCSD. While some of Dr. Jara’s reforms may not conform to NRS 388G. 500-810, if what he has in mind returns some local control of the individual schools and better serves the students of Clark County, we should give him our whole-hearted support. I would encourage the State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Dr. Steve Canavero, to get with the Governor Steve Sisolak and the 2019 Legislature to make the changes to NRS 388G necessary to help Dr. Jara as he attempts to clean up the mess that is the CCSD.
Having sat on two committees to develop the reorganization law and having attended every meeting of the major legislative committee on the reorganization of CCSD, I can tell you that the purpose of the law was to improve the educational success of the over 320,000 students in Clark County. I found, to a person, those committee members who spent three years of their lives working on the structure of NRS 388G did so with the best interest of the students of Clark County in mind and at heart.
While they helped develop a structure for reform, it was not for the sake of structure or an attempt to appease a segment of the population. The only motivating factor was to improve the educational opportunities for the children of the CCSD. It was an attempt to fill the void in leadership within the District. It would appear that the hiring of Dr. Jara has given the District the leadership necessary to bring the District back to the heights it once knew.
Those of you who have read this column in the past will remember that I did not believe Dr. Jara would be the last man standing in the CCSD Board’s search for a new Superintendent. So far, I am glad I was wrong. Dr. Jara has proven himself to be a man who has the best interest of the students in his heart.
Peter Drucker, the father of modern management theory stated: “The definition of management is making sure things are done right – the definition of leadership is doing the right thing.”
Dr. Jara is showing that he understands both of these principles.
No one asked me but… I attended the annual Festival of Trees at the Old Logandale School. As I entered the building, I was asked to purchase a number of lottery tickets. I was later called and told I was a winner of two books. One of the two books was titled “Before Ebenezer Scrooge There Was Jacob T. Marley” by R. William Bennett.
If you recall, “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens is the story of Ebenezer Scrooge, a miserly old man who hated Christmas. The setting of the story was Scrooge’s home on a Christmas Eve. You will remember Jacob T. Marley was his deceased partner who visited Scrooge to tell the old miser that the spirits of Christmas Past, Present, and Future would visit him. In Dickens’ story of Ebenezer Scrooge, that is all you know about Marley.
Let me recommend you get a copy of Bennett’s book. I believe you will enjoy the story of Marley and the effect he had on Scrooge as much as I did. This could well become the next great Christmas story. It is a story of evil, repentance, and redemption for both men, one while alive the other in death.
Marley was burdened down by the chains of his past deeds and he warned Ebenezer if he did not change he would suffer the same fate. When I finished the rather small book (202 pages), the late great radio commentator Paul Harvey came to mind as he often said “And now you know — the rest of the story”.
The thought of the week… “There is a troublesome humor some men have, that if they may not lead, they will not follow; but had rather a thing were never done, than not done their own way, tho’ other ways very desirable.”
– William Penn
