No One Asked Me But… (November 17, 2021)

By DR. LARRY MOSES

No one asked me but… A few years ago the Willis Brothers came out with a song about a big rig driver who had some problems delivering his load in Boston entitled “Give Me Forty Acres”. The chorus goes like this: “Give me forty acres and I’ll turn this rig around, It’s the easiest way I have found. Some guys can turn it on a dime or turn it right down town. But I need forty acres to turn this rig around.” This is what came to my mind as I watched the CCSD Board of Trustees fire Dr. Jesus Jara. A parody of the song might go as follows:

He was heading into Vegas with a
myriad of ideas
It was his first trip to Vegas and
he was hoping for a lot of luck
He went the wrong direction
Is what the school board said
As they told him to step down.

Give me four years to turn the
system around
That’s the best way that can be
found
Some superintendent might turn it
on a dime and turn it right
around
But I need the new contract you
gave me to turn the District
around.

When his programs were
instituted he had a dreadful
shock
He was headed one way and not
the way of his flock
As he evaluated the situation this
is what he said:
“Give me more time and I will
turn this District around”

The question becomes does the District need to be turned around?
Let me suggest some indications that the District needs someone who can turn this “rig” around and it is imperative that it be done on a dime not on forty acres. Nevada still ranks 49th in the nation in student achievement. Dr. Jara did not bring this with him, the District was 49th when he arrived, but he was hired to turn this around. This has not taken place. Yes, I know COVID is here but COVID cannot be used as an excuse. I learned early in my leadership training that a good leader improvises, adapts, and overcomes.

Depending on whose figures you use, the District is 7,000 to 11,000 teachers short of meeting the demands of the class room. They are short bus drivers so some students will be forced to use the city buses to get to school. That would be okay if the transit system of Las Vegas was sophisticated enough to do the job. Actually, parents are now saying the District’s bus system, due to lack of drivers, is also unreliable.

Rather than attacking the problem of student achievement with a positive program to increase knowledge, the District under Dr. Jara’s leadership has dropped the quality of education offered by dropping the grading system of the District. Rather than recruiting teachers skilled in working with learning resistant students, the District has found it easier to drop the requirements for these students.

The tragedy of this is that some very bright but under motive students will be lost. The right building administrators and the right teachers would solve most of these problems. Someone needs to explain to the “powers that be” that an “F” grade is earned just as well as an “A.” By decreasing the responsibility of the student to engage in successful educational behavior, the District has destroyed the opportunity for these marginal students to succeed.

The District’s closing of a number of behavior schools has kept the chronic discipline problems within the regular school sitting. There was a time when the central administrators understood what every good classroom teacher knows that you can discipline without educating, but you cannot educate without discipline.

Under Dr. Jara’s leadership, the District has failed to comply with many of the provision of NRS 388G.500-810 designed to give a greater degree of local autonomy to local school administrators, teachers and parents. The compliance that has taken place was done only with a great deal of resistance on the part of central office administration as they jealously defended their bureaucratic kingdom.

The problems of the Clark County School District are not a result of a lack of funding, but it is the lack of leadership. According to the 2022 budget document of the CCSD, the total funding for the District for the 2022 school year is $6,267,679,757. There are 309,384 students enrolled for the 21-22 school year.

That means the tax payers of the State of Nevada, both local and statewide are funding the District at $20,265 per student. The whole crux of this discussion is that the failure of the Clark County School District cannot be laid on lack of funding or at the door step of the local leadership and teachers of CCSD. The failures of the District belong to the Superintendent, his central office staff, and the School Board.

It is hard to sympathize with the complaint of Board harassment made by a Superintendent, who being paid $320,000 dollars year in salary, provided a health insurance policy worth $30,984 dollars a year, a vehicle allowance of $8,400, technology allowance of $7,200. Something called professional expense to a total of $10,000 a year, leave benefit of $6,504.07, wellness benefit of $5,000, retirement benefit of $46,400 and something called monthly salary and benefits totaling $35,957.34 for a grand total of $485,424.07.

Since the Board fired Dr. Jara without cause, not only must they pay off 13 months of his remaining contract, but they must also pay him $171,707.32 for 132 days of personal leave and sick leave at his daily rate of $1,300.81. The final payout is $657,131.39. On top of this, Dr. Jara is asking for $2,000,000 to settle his claim that Board establishing a hostile work environment for him. If the District contest the $2,000,000 claim, he is also asking for $50,000 to pay his lawyer to have the issue settled in court.

I must admit that I do not know what a hostile work environment is, but if it is that your boss disagrees with you, most workers at one time or another have been in a hostile work environment. The solution to that hostile environment is to seek work elsewhere, not relief in court.

Thought of the week… You cannot post the Ten Commandments in a government building because posting “Thou Shalt not steal, Thou shalt not commit adultery, and Thou shalt not lie in building full of…politicians… creates a hostile work environment.”
– George Carlin