No One Asked Me But… (February 7, 2024)

By DR. LARRY MOSES

No one asked me but… The wicked witch is dead! The threat of Grendel has been removed from the land! The evil king is gone!

Well, all this may be a little overly dramatic. But CCSD Superintendent has offered to resign with a buy-out that is apparently equivalent of his one-year compensation as a going away present. Considering salary, benefits, unused vacation pay, and unused sick leave, it will total around a half-million dollars.

That would be money well spent to have him gone; but only if the Board of Trustees will take their time and find a bright innovative individual who has the skills needed to operate an $8.5 billion company that employs over 40,000 individuals of various skills and abilities.

It would be a great opportunity, because whatever his replacement does will undoubtedly improve the District and he/she will appear to be a hero. It is always easier to take over a sinking ship rather than a flag ship.

Yes! Mr. Jara is the same Superintendent that the CCSD Board of School Trustees attempted to terminate on two different occasions. In July 2020, the Trustees voted 4-3 to adjourn a special meeting before taking up a listed agenda item to discuss his termination. A little over a year later the board voted 4-3 to fire him as the Superintendent of the CCSD. They rehired him on 4-3 vote when they discovered it would cost them a little over $2.6 million to remove him from office. They did give him $95,000 to pay for his attorney as he fought the termination order and he agreed to drop a hostile work environment claim against the Board of Trustees. He was rehired with a $75,000 dollar raise and the Trustees further granted him over $400,000 dollars to bolster the pay for his Executive Cabinet members.

There is no question that when Jara took the reins of the fifth largest school District in the United States, it was in trouble. It was ranked as one of the worst academic districts in the United States, Dr. Jara did not create the problem but he was hired on the promise that he would correct it.

Six years later, the District leads the nation in only one category. It is the number one worst District in teacher-student ratio in the United States. Depending on which survey you want to look at, Nevada ranks anywhere from forth-sixth to forty-ninth education system in the United States. Since nearly 75% of the State’s public-school students are enrolled in the Clark County School District, this low ranking is fairly laid at the door step of the CCSD.

Let me run the risk of sounding like a luddite railing against progress. My first suggestion would be to drop the disastrous Restorative Discipline program championed by Jara. Restore the behavioral schools for students who will not conform to the rules of the school and who present a hazard to students who do. Reinstate the Dean’s position in all middle and high schools. While social workers are great, they are not schooled to handle discipline problems within the school. Keep in mind that one can discipline without teaching but one cannot teach without discipline.

Second, I would shut down all magnet schools. Magnets are where the educational elite are taken from the general population and given special treatment of smaller classes in areas of their interest. I would suggest that those programs become available on all campuses for all interested students.

Magnet schools have taken the student leadership from the average Clark County School. This has left the student leadership at those schools to social misfits and gangsters.

One of the advantages of rural schools in CCSD is that there are no magnet schools. Teachers meet all the students at their level and move them to higher levels. There are student leaders in the classroom and on the athletic field and a pride is developed in belonging to a student body.

I would suggest that the new Superintendent read NRS 388G, especially 388G.500-810 and bring the District into compliance with State law. It is time to let teachers run their classrooms again and Principals be allowed to take responsibility for their schools.

If that were the case, there would be little need for the myriad of Central Office individuals hired to micro-manage the local schools all the way down to classroom level. The Central Office staff would be responsible for things needed to support the local teacher and principal.

Surely a person making over $100,000 dollars a year and with so many years of experience in the classroom can decide as to when the lights on a parking lot should be turned on or when the school’s clocks need to be set. Who better to decide which material will be needed to educate his/her students to reach the educational goals set by the State Department of Education than the teacher in the classroom?

It might not be a bad idea to once again let the teacher set the standard for success in their class. I don’t know who in the District decided that a child did not have to complete assignments or pass exams to receive a passing grade. How many employers will continue to employ a person who fails to try at work, unless it is their son?

In my eighteen years in the classroom, no one ever attempted to tell me how to run my class or how I should grade the success of my students.

I remember an incident where a senior had not made much effort in one of his classes and the teacher gave him a failing grade. The teacher was called into the principal’s office and it was explained that the boy was the son of a prominent lawyer and it would not be to the best interest of the District to fail the boy and deny him a diploma. It was suggested that the teacher must change the grade. The teacher replied: “You have my grade but you are the boss. If you want to change it you put your name on the change, but I will not.”

The student picked up his diploma after successfully completing a summer school course.
There is an old adage: “You reap what you sow.”

I have found that most students live up to expectations, however high or low they may be.

Thought of the week… “Success doesn’t come with ease. As a matter of fact, the darkest lie you may have been told is that you will reap in abundance when you have sowed nothing.”
― Israelmore Ayivor