No One Asked Me But… (March 13, 2024)

By DR. LARRY MOSES

No one asked me but… The Clark County School District is looking for a new Superintendent.
While the interim Superintendent is a local administrator who has been in the District for over thirty-years let me suggest that the Board should look elsewhere.

There are two reason for this. First, a person who has been promoted through the ranks of CCSD to a point of second in command while the District fell to one of the worst school districts in the United States is part of the problem not the solution. Secondly, the local candidate is an educator who has classroom experience but has never been a principal of a school. The interim Superintendent was an assistant principal when she began her career in the Central office of CCSD.

This is not a shot at her as a person, but I am concerned that her whole business experience is that of an educator. When one realizes that less than half of the budget for the Clark County Schools has anything to do directly with the classroom one must wonder if an educator is capable of running the organization.

It appears that the Board has decided to expend the approximately $150,000 to do a nation-wide search.

Those on the Board that objected to this search because it would cost more than a local search needs to understand that this same Board is spending $48 million for artificial grass for athletic fields throughout the District. If you want to see the effect of this, drive by Moapa Valley High School.
One hundred and fifty thousand dollars in an $8.2 billion budget is not that much money.

The CCSD is a business conglomerate that employs over 40,000 people. Less than 50% of the employees of this company have direct contact with students on a daily basis.

This District needs someone who understands how to run a business this diverse. The new Superintendent needs to select a Finance Officer who understand how to operate an $8.2 billion budget.

The CCSD police department is one of the largest police organizations in the state.
The CCSD is the one of the largest transportation companies in the State of Nevada.
There is a massive facilities department.
The district is the proud owner of a large Human Resources service as well as a large legal firm.
The food services department feeds nearly 300,000 individuals every day. In fact, the ex-Superintendent prided himself on the fact that the bakery of the CCSD baked over 4,000,000 cinnamon rolls last year.

The District maintains a large system of social and mental health workers. It also runs a large pre-school day care center.
Education is merely one of the many subsidiaries of CCSD.

Let me suggest that the Board of Trustees look for a business expert who knows how to run such a diverse company. That individual would then hire people who are experts in each of the divisions that make up CCSD. There is definitely a role for an Assistant Superintendent who would run the Education Division. The new District Superintendent would also hire Assistants to head up the other divisions who are experts in those areas.

The hiring of a business person is not unheard of. I can think of two of the most successful Superintendents while I was serving my near 30-year career with CCSD. Dr. Kenny Guinn came into the District working in the facilities department. Kenny, of course, went on to be the Governor of the State of Nevada. Mr. Walt Ruffles was the chief financial officer when he was appointed Superintendent. Both men were highly successful and the District was rated as one of the best in the country under their leadership.

The new Superintendent needs to be someone who understands the principles of leadership. The leader’s role is to organize a group of people to reach a common goal.

The good leader understands that he/she does not need to micro-manage their people at any level. They need to hire good people and assist them in doing the job.

One of the lessons the American military learned from their defeat in Vietnam was that the man in the battle was the one best to decide what was needed to get the job done. It is a lesson I learned in the United States Marine Corps.

You can strategize and theorize all you want but when the actual battle takes place the person closest to the action will be the one who has to get the job done. The leader’s job is to lay out an overriding plan and make sure his/her people have what is needed to accomplish that plan.

I also learned very early what looks like a great plan on paper is not necessarily a great plan in action. The people you lead need to be able and to feel comfortable when they need to improvise, adapt, and overcome the reality of the situation.

It will be important for the person hired to fill the role of CCSD Superintendent to understand, not only is the district a conglomerate, it is also made up of a very diverse population.

In some states there are high school districts, middle school districts and elementary school districts. That is not the case for CCSD. There are over 350 unique schools in the District. These schools are located in seven different incorporated cities.

There is also a large contingent of rural schools scattered throughout the county. Each and every one of these eight settings have a different clientele of students requiring unique approaches to educating these youngsters. One size does not fit all.

I would be so bold as to suggest that the new Superintendent divide the District up under an Assistant Superintendent for each city and one for the rural schools.

The new Superintendent might want to read NRS 388.500-810 and try to comply with THE State Law rather than ignore it as the past Superintendent was inclined to do.

Thought of the week… “The greatest leader is not necessarily the one who does the greatest things. He is the one that gets the people to do the greatest things.”
– President Ronald Reagan