Interim superintendent candidates eyed

Although members of the Clark County School Board are vowing to have a permanent superintendent hired by spring, the names of community leaders continue to pop up as candidates to take the job on an interim basis.

And with a meeting scheduled for a week from today, the Clark County School District's Committee on Superintendent Selection Process continues to have an agenda item that would set in motion a plan to hire an interim superintendent.

Multimillionaire and Sunbelt Communications mogul James Rogers has offered to fill the position for free for two years. But community members also have shown interest in Southern Nevada Water Authority General Manager Pat Mulroy and Nevada State Bank Chairman William Martin as possible interim superintendents.

Reached at her home Sunday night, Mulroy confirmed that she has been approached about the interim position by people in the community.

"I'm flattered that some people have considered me, but I already have a job," Mulroy said. "It's very flattering, but there's no way I'd ever put in an application."

Mulroy said she has not been contacted by anyone on the Clark County School Board about the job and hasn't really considered it.

"I haven't even thought about it," Mulroy said. "I've been working up to my eyeballs in alligators, and the whole superintendent thing has been in another world for me."

Former School Board president Ruth Johnson, also reached at her home Sunday night, said she hadn't heard Mulroy's name mentioned in connection with the job.

"This is the first I've heard of it," Johnson said.

Martin, the former chief executive officer of Pioneer Citizens Bank and now chairman of the board of the merged Pioneer and Nevada State banks, said he has not been approached by anyone from the school district.

"I have no idea what I would do," Martin said. "Nobody's talked to me about it. I won't know what I'd do until somebody asked."

The bank chairman, highly regarded for his community work, serves as chairman of the Las Vegas Audit Oversight Committee. He joked that he could serve as interim superintendent for far less than the offer on the table.

"I would work for half of what Jim Rogers would work for," Martin said.

Johnson has suggested the search committee remove the agenda item from next Monday's meeting that calls for the development of a plan to select an interim superintendent.

Johnson has said that the board should reaffirm its commitment to seeking a new, permanent superintendent by April 1.

The School Board interviewed five finalists to replace retiring superintendent Brian Cram, but all the finalists were eliminated or withdrew, forcing the board to start over in its search.

Cram is scheduled to step down in July.

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