Rulffes affirmed by council that spurned him

By Emily Richmond

Friday, Aug. 29, 2008 | 2 a.m.

In 2005 the Council for a Better Nevada went in search of a new superintendent for the Clark County School District and settled on New York City educator Eric Nadelstern.

The move by the group of well-connected business leaders was seen by some as meddlesome, and by others as a clumsy show of power.

Nadelstern made it to the final round of interviews but withdrew from consideration. Walt Rulffes — the district’s former chief financial officer and acting superintendent at the time — got the job.

On Wednesday, the council’s executive director, Maureen Peckman, extended an olive branch of sorts to Rulffes, who accepted it with a handshake and a smile.

It might have helped that the olive branch came with $13.5 million in private funding for Rulffes’ “empowerment schools” initiative. The money is from the Lincy Foundation, which oversees billionaire Kirk Kerkorian’s philanthropic endeavors. Peckman and the council helped broker the deal.

The district has 14 empowerment schools, where principals are given extra funding and more control over how they spend it in exchange for stricter accountability. The program is similar to the New York City Public Schools’ “autonomy zone,” which was developed by Nadelstern.

The donation will support empowerment programs at 10 schools. At a news conference to announce the donation, held at Keller Middle School, the first middle school selected for the program, Peckman said, “a couple of lessons were learned” during the superintendent search. As Rulffes looked on and smiled, Peckman added that she considers Rulffes a friend who shares the council’s vision for innovative approaches to school management.

“He’s our superintendent,” Peckman said. “I hope he will be for a long time.”

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Gov. Jim Gibbons also attended the news conference, offering his support for the empowerment program. He’s been a fan since a 2006 visit to Paul Culley Elementary, one of Clark County’s first empowerment schools and a campus that has made dramatic academic gains.

Gibbons reminded the audience that he had an empowerment plan of his own, outlined in his first State of the State address and submitted as a bill draft request.

His $10 million plan was pulled because of a lack of funding. Lawmakers ultimately approved a similar proposal, but the $9 million set aside for it was eliminated during the first round of budget cuts last winter.

The governor said he plans to keep the concept high on his priority list for the upcoming legislative session. In the meantime, he said, school districts can follow Clark County’s example and look for alternative sources of funding.

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A preliminary count of students who showed up for the first week of school suggests enrollment will be up this year, although growth is not expected to top 1.5 percent.

District officials were reluctant to speculate what the head count will be Sept. 19, the official “count day” used by the state to determine per pupil funding.

Enrollment numbers typically jump after Labor Day, when some families return from summer vacation.

In the hope of avoiding layoffs, the district postponed filling all vacant teaching positions until the enrollment figures firm up. Long-term substitutes are filling most of those spots. After count day, regular full-time teachers will be moved from less-crowded campuses to fill the vacancies.

Some campuses have enrollment increases. At Bob Miller Middle School, in Green Valley, Principal Tam Larnard was told to expect 1,572 students. As of this week, he had more than 1,660.

Larnard will likely be allowed to convert a long-term substitute vacancy into a regular teaching position. On the downside, 46 students signed up for Algebra I Honors — too many for one class. The students were given an assessment test and those with the six lowest scores will be moved to a different class.

“Unfortunately, life is a competition,” Larnard said. “But I can’t put 46 kids in there.”