Las Vegas Sun

March 18, 2024

CCSD superintendent search now has three local candidates

CCSD

Yvonne Gonzalez / Las Vegas Sun

Trustees listen to members of the public on Thursday, April 19, 2018, before they finalize their list of current and former Clark County School District employees who will move forward in the search for a new superintendent.

A half-dozen internal and external finalists are moving forward in the Clark County School District’s superintendent search.

The board expanded the search to former and current CCSD employees amid concern from the community about a lack of an internal candidate, said trustee Deanna Wright. The district contracted with search firm Ray & Associates for almost $50,000 to conduct a national search that led to four finalists, a list that is now down to three after one dropped out.

“Bringing in some additional people was to enrich the process,” Wright said. “We heard from our community members and I believe that many of us up here felt like we needed to have a situation where we have external and either former or current internal candidates coming before us.”

Trustees on Thursday chose Mike Barton, CCSD chief academic officer, Jesse Welsh, associate superintendent of curriculum and professional development, and Eva White, former interim CFO, out of 14 current and former district employees. They were part of the initial group of 77 applicants.

Dozens in the audience stood in support of Barton, including former students. Many others spoke in favor of deputy chief human resources officer April Key, who did not make the list of finalists.

“There’s a difference between getting what you want and being listened to,” Wright said of leaving Key off the list. “I would ask the community to understand is that as elected officials, we are living, breathing, doing this, meetings constantly, dealing with lots of people and have lots of information that maybe the general public doesn’t have.”

Trustees finalized their options after hearing from the public, and then putting forward less than a handful of their top choices. Six trustees said Barton should be interviewed, five also named White, and three chose Welsh as a finalist. Key and John S. Haynal, a principal, each received two votes, and Jhone M. Ebert, former CCSD chief technology officer, received a nod from one trustee.

Opponents of expanding the number of candidates who will be interviewed said that this sowed confusion, and that a new person would bring more chaos to a district that is reorganizing while struggling academically and financially. Supporters of the move told trustees that they wanted a superintendent who knew the district and its issues, and that past superintendents from outside the district didn’t stay long.

Several speakers told trustees they wanted a superintendent who would not have to spend the first year or two on the job learning the community and the district. Many also said they wanted a superintendent who would stay in the job, unlike Superintendent Pat Skorkowsky’s predecessors. Skorkowsky is retiring in June after 30 years in the district, five of which he spent in CCSD’s top role.

Barton, Welsh and White will go compete against Donald T. Haddad, superintendent of St. Vrain Valley Schools in Longmont, Colo.; Shonda Huery Hardman, a coach and consultant for school districts who previously was chief of schools at Chicago Public Schools; and Jesus F. Jara, deputy superintendent of Orange County Public Schools in Florida.

Leading the country’s fifth-largest school district comes with about $320,000 in negotiable salary, plus benefits.

Interviews are set for May 27 and a community meeting will be held the next day, a Saturday. Trustees will pick the new superintendent May 2. People can find out more on the district’s website.