Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Document details how Jara, School Board will try to mend relations

Superintendent Jara Termination Vote

Wade Vandervort

Superintendent Jesus Jara attends a CCSD School Board of Trustees meeting at the Clark County School District Education Center Thursday, Oct. 28, 2021.

A new pact between Clark County School District Superintendent Jesus Jara and the board of trustees that oversees him dictates that any future discussions to terminate Jara’s employment would be done in private. 

The sides agreed on the eight-page resolution and set of assurances before Jara announced last week that he would stay with CCSD through the end of his contract in January 2023. That capped a month of uncertainty for the nation’s fifth-largest school district after trustees on Oct. 28 fired Jara only to rescind the firing three weeks later.

But Jara did not immediately accept the board’s firing reversal, alleging he faced harassment and a hostile work environment from some trustees.

The sides finally agreed to move forward late last week in signing the formal document, which was released Wednesday and acquired by the Sun in a records request. The document stressed that the superintendent and the board have formally agreed to work on their strained relationship.

“The board and Dr. Jara have different positions regarding the legal effect of the board’s action to rescind the termination,” said the agreement.

It continued, “Notwithstanding their differences, the board and Dr. Jara desire to continue the employment relationship and seek to resolve their differences regarding (Jara’s employment contract) and the claims through the attached assurances in furtherance of continued employment and stability for the Clark County School District.”

The document doesn’t directly say what becomes of Jara’s $2 million request to drop the accusations of harassment and hostile work environment, which he made through his personal attorney in a Nov. 5 letter to the district. 

The agreement does, however, indicate that the board and superintendent will enter mediation — a private, structured process of conflict resolution that is an alternative to a lawsuit — to investigate his harassment and hostility claims. Any future move to terminate his contract would also be discussed in mediation.

The assurances also say that the board is a collective body. That means Jara is accountable to the board as a whole, and that “there is no individual authority to give direction to the superintendent or any district staff member regarding the management of the district or the solution of a specific problem.”

The document didn’t give any specific examples of individual overreach. However, Jara has previously admonished the board for micromanaging and not respecting the boundaries between the superintendent, who is the district’s appointed administrative top boss, and the elected seven-member governing board.

Under the agreement, trustees will promptly refer “all substantive criticisms, complaints, and suggestions that they have or which is called to their attention” to both Jara and his staff liaison with the board. At his discretion, Jara would pass along the complaint to the appropriate staff member and keep the trustees updated. 

Notably, the assurances say, “all referred matter(s) must be factual information, not a circulated story or report of uncertain or doubtful truth.”

The issue of non-disparagement will also be addressed during mediation, “due to the protection awarded by the First Amendment.”

Board President Linda Cavazos, Vice President Evelyn Garcia Morales and Clerk Irene Cepeda signed the document, although Cavazos attached a note saying she would have preferred all seven trustees sign it, not just the three officers.

The board will discuss adding the assurances into Jara’s contract at a January meeting.

In an interview with the Sun last week, Jara acknowledged that he and the board “have no other choice but to improve because our community is counting on us to provide stable leadership, both at the board and at my office.”

The assurances put this commitment in writing.

“The superintendent and the board shall maintain a collegial and professional working relationship that is in the best interests of the district,” it reads. “The superintendent and the board shall provide … one another with periodic opportunities to discuss their relationship and shall work with and support one another in developing and achieving the district’s goals.”