Clark County School District Superintendent Jesus Jara waits for the start of a school board meeting at the CCSD Greer Education Center Wednesday, Oct. 5, 2022. The board voted, 4-3, to extend Jaras contract by 3.5 years with a $75,000 raise per year.
Published Wednesday, Oct. 5, 2022 | 10:31 a.m.
Updated Wednesday, Oct. 5, 2022 | 3:43 p.m.
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A majority of the Clark County School Board voted to extend Superintendent Jesus Jara’s contract and give him a raise during a tense meeting Wednesday.
Jara will now lead Las Vegas-area schools through June 2026 at an annual salary of $395,000 — a $75,000-a-year raise to his base pay — after the board voted 4-3 to retain him for an additional three and a half years. His contract was set to expire in January.
The same bitter split that roiled the board last fall, when the board fired Jara and then reversed the termination, was front and center. Board members Linda Cavazos, Danielle Ford and Lisa Guzman voted no Wednesday on the extension.
“This community is recovering from several years of trauma, and some of it was directly inflicted by this board,” said board member Lola Brooks, who moved to approve the new contract. “I am of the mindset that the district and the community deserve stability and they deserve us to make this decision at this point in time.”
Board members Evelyn Garcia Morales and Katie Williams and President Irene Cepeda joined Brooks in voting yes.
“We have a ways to go. I don’t deny that. But we have the ability to continue to stay focused on the health, safety, the well-being of our 300,000 lives that I am humbled and honored to serve as their superintendent,” Jara said.
Jara received a “highly effective” rating last week from a similarly split board that took a favorable view overall of his goals for teacher hiring and certain student academic and disciplinary outcomes.
Long-standing divisions typically have Cavazos, Ford and Guzman vocally opposite their colleagues. That extended to both the substance of the job extension and the timing of the meeting to consider the contract, especially from Cavazos and Ford.
Cavazos said she didn’t object to reviewing Jara’s contract, but by having the vote at a Wednesday morning meeting, “the optics are so bad.”
“I wrote on Monday a very specific email to President Cepeda and to our counsel asking, where’s the fire, what’s the big rush?” Cavazos said. “Are we going to ignore the elephant in the room, which is the election?”
Cavazos, Ford and Cepeda are running for reelection in November, potentially shifting the balance of power of the board.
Cepeda released a statement this week saying that the Wednesday morning work session was the only open time slot before the holidays and with enough lead time before Jara’s previous contract was set to end Jan. 15. “Waiting to discuss this item after elections is purely political and poor governance,” she wrote, noting that contract discussions at work sessions are “not uncommon.”
Work sessions, under board policy, “should be for the Board to discuss pertinent issues, policy review and training that is needed to support the Board in their work” and are often scheduled for Wednesday mornings. Regular meetings are usually held on Thursday evenings, and should typically include action items.
The superintendent’s employment contract was an action item, and according to board records, seven out of nine superintendent contract approvals, including extensions, since 2009 have been taken at regular meetings. The last contract amendment to be held at a work session was in 2010, when Walt Rulffes volunteered to extend his term with a reduced salary during the Great Recession.
‘Drama and insanity’
Ford suggested taking no action on Jara’s contract, because it defaults to month-to-month terms after its expiration date. The board, as it is constituted after the November elections and swearing-in in January, could consider his employment after being seated, with Jara still in the top executive position.
Ford said Jara’s contract negotiations seemed “very flawed, sketchy and quite frankly an abuse of power by four trustees, and I am vehemently against this contract — the way it was done and the expense that it’s going to cost the taxpayer, and the absolute disrespect to the constituents who have a right to elect trustees to make decisions like this.”
Board attorney Nicole Malich said Jara has not received any bonuses since coming to CCSD in 2018, and the salary adjustment was to offset the loss of certain benefits recently eliminated by state law, like car and wellness allowances. This is his first raise.
Brooks said that minus the cash value of the eliminated allowances, the $320,000 Jara is earning pre-raise is $10,000 less than the superintendent of Washoe County School District serving Reno, “and that superintendent serves significantly fewer students and not nearly the amount of drama and insanity — and they’re brand new to the state. They have not been here for any length of time,” Brooks said.
Community observations
One speaker, Dylan Keith from the Vegas Chamber, supported Jara and his partnerships with the business community.
“Turnover in operational leadership at this juncture will not enhance student outcomes and will cause instability in the district,” Keith said.
But many speakers, in the same breaths, criticized Jara and the School Board.
Jessica Alley, who taught in CCSD until last year, said her evaluation as a teacher was 13 pages long, compared with the summary attached to Jara’s evaluation, which was three and a half pages.
“We fired him and now you’re telling us that he’s earning a satisfactory rating,” Alley said. “How does that happen? How does that make sense to anyone on this board? You guys all look like fools.”
Parent Brian Wachter said voters and other parents don’t trust the board, and that the body is close to becoming a “political liability.”
Parent Jacqueline Davinia Williamson said she wished the board could see how they look to the audience.
“You literally watch certain ears shut off and you’re not hearing anything,” she said. “It’s obvious and it’s sad.”
