School board moves to pause search for new superintendent
Clark County School District trustees discuss the hiring of a new superintendent during a school board meeting at the CCSD Greer Education Center on East Flamingo Road Wednesday, March 6, 2024.
Friday, Sept. 27, 2024 | 1:43 p.m.
The Clark County School District won’t know who its next permanent superintendent is until late March.
The school board on Thursday paused the search because of the resignation of board member Katie Williams, the impending election that could replace a majority of the board and the upcoming legislative session.
The board unanimously agreed to move its planned selection of a new chief from Oct. 30 to March 27, as recommended by search firm Hazard, Young, Attea and Associates. Candidate interviews are expected to begin in February.
HYA representative Shawn Joseph said the firm had talked to dozens of potential candidates but only received applications from a few.
Vicki Kreidel, a Las Vegas elementary school teacher and president of the National Education Association of Southern Nevada, said the delay was for the best.
“I understand that many of you are anxious to hire a permanent superintendent so that we can move on from the mess that we just went through in CCSD,” she said, referencing the controversy-prone, six-year tenure of the last superintendent, Jesus Jara.
“We need to find a new superintendent that is the best possible fit for CCSD,” she said. “If the selection is rushed and we do this in the wrong way, we could end up with some of the very same issues we faced with the last superintendent. To be honest, I'm not sure this district would survive another fiasco like the last one.”
Nanci Perez of HYA said there would be no additional cost to pause the search.
In a separate matter, the board affirmed a plan to fill the seat vacated by Williams.
The board will accept applications until Oct. 18 from those interested in taking over the District B seat forthe remainder of 2024.
The district includes urban and rural northern and northwestern reaches of the valley.
Public interviews with the sitting six members of the board will be Oct. 30. The appointee will be selected on the same day as the interviews.
Williams, who took office in 2021, resigned from her position on Sept. 11, hours after the Clark County District Attorney’s Office filed a court petition to have her seat declared vacant after determining Williams had moved out of state.
Her term expires at the end of the year, meaning the appointee would only attend four planned regular and work session meetings, plus any special meetings.