School fiasco

Once again, the Clark County School Board has portrayed to our valley and the world why our education system ranks near the bottom of the nation. Petty infighting combined with a lack of communication and coordination on critical issues — along with an overbearing approach to “managing” the superintendent — continue to plague the oversight body of the fifth-largest school district in our nation.

At a time when a coordinated, aligned and strategic approach to improvement within this unprecedented environment is called for, the trustees worry about the superintendent upsetting a few people in his attempts to change an entrenched and unsuccessful approach to educating our children. Being an experienced business change-agent and a former trustee of this once-prestigious board, I can state the obvious: Change is hard and, in most cases, is going to make some people mad.

Only when we as a community are prepared to let a superintendent push and make material change will we have a chance to pull ourselves out of the gutter of educational statistics and present to the world what we instinctively believe we have here: the prospect of smart kids who can perform better than they have shown to date. I would ask board members to work with the superintendent on a strategic approach and — once that’s greed upon — to get out of the way.

Yes, material change will make some people mad. But only when board members agree that raising the standards and educational levels of our kids takes precedence over getting headlines and re-elected can that change be given a chance to work and be successful.

Without that approach, we will continue to communicate to the world and to potential future superintendent candidates that we are not interested in change and, therefore, are willing