Las Vegas Review-Journal (Sunday)
Jara uncensored
Embattled school superintendent offers thoughts as he departs district
THERE aren’t many people who remember a column I penned six years ago. But Jesus Jara, former Clark County School District superintendent, is one of them. “I still remember the headline you wrote,” he said in an interview on his final day in office, Feb. 23, “They just hired the next scapegoat.”
Unfortunately, my January 2018 essay, “CCSD’S next superintendent is going to fail,” turned out to be prophetic. But even Jara’s fiercest critics should give him credit for some things.
Chief among them was righting the district’s fiscal ship.
“The finances are the best that they’ve ever been,” he said. “We’ve given employee raises. When I got here, we were bankrupt.”
Some of that stems from the influx of COVID money, but Jara and Chief Financial Officer Jason Goudie deserve credit for their work before 2020. Most people probably don’t remember now, but the district teetered on the edge of insolvency before he arrived. He kept it from toppling over.
Jara did eventually identify the district’s biggest barrier to success — the outsized influence of the Clark County Education Association. And he put his job on the line to fight against it. Consider this: If Jara had kowtowed to CCEA Executive Director John Vellardita, it’s unlikely the union would have waged a scorched-earth campaign to oust him. He could have collected his paycheck while kids suffered. That he didn’t is a credit to his character.
After the legislative session, “the attacks started, all orchestrated by the union boss,” Jara said, referring to Vellardita. “I knew that at the end of the day, it was going to be either me or him.”
Jara said he decided to leave while recently “sitting with my mother (who) was in hospice in her last weeks.” That period of reflection changed his personal priorities. He felt confident leaving because “the team is stable.”
Vellardita may have driven Jara off, but the union faces its own existential crisis. It disavowed its pledge not to strike and faces decertification. That effort remains active. If the School Board sees it through, Jara will be partially responsible for a major victory. Removing that union won’t be a panacea, but it would greatly increase the superintendent’s ability to make needed changes. That would give a new superintendent a real chance to succeed.
Jara had notable thoughts on other parts of his tenure. In regard to his move to lower grading standards, he said, “I think I pushed too hard, too fast.” He acknowledged that kids were “playing the game.” While he said he thought it was “still the right thing to do,” that’s a major reversal.
It wasn’t the only one he hinted at.
“I don’t believe” teacher pay hikes will fix the district’s teacher shortage, he said. But teacher and student safety “is a critical piece” in the solution. He talked about the district’s efforts to address “more aggressive behaviors” from students. That included “more accountability on the student behavior.”
It’s hard to admit mistakes. Credit to Jara for obliquely acknowledging some of the ones he made. Interim Superintendent Brenda Larsen-mitchell should take note and roll back the dumbed-down grading standards and implement strict discipline standards based on behavior. Refer those concerned about racial disparities to Thomas Sowell’s excellent book “Discrimination and Disparities.”
Jara’s tune on money might surprise people. “Ninety-five percent” of the state’s new education funding “went to paying the same people more money,” he noted. And “very little went to student support.” My translation: All that new funding won’t fix anything.
He was more optimistic about a lower-profile effort to help failing schools. He and his team identified 60 low-performing schools and put their leaders on “improvement plans.” That included monthly visits from a principal supervisor and a review of data, classroom instruction and spending. Sounds obvious, but before he came, “those basic systems didn’t exist.”
Larsen-mitchell earned high praise from Jara. “She’s the best in the country,” he said. But he made it clear he wasn’t getting involved in selecting his permanent replacement. He did note that superintendent candidates are likely to call him for his thoughts. He’ll tell them, “The politics here and the special interests are not in the best interests of students,” Jara said.
One problem is that the community allows “a union to control the legislative agenda for the Democratic Party.” He pointed out that legislative Democrats gutted the education reforms put in place by former Gov. Brian Sandoval. He said the current Democrat leaders in the Assembly and Senate set education policy but barely talked with him and other school officials.
“Speaker (Steve) Yeager? 10 minutes (of conversation), in total (during my tenure),” Jara said. “(Senate Majority Leader Nicole) Cannizzaro? 10 minutes.”
Other notes. He would like to see transparency in collective bargaining
negotiations. That’s much needed. Adding four nonvoting board members brings “more dysfunction to the board.” He favors “performance metrics for kids to get out of high school.” Nevada used to have a high school proficiency exam, but state politicians eliminated it before Jara arrived. Asked if kids learn anything in the district’s credit retrieval program, he said, “No.”
The success or failure of Nevada’s next superintendent doesn’t rest on selecting Jara’s replacement. It hinges on fixing systemic issues for which the superintendent is blamed, but lacks the authority to fix.
Victor Joecks’ column appears in the Opinion section each Sunday, Wednesday and Friday. Contact him at vjoecks@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4698. Follow @victorjoecks on X.