Jesus Jara, the embattled leader of the Clark County School District, is out as superintendent. That’s after school board members accepted his conditional resignation during a meeting last night.
The board’s 5-2 vote allows Jara to leave the district well ahead of his contract’s end in 20-26. It also gives him a $250,000 severance.
Since arriving in 2018, Jara’s tenure with the district has been rocky. In recent years, Clark County Schools have been plagued with low student achievement, school violence, high teacher vacancies and poor community relations.
Many speaking in public comment at the meeting, such as mother and former teacher Kelly Edgar say the board should have fired Jara for cause.
“One in four high school students are projected as proficient in reading and likely just as bad in math. But that's no surprise because he's driven thousands of teachers away from this district. Teachers like me because of the hostile and toxic work environment.”
However, Trustee Lisa Guzman says the district could have been on the hook for much more money if they terminated Jara’s contract outright.
"If they read the contract and they read and saw what was going to occur we would be spending over a million dollars. And I do mention our fiduciary duty all the time.”
The board says they plan to launch a national search for a new leader. In the meantime, Deputy Superintendent Brenda Larsen-Mitchell will serve as interim superintendent.
Guests: April Corbin Girnus, deputy editor, Nevada Current; Anna Marie Binder, CCSD parent, and host, Spillin' the CCSD Tea
