2023-05-19 07:00:00
Por Julie Wootton-Greener Las Vegas Review-Journal
2 months ago
John Vellardita, executive director of the Clark County Education Association (CCEA), second from left, speaks during a press conference at the Clark County School District administrative center, Friday, Oct. 22, 2021, in Las Vegas , as Superintendent Jesús Jara, left, School Board Trustee Evelyn García Morales, second from right, and CCEA President Marie Neisess, right, look on. (Chitose Suzuki / Las Vegas Review-Journal) @chitosephoto Clark County School District Superintendent Jesus Jara, left, speaks with John Vellardita, executive director of the Clark County Education Association, before announcing the salary increase of teachers during a press conference at Desert Pines High School in Las Vegas on Tuesday, May 31, 2022. (KM Cannon/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @KMCannonPhoto John Vellardita, executive director of the Clark County Education Association, speaks during a rally outside the Sawyer Building on Monday, Feb. 6, 2023, in Las Vegas. (Chase Stevens/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @csstevensphoto Clark County School District Superintendent Jesus Jara, right, with Greg Manzi, deputy superintendent for assessment, accountability, research and school improvement, speak during a conference for a new online dashboard for all schools, at CCSD headquarters in Las Vegas, Tuesday, March 21, 2023. (Erik Verduzco / Las Vegas Review-Journal)
The Clark County Educators Association (CCEA) announced last Thursday that it had unanimously approved a resolution calling for the resignation of Superintendent Jesus Jara.
The teachers union, which represents more than 18,000 furloughed employees in the school district, made the announcement in a Twitter post.
The union’s representative council – its legislative and policy-making body – made its decision last Tuesday night, according to the message.
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NEWS: This past Tuesday evening, the CCEA Association Representative Council unanimously passed a resolution calling on @SuptJaraCCSD to resign
— Clark County Education Association (@cceanv) May 18, 2023
Jara, who has been superintendent since 2018, has had a turbulent tenure. The union’s resolution comes amid problems in the district such as school violence, large class sizes and teacher shortages.
CCEA president Marie Neisess said Thursday that action to call for Jara’s resignation has been a long time coming.
She said there have been ups and downs in the district, dysfunctional school board meetings and “a lot of missteps.”
Jara has frequently told people to judge him by his record, Neisess said.
“Her record makes it clear that we are not moving the tables in the Clark County School District in favor of our students,” he said. “It’s definitely time for new leadership.”
Jara said in a statement Thursday that the union continues its “bad faith bargaining tactics.”
“The Board of Directors and I will continue to stand together to responsibly manage the public money entrusted to us and not be deterred from our duty to taxpayers or our employees,” he said.
Nearly all of the more than 360 schools in the district have a union representative council member, Neisess said.
She said she didn’t have an exact count of how many people voted Tuesday on the resolution during a hybrid meeting — involving in-person and virtual participation — but noted it was well attended.
Neisess said she feels that when Jara’s time as superintendent ends, she will leave the district worse off than when she arrived.
He also mentioned the results of the “no trust” survey of union members and the results of a survey of community members.
Last month, the union released the results of a survey showing that 75 percent of the more than 5,500 teachers surveyed do not trust Jara to decide how to spend the additional money proposed by the state for education.
And a survey conducted earlier this month by David Binder Research on behalf of the union showed that 51 percent of the 600 people surveyed view Jara unfavorably.
Jara was fired in a vote of four to three by the School Board in October 2021, but administrators reversed their decision the following month, allowing him to stay on the job.
A divided board then voted in October 2022 to extend Jara’s contract through June 2026 and give him a raise.
Jara also confirmed earlier this month that he had been seeking a superintendent position at Broward County Public Schools, in Fort Lauderdale.
But in a statement to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Jara said that even though he was asked to run, he had decided to remain in Clark County.
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#Teachers #union #calls #resignation #CCSD #superintendent
