CCSD head should quit or be fired, state Senate leader says

Nevada Senate Majority Leader Nicole Cannizzaro, D-Las Vegas, called Clark County School District Superintendent Jesus Jara’s administration a “failure” Tuesday and said he should resign or be fired.

“Unfortunately, a majority of the CCSD Board of Trustees has created an environment where Dr. Jara and his senior administrators are never expected to produce results and are never held accountable for their arrogant, intransigent leadership,” she said in a news release issued by Nevada Senate Democrats.

Last week Nevada Assembly Speaker Steve Yeager issued a similar statement calling for Jara’s resignation.

Cannizzaro said it’s clear that “significant administrative reform is required.”

She said she will convene public education advocates over the next few months to make recommendations for policy and governance changes for Clark County schools, including “possible administrative restructuring of the district.”

In May, the Clark County Education Association teachers union also called for Jara’s resignation.

Jara has been superintendent of the nation’s fifth-largest school district — which has about 300,000 students — since 2018.

In 2021, a divided School Board voted to terminate Jara’s contract but then reversed course the following month.

In a split vote last year, the School Board voted to extend Jara’s contract through the end of June 2026 and give him a $75,000 annual raise.

The district said in a statement last week that Jara will remain on the job “as long as the Board of Trustees desires him to do so.”

Contact Julie Wootton-Greener at jgreener@reviewjournal.com. Follow @julieswootton on X.