Clark County school trustees deny extension of power for Jara

The Clark County School Board on Thursday declined to extend the emergency powers of Superintendent Jesus Jara during school closures, which would have given the schools chief authority to act without the board’s approval until April 30.

Five board members voted to deny a resolution that would have extended Jara’s power to take action necessary to continuing the essential operations of the school district. Trustees Irene Cepeda and Deanna Wright abstained from the vote.

Board President Lola Brooks said that the resolution was meant to create a contingency plan if a quorum of the board — or four members — was not available to meet to make decisions.

But Trustee Linda Cavazos said that with the technology available, it was unlikely that the board members would ever be unable to meet in quorum. Trustees also felt that that the provisions of the resolution were too broad and that it was unlikely they would be needed before their expiration on April 30.

“It’s highly unlikely the board will be unable to perform their duties in the next two weeks,” Trustee Danielle Ford said, adding that the board should reconsider the issue after the immediate crisis is over.

Brooks said she felt that the board should put some kind of contingency plan in place amid an emergency. Brooks and Wright added that their concern over having a quorum was not technology but living in hot spot ZIP codes for COVID-19.

Trustees will revisit the need for a contingency plan at a future work session.

The board approved a similar narrower resolution at an emergency meeting on March 23, which authorized Jara to act on specific items related to litigation, purchasing and planning. That authority is set to expire next week, 30 days after the emergency meeting.

Thursday’s resolution had garnered criticism earlier in the day from employees concerned about a final provision, which would have given Jara the authority to modify negotiated labor agreements. Brooks said the board would remove it.

“As an organization, NEA of Southern Nevada stands in strong opposition to this agenda item giving the superintendent additional power at a time when extremely vital decisions are made daily,” said a statement from the union said. “Some decisions, like the items listed in (the agenda item) must remain in the hands of the Board of Trustees and not a single person.”

However, the Clark County Education Association released a statement of its own Thursday that said the union had no concerns about the move.

“Jara isn’t looking to open or gut our contract. It’s a practical operational move he is looking for to carry out business if the board can’t meet or function due to COVID,” the CCEA statement said.

At Thursday’s meeting, board members also heard an update on the district’s COVID-19 plan, including its distance learning plan. According to a presentation, the district has distributed 55,000 Chromebooks to students who need them, with 145,000 devices not yet deployed.

During the first week of distance learning from March 23-29, educators contacted 257,486 pupils, but the number dropped from March 30-April 5 to 230,361. Those numbers do not necessarily mean a student was reached.

The Nevada Department of Education mandates that teachers reach each student once per week or the student will be marked absent.

Contact Aleksandra Appleton at 702-383-0218 or aappleton@reviewjournal.com. Follow @aleksappleton on Twitter.