School board OKs hire despite questions over experience

Martinez, 41, the deputy superintendent in Washoe County School District, is expected to begin May 11.

The board approved an annual salary of $158,795 plus $5,000 for moving expenses and a transitional relocation allowance of $22,000 over an eight-month period to be funded by the Lincy Foundation.

The vote was unanimous. School Board Trustee Linda Young had raised concerns about the district failing to comply with the Nevada Administrative Code, which requires district-level supervisors to have a teaching certificate and three years of teaching experience.

But Young said she was satisfied by assurances from Clark County Superintendent Dwight Jones that the district would follow the law.

Jones said he has been working with state Superintendent Keith Rheault, who has advised districts that a non-licensed manager can supervise teachers and school administrators as long as a licensed supervisor signs off on the professional evaluations.

"I will be in the position that I can sign off (on evaluations) if that’s what we need to," Jones said during a break in the board meeting.

Stephen Augspurger, executive director of the Clark County Association of School Administrators and Professional-Technical Employees, said the new superintendent is entitled to choose his own team of top executives.

"Let’s not get hung up on a piece of paper," Augspurger said in an interview.

During public comment, many speakers said the district could benefit from an executive with a Latino perspective. The district’s enrollment is about 40 percent Hispanic.

They made light of his lack of teaching credentials.

"In reference to some of the concerns about Mr. Martinez not having experience in the classroom, I ask his critics, ‘Why is our school district where it is, facing so many problems with all the administrators having classroom experience?’ " said Marlene Monteolivio, the president of Hispanics in Politics. "We need a school district that supports diversity and educates all children.

"Let’s be open minded and try a new approach."

Jones predicted that the School Board would soon be gratified by Martinez’s selection and impressed by his personal story. The native of Mexico was born into "tremendous poverty. Education was his way out," Jones said.

Martinez is a certified public accountant with a degree from the University of Illinois and a master’s in business administration from DePaul University.

Martinez, who became a U.S. citizen as a young child, is a former chief financial officer and regional superintendent of Chicago Public Schools, where he served under Arne Duncan, the current U.S. secretary of education.

Martinez is a graduate of the Broad Superintendents Academy, a program designed to prepare business people for management careers in education.

He has served as a deputy superintendent in Washoe County for almost two years. He is paid $179,000 a year there.

Martinez has said his lack of classroom experience is by design and provides a fresh perspective. Martinez said he is part of a national trend of nontraditional candidates becoming educators. He noted that his mentor, Duncan, was never a classroom teacher, either.

Martinez will be replacing Lauren Kohut-Rost, who is retiring next month. She was paid $150,532 a year.

For his first year in the district at least, his one-time transition allowance of $22,000 should offset about $20,000 reduction in base salary that he is taking to come to Clark County.

If Martinez leaves the district within two years, he must refund a pro-rated share of the transitional allowance.

Board trustees said the transitional allowance will be funded with donations from the Lincy Foundation, the charity of Kirk Kerkorian, the primary stockholder of MGM International Resorts.

The School District, which is facing a $400 million shortfall next year, has increasingly turned to the foundation for money to fund initiatives.

The foundation gave the district $13.8 million in 2008 to use for empowerment schools, or schools given more autonomy for innovation. Jones recently got Lincy’s permission and School Board approval to use $375,000 in leftover funds on consultants.

On Thursday, the board also approved a $1.8 million grant from the Lincy Foundation to pay for an outside analysis of the reorganization of the district, to help implement a new data system for charting students’ academic growth and for an apprenticeship program intended to retain Teach for America teachers in the school district.

Teach for America recruits recent college graduates to teach for two years in low performing schools.

Contact reporter James Haug at jhaug@reviewjournal.com or 702-374-7917.