Superintendent Jara elaborates on CCSD reopening plan

Clark County School District Superintendent Jesus Jara on Friday addressed additional questions about the district’s reopening plans in August, reiterating that the plan represented the district’s best thinking for how to reopen schools under the state’s existing Phase Two guidelines.

After receiving feedback from the Board of Trustees on Thursday night, staff have been tasked with reviewing and possibly implementing some of the recommendations, including small-group instruction times for special education students and a three-class-a-day schedule for secondary students.

Staff are also working through other logistical concerns that have been brought up, such as how the district will cover for teachers who call out sick if enough substitutes aren’t available, Jara said. While in the past teachers had sold their prep periods to cover their classes, the reopening plan has all teachers taking a prep period at the end of the day.

Jara said the district is seeking federal relief funding for 96,000 more Chromebooks to provide devices to preschool students, as well as have replacements and backups available. The district had previously reallocated Title I funding for 46,000 of the devices in March and projected a need then of about 74,000 more.

On child care, Jara said he had recently met with the Vegas Chamber to present the plan to the business community as concerns have flooded in from working parents about how to manage day care three days a week.

“We have to rile up our community to help us answer this question,” Jara said.

The board will have a still-unscheduled special meeting to continue the discussion around the reopening plan, with a final vote expected July 9.

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