LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Clark County School District Superintendent Jesus Jara met with the media to discuss budget adjustments for the district after listening sessions with principals, teachers and support professionals were held.
Jara says he will not eliminate the 170 dean positions inside the school district.
Jara also said that the deans who already decided to take early retirement will be told that their positions are being reinstated.
The following statement was sent after the press conference:
Clark County School District Superintendent Dr. Jesus F. Jara announced that the district will not be eliminating the Dean of Students position as a part of the 2019-2020 school year budget balancing effort. Instead, CCSD middle and high schools will need to reduce their budgets by approximately $98 per pupil of their projected enrollment, allowing building principals and School Organizational Teams (SOTs) to look at their own budgets and decide where they want to make cuts. This will allow for a more equitable distribution of the weight of the necessary $17 million in cuts needed to start the school year with a state-mandated balanced budget.
The decision comes after close to two weeks of collaborative talks between stakeholders, including teachers, principals, support professionals and more, about how to best balance the district budget. The talks yielded a host of ideas which Superintendent Jara and his team then gave deep consideration to ahead of the decision announced today.
“One of the things we were most sure about coming into the listening sessions we hosted after the July 11th board meeting is that we didn’t want to make any cuts to classroom teachers, support professionals or increase class size,” stated Superintendent Jara. “Our principals and SOTs know what their individual school communities need most. This new direction will give them the ability to make those decisions. Our students deserve this kind of collaboration.”
Additionally, Dr. Jara announced that CCSD will move forward with Student Success Project Facilitator positions in select secondary schools. This is being done in an effort to rethink how students are disciplined.
UPDATE JULY 24: A judge has granted a motion by the Clark County School District to lift a temporary restraining order connected to the elimination of 170 dean positions in CCSD.
#BREAKING: judge grants @ClarkCountySch motion to lift #TRO, based on fact that decision to eliminate 170 deans was reversed. So, Clark county deans do have a job and are allowed to report to school...for now @KTNV
— Ross DiMattei (@RossDiMattei) July 24, 2019
ORIGINAL STORY
Clark County School District filed a motion on July 15 asking a judge to lift the temporary restraining order and cancel next month's hearing.
The motion comes after a judge scheduled a hearing for August 14, 15, and 16 to determining whether or not Superintendent Jesus Jara has the right to eliminate 170 dean positions in CCSD. The judge also extended the temporary restraining order until there is a ruling.
PREVIOUS STORY: School district deans win preliminary injunction against school district
Superintendent Jara made the controversial decision to cut dean positions on June 5 behind closed doors. A lawsuit against CCSD claims that meeting violated open meeting laws.
The district's motion argues that because CCSD held a follow-up public meeting on July 11, that corrects any alleged open meeting violations.
Superintendent Jara made those intentions clear at the start of that meeting saying "The law allows the board of trustees and I to correct any alleged violation of the open meeting law. The purpose of this meeting is so we may cure any alleged violation claimed within the lawsuit and ensure the public is fully advised of the opinions of the board of the trustees concerning the deans positions."
PREVIOUS STORY: Lawsuit claims CCSD dean cuts void, alleges violation of Nevada Open Meeting Law
The Clark County Association of School Administrators and Profession Technical Employees filed a motion asking the judge to keep the temporary restraining order in place.
Their motion argues that because the dean positions were cut before any corrective action was taken, the decision should be void.
Employees want the judge to keep the temporary restraining order in place to avoid sealing the fate of CCSD deans.
CCSD is also asking the judge to cancel next month's hearings. They argue that the process is being sped up and with the school year starting around the same time, they're running into some scheduling conflicts with the court's timeline. They want the dean's lawsuit to go through the normal legal process instead of an expedited one.
