No vote on dean positions at CCSD meeting

UPDATE JULY 11 10:34 P.M.: The meeting ends without a vote. Superintendent Jara says he will go to his cabinet and look for other decisions to try and solve the $17 million budget shortfall.

UPDATE JULY 11 7:30 P.M.: A Clark County School District school board meeting is underway, where the board is set to discuss the elimination of 170 dean positions.

The dean's union says that if the board votes to get rid of the deans, they will fight it.

UPDATE JULY 9: A Clark County judge has scheduled a hearing for Aug. 14, 15 and 16 to determine whether or not Superintendent Jesus Jara has the right to eliminate 170 dean positions in the Clark County School District.

The judge also agreed to extend the Temporary Restraining Order until there is a ruling. The new school year starts Aug. 12, 2019.

CCSD issued a statement saying, “The court issued a temporary injunction and we are complying pending an evidentiary hearing. "

The decision to cut the dean positions was an effort to close millions of dollars in budget deficit and to pay for teacher raises.

The teacher's union issued a statement saying “CCEA’s position has not changed. If there are no raises or if there are cuts to the classroom, there will be a strike at the start of the 2019-2020 school year. We expect the CCSD Board of Trustees to make the right decisions.”

ORIGINAL STORY
LAS VEGAS (KTNV) -- After weeks of back and forth, the court could decide today if Superintendent Jesus Jara had the right to cut 170 dean positions for this upcoming school year.

It's a battle that started in early June when the Clark County Association of School Administrators accused the school board of violating Nevada's open meeting law by voting behind closed doors to eliminate the dean positions.

The board says Jara has the authority to hire, fire and re-assign employees, and control the school budget as he sees fit.

Jara argues the decision to eliminate deans was necessary to close a $17 million dollar deficit.

His decision caused backlash from parents, educators and other school administrators in several open forums last month.

TIMELINE OF EVENTS:

June 5:
Jara and the board met to discussing collective bargaining. It was there that the decision was made to eliminate the dean of students position.

June 10: Jara announces in a video that he's eliminating dean positions at all 170 CCSD middle and high schools. He claims it's due to a budget shortfall of more than $17M. Jara describes the cuts as strategic and the only alternative would have been to cut other programs such as transportation, magnet schools, or salary increases for teachers.

June 12: Parents show up to a CCSD board meeting to criticize and question the decision. it was at this meeting that several principals cast a vote of no confidence in Superintendent Jara.

June 20: A lawsuit was filed against Jara and the CCSD board over the decision to eliminate Deans positions.

June 25: Lawyers representing the CCASAPE (Clark County Association of School Administrators and Professional-Technical Employees) send a letter to the Attorney General claiming the board violated Nevada's Open Meeting Law when it eliminated the dean positions. The letter claims the June 5 meeting to discuss budget cuts was never noticed and no agenda was provided. It was during that meeting that the Jara and the board is accused of illegally deciding to cut the Dean position without the public being notified.

June 27: CCSD sends an e-mail to the deans giving them a July 3 deadline to either accept their new teaching position or they would be let go.

July 2: A response is filed on behalf of the CCSD board claiming the court cannot reverse Jara's decision because as the superintendent, he is "vested with the complete authority to hire, fire, and reassign employees of CCSD as well as control the school budget as he sees fits."

July 2: Response to that claims is filed on behalf of CCASAPE. It describes the board's defense as "jaw-dropping" and says Jara is not an "all-powerful superintendent that operates without supervision or approval." The document also accuses Jara of eliminating the dean positions to create public outrcy and put pressure on Gov. Sisolak to provide more funding to CCSD (essentially using 170 people's jobs as a bargaining tool to get more money for the district).

July 3: Judge issues a TRO (Temporary Restraining Order) on Jara's decision to cut Dean positions.

Shortly after, the union filed their complaint against the school board, which resulted in a judge temporarily stopping the district from eliminating the 170 dean positions.

The district has remained confident in their decision to cut the positions and that the closed door meeting was exempt from the law because it was based on labor negotiations.

The meeting on July 9 will take place via telephone conference at 1:15 p.m. A judge will decide if that time if the case should proceed to a court hearing.