LAS VEGAS (KLAS) – The Clark County School District Board of Trustees is delaying its search for a new superintendent until next year when a newly elected board takes office.
However, Thursday’s meeting started off with a dispute between two trustees over transparency.
Five minutes into it starting Evelyn Garcia Morales called for a recess over Trustee Isaac Barron’s insistence that a discussion into the district’s budget crisis be discussed in public.
“I’m not going to make a motion. I had made, you’re not going to cut me off,” Barron said as the board president muted his microphone.
Barron said he wanted the budget deficit on the agenda.
“Do we need to take a recess?” Garcia Morales said.
“I’m not going to take a recess. This should be in front of an open meeting. Now I sent an item request which you denied,” Barron said.
Garcia Morales recessed the meeting for five minutes, as she and Barron stepped away from the dais momentarily.
The district hasn’t said publicly how much money is missing.
The shortfall has to do with CCSD failing to include teacher pay raises when the current budget was approved earlier this year.
Representatives of the search firm Hazard, Young, Attea, and Associates were at Thursday’s meeting asking trustees for a pause in looking for a new superintendent.
Dr. Shawn Joseph with HYA said they received a few applicants, but instability on the board has concerned them.
“Large school districts struggle with focus, and the fastest way to have a superintendent challenged is a board not being clear about what we want to do first, second, and third,” Dr. Joseph said.
Trustees voted unanimously to move the superintendent timeline until the next board is elected. This means applicants will be interviewed in February with a new superintendent hired by the end of March.
“We are running a business, a business of we’re trying to get to a better place with student achievement. That’s our job,” Trustee Linda Cavazos said.
The majority of community members who spoke at the meeting criticized the board’s leadership.
“The dysfunction, the disorganization, the pettiness that oozes between the lines must stop. Poor leadership is damaging our credibility with the community, legislators, and the governor,” Angie Taylor, a teacher at Mountain View Elementary School, said.
In pushing back the superintendent search until February, trustees and the search firm hope that the newly elected school board will have time to build rapport and be unified.
What prompted the school board to postpone its search was the resignation of trustee Katie Williams. She resigned earlier this month after the Clark County District Attorney determined she doesn’t live in the state.
Reporting by 8 News Now prompted the DA’s investigation.
