CCSD Superintendent Jesus Jara To Resign, May Receive Massive Payout

Going to school is all about learning lessons. Do your homework, or you'll flunk. Treat people the way you want to be treated. Bad behavior will get you in trouble. Well, kids within CCSD could potentially learn a lesson from Superintendent Jesus Jara: make sure you have a sweetheart contract so when you resign you get paid handsomely.

The widely reviled head of the Clark County School District gave the school board his resignation letter earlier this week. By the end of his run, he will have served roughly six years. Those years were tumultuous, riddled with controversy and mismanagement. That isn't to mention the district's students haven't faired any better during his tenure.

You typically hear about it in Corporate America. A CEO oversees a terrible era in the company's history, sometimes to its peril. They walk away from the wreckage with a massive check and everyone behind them are left to clean up the pieces.

Enter Jesus Jara. He's got a lot of issues following him right now and the school board will have a meeting next week to amend his contract to let him out early. But not just that. According to the RJ, the amendment would include a lump sum payment of a year's salary (nearly $400,000) and benefits. That's right kids. If you fail, fail upwards and outwards.

The Clark County Education Association said in a press conference Thursday that the board should not buy his contract out, but instead fire him with cause. The teachers union has active litigation against Jara for an incendiary tweet that accused CCEA President Marie Neisess of being a "mistress" to another member of the union under his official CCSD account. A message likely meant for a "burner" account that he would

Superintendent Jara didn't make many friends within the ranks of his district. From parents to teachers and students alike, operations of the district have been questioned during his tenure.

Some have taken Jara and the district to task for their handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and children learning from home. To be fair, Jara was certainly not alone on the national stage on how COVID was handled.

The obvious and ugly negotiations to get teachers a new contract dragged on for months. The contract, while an improvement, leaves long tenured teachers making less than some new hires. The district under Jara could have volunteered to fix that. They didn't. Theatrics in the media and the obvious tweet heard around the county left a sour taste in the mouths of the thousands of educators and potentially kept other prospective educators away from the district.

Of course we tried to get people to come to the valley to teach. Heck we sent over a dozen people for an extended vacation teacher recruiting event in Miami on 4th Of July weekend. It garnered no hired.

There was the video of the takedown of a student who was simply filming CCSDPD arrest a fellow student. The district refused to release the video. The ACLU sued. An unnecessary 11 month legal drama unfolded only for the inevitable to happen and being compelled to release the video.

Speaking of unnecessary legal drama, the case of the grad whose yearbook featured an unfortunate and pronounced faux bulge that caused him to receive ridicule. He wanted $6000 for the embarrassment. The court agreed. Instead of CCSD paying, they appealed and lost, likely spending more than the initial judgement to do so.

We could go on. Needless to say, based on classroom results alone, he wasn't it.

On Wednesday, February 7th, the CCSD school board will meet in the chambers of the Henderson City Council to consider his resignation and how to do it. Will there be a payout? Perhaps not?

In his place? Rumors have it that Deputy Superintendent Brenda Larsen-Mitchell will be appointed the Superintendent. Not interim. No job posting. She would slide into the position. Knowing how well the current upper-administration is doing with educators, it is likely to be an uphill climb to righting a ship that is arguably too large to right.

It’s the first day of school in Clark County! Welcome back students, teachers, administrators, and staff. The first day of school is always a little bit exciting. You’re meeting your new teachers, seeing old friends from last year’s classes, and making new acquaintances too.

Undoubtedly, the first day of school and the last day of a school year are the most fun. The final day of school is fun because you have your entire summer vacation ahead of you. What could be better than that? All things considered; I always enjoyed the first day of a new school year too.

Certainly, when I was old enough to choose my own clothes, it was great to show them off on the first day of classes. Maybe some new sneakers too. Of course, when I was young and my Mom picked out my clothes, that wasn’t as much fun.

The first day of school is also an opportunity to reacquaint yourself with classmates you did not see during the summer. At least you get to rekindle old friendships. In addition, you meet some new kids who might become good friends too. The worst part of the first day of school is meeting up with the class bully. To be sure, that was never enjoyable.

Any school and any grade bring new teachers and new subjects to master. In grade school, you would know on the first day whether it was going to be a good year or a painstaking year. Because you would be spending the entire school year with the same teacher. But the good thing is, if you give every teacher a chance, you will learn something, even if they’re hard on you.

Additionally, new subjects bring new triumphs and failures. On the positive side, my best subjects were in English, foreign language, history/social studies, and music. With that in mind, it’s not a surprise I ended up with a career in radio. On the negative side, my worst subjects were in the math and science fields. I passed them all, but those subjects usually caused my grade point average to be lower.

To sum up, there are good and bad things to deal with during every school year. It’s always a mixed bag. However, it’s always nice to have a fresh start to the year. Now, pay attention class, because 96.3 KKLZ would like to “school” you with six great songs for the first day of school in Clark County.

The first day of first grade in elementary school. It was exciting, and a little bit scary. You had to start learning your ABC's if you had not done so already. You also had to learn to count and do simple arithmetic. Well, here's a #1 smash for the Jackson 5 when Michael was barely out of grade school. Time to see how easy it is to learn our ABC's and 1-2-3's.

This song is geared towards parents. Kids don't just learn from their teachers in school. They learn about life at home from their parents. So, enjoy the amazing harmonies provided by David Crosby, Stephen Stills, Graham Nash, and Neil Young. By the way, that's Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead on the steel pedal guitar.

Here's one of the songs from Alanis Morissette's magnus opus, Jagged Little Pill. Boy, ain't it true. You live and you learn. We all learn more from our mistakes than we learn from our successes. That is something difficult for many kids to understand. We've all made poor decisions in our lives. The key to is learn from those mistakes so you don't make them over and over. At least, that's what I get from this song. Anyway, it's all about learning, and that's what school's all about too.

Oh, those crazy "punks" from New York, The Ramones. This song is from the movie Rock 'n' Roll High School starring P.J. Soles, Vince Van Patten, Clint Howard and Dey Young. The punk rock group, The Ramones, is also featured in the film as honorary students at the fictional Vince Lombardi High School. The theme song sounds like a punk version of a Beach Boys song. Lots of fun. Wish we all could go to "Rock 'n' Roll High School." I would've gotten better grades there.

We all know Eddie Van Halen is one of the great guitarists in rock and roll history. But you have to admit his brother Alex rips that drum set apart on this Van Halen rocker from the album 1984. However, the group's dance moves in this music video leave a lot to be desired. Pretty bad, but pretty funny. Love the "look-alike" kids in the video with hairstyles and clothes to match the actual band members.

Not sure if you knew this or not, but Sting was an English teacher for a time before he became an international rock star. However, he has stated in interviews that this song is NOT autobiographical. Sting wrote this song, and the lyrics deal with feelings of fear, lust and guilt when a relationship between a teacher and a student becomes more than inappropriate. The Police would go on to win a Grammy Award for "Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group" for this tune.