< 12px;">< 12px;">Leadership change, budgeting errors and the future of a small community’s school were among the issues that led the news this past year in the Clark County School District.

< 12px;">< 12px;">Jara resigns

< 12px;">< 12px;">In late January, Superintendent Jesus Jara submitted a “conditional resignation” after nearly six embattled years as the district’s chief executive. After negotiating the terms of his exit, including the size of his severance package, Jara left in late February. The school board last renewed his contract in 2022 to run until mid-2026.

< 12px;">< 12px;">Jara came to CCSD from Florida in 2018 following the retirement of Superintendent Pat Skorkowsky, a homegrown CCSD administrator. Jara frequently clashed with the school board, state legislative leaders and especially the district’s main teachers union.

< 12px;">< 12px;">Jara said he ran out of the fight he needed to continue leading the nation’s fifth-largest school district. His second-in-command, Brenda Larsen-Mitchell, has led CCSD as the interim superintendent since Jara’s departure.

< 12px;">< 12px;">The school board, which oversees the superintendent, has been discussing the search for the next permanent superintendent off and on since March. The board selected a search firm over the summer and envisioned selecting a new chief in late October, but members paused the process on the advice of its search firm because of the convergent timing of the impending election that ended up replacing a majority of the board, the upcoming legislative session and one board member’s resignation (more on that later). The board now plans to select the next superintendent in late March, with candidate interviews to begin in February.

< 12px;">< 12px;">Larsen-Mitchell, who has been with CCSD for 30 years, said in December that she would not apply for the permanent position.

< 12px;">< 12px;">Budget issues

< 12px;">< 12px;">Districtwide budgeting and < 12px; font-family: Arial;">accounting challenges became apparent this past fall when CCSD released a letter from Larsen-Mitchell to all staff titled “school strategic budget challenges.” In her note, she said a “potential central budget deficit was identified during the district’s regularly scheduled accounting year-end close-out process< pre;"> Although progress has < 12px; font-family: Arial;">been made, we are still unable to confirm whether a central budget deficit exists.”

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< 12px;">< 12px;">District officials said at one point that the deficit could have been as deep as $20 million and attributed it to unanticipated expenses, such as litigation and cybersecurity costs.
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< 12px;">< 12px;">Additionally, there were now-corrected district miscalculations in teacher salaries and per-pupil funding that took principals by surprise when they were forced to recast their budgets in September, several weeks into the school year. The central office helped some schools cover their site-level shortages.
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< 12px;">< 12px;">The fiscal challenges have brought scrutiny from state officials, including the governor, the superintendent of schools, lawmakers and the Nevada Department of Taxation’s Committee on Local Government Finance. Larsen-Mitchell acknowledged that poor communication aggravated a stressful time and said the district needed to do better.
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< 12px;">< 12px;">The state said in November that it would appoint a compliance monitor at CCSD’s expense after determining the budget woes showed CCSD was not following a law decentralizing control of the massive district.
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< 12px;">< 12px;">The school board approved a monitor’s contract worth up to $60,000, and a corrective action plan will take effect by Jan. 9.
< 12px;">District officials confirmed in December that the district does not have a central deficit, although its revised budget showed a nearly $10 million drop in its ending fund balance. Officials had said for weeks that any deficit would be covered by tapping the unassigned ending fund balance, which is unspent money that isn’t restricted or committed to other use.
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< 12px;">< 12px;">District leaders have “identified the root causes of not having sufficient process documentation, communication and protocols” but never further publicly explained the mechanics of how any mistakes happened.
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< 12px;">< 12px;">Police video released
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< 12px;">< 12px;">The district released body-worn camera footage in January 2024 depicting a district police officer tackling and kneeling on a Black student outside Durango High School, nearly a year after eyewitness video of the violent incident went viral.
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< 12px;">< 12px;">More than two hours of body-worn camera footage from school police officers showed how they approached a group of predominantly Black students after school one day in February 2023 — and how the students complied and tried to defuse the situation.
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< 12px;">< 12px;">Police had previously said a weapons investigation preceded the incident, though the officer who detained three students did not ask them about a gun or a fight. Officers were recorded telling one teen’s father about a fight, < 12px;">prior “gun stuff” and aggressive behavior toward police on the day in question. The videos do not show the students being aggressive.
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< 12px;">< 12px;">The American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada, which is representing two of the teens involved, said “CCSD lied” about why police stopped the students. The release of the footage satisfied a Clark County district judge’s order in a lawsuit brought against CCSD by the ACLU seeking a raft of records related to the incident.
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< 12px;">< 12px;">Meanwhile, the ACLU is appealing to the state Supreme Court to get either the final internal investigative report into the actions of the officer who knelt on the student or the components of the file, like transcripts of witness interviews. The District Court maintained that those records were confidential because the officer did not receive any punitive discipline from CCSD or CCSDPD for the incident. The appeal is pending.
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< 12px;">< 12px;">Lundy in limbo
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< 12px;">< 12px;">The school board voted to repair and reopen Lundy Elementary, the Mount Charleston community’s school, more than a year after storm damages closed the campus.
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< 12px;">< 12px;">The decision, which the board reached last month, didn’t come easily. The remains of a hurricane battered the mountain in August 2023 and prompted district officials to close the tiny school. Runoff from the storm destroyed the school’s parking lot, threatened its foundation and washed away its septic system. The storm’s flow bypassed his< 12px;">toric runoff channels and created a new drainage path through campus. The district has said the building was unsafe, and the school’s dozen or so students were sent to school in Indian Springs, about a 40-mile bus ride each way, or elsewhere.
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< 12px;">< 12px;">The board deadlocked in June on whether to reopen or permanently close the school. Then it decided, on a slim majority, to pursue a partnership with the Las Vegas-Clark County Library District to build a classroom annex and playground on the grounds of the nearby Mt. Charleston Library. The library board, however, was cool to the idea.
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< 12px;">< 12px;">The vote to reopen the school came after continual community advocacy and changes in the school board’s composition since the prior decisions.
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< 12px;">< 12px;">The exact cost and timeline of reopening have not been settled, but the district aims to have work complete by August.
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< 12px;">< 12px;">Board shakeup
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< 12px;">< 12px;">School board member Katie Williams resigned in September after the Clark County district attorney’s office filed a court petition to have her seat declared vacant, having determined that Williams had continued to serve while living in Nebraska. Metro Police recommended she be arrested for wrongful exercise of power, a gross misdemeanor, but the DA’s office declined prosecution. She had less than three months left in her term.
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< 12px;">< 12px;">In an unrelated resignation, board member Lola Brooks stepped down in December with a few weeks remaining in her
< 12px;">term, citing “personal challenges.”
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< 12px;">< 12px;">In November, voters elected four new board members, giving the often-fractured panel a new majority. Finance executive Emily Stevens will represent District A, which covers much of Henderson along with Laughlin and Boulder City. U.S. Air Force veteran Lydia Dominguez will represent District B, which covers the furthest north urban and rural corners of the county. Community activist Tameka Henry will represent District C, which covers portions of North Las Vegas and the west valley. And Lorena Biassotti will represent District E, which includes Summerlin. Only District C’s race featured an incumbent: Evelyn Garcia Morales, who had been the school board president for the past two years.
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< 12px;">< 12px;">Dominguez and Biassotti had been members of the controversial conservative organization Moms for Liberty but have expressed a desire to work cooperatively with their new colleagues who have different political beliefs.
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< 12px;">< 12px;">And in January 2024, four appointed members joined the board, the result of a law passed in 2023 to have the local governments of Las Vegas, North Las Vegas and Henderson, plus Clark County, appoint board members. They are currently nonvoting but can make motions and seconds after a court ruling clarifying their roles.
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< 12px;">< 12px;">hillary.davis@gmgvegas.com / 702-990-8949 /
< 12px;">@HillaryLVSun