The Clark County School District doesn’t seem to have a firm grasp on what “accountability” actually means — which is just as well, given that many of the district’s students likely aren’t proficient enough in English Language Arts to know what it means, either.

The day after CCSD’s board of trustees gave Superintendent Jesus Jara an “A” grade on his annual evaluation, he asked for a $1.7 million contract extension that includes a $75,000 per year increase in his salary — a 23 percent pay raise that is roughly one and a half times the starting salary of a new teacher. 

One would think raising Jara’s annual salary to nearly $400,000 would be an indication that he’s doing a stellar job managing the nation’s 5^th largest school district. And, according to the three carefully selected data points used by the board to evaluate his performance, that’s precisely what we’re supposed to believe. 

However, with high school student math proficiency lingering under 20 percent, literacy rates stubbornly stuck under 50 percent, and a massive ongoing shortage of teachers to instruct an overcrowded and underperforming district (1,400 vacancies  at the start of the school year), that narrative is a bit hard to swallow. 

Indeed, the abysmal proficiency scores of Clark County students should, all on their own, be enough to incite a riot among frustrated parents. Even considering the damage done by the pandemic-era shutdowns, today’s student performance metrics are merely a glimpse at how spectacularly the government has failed to provide quality education to communities throughout Clark County. 

And yet, the man charged with running this district has been given an exemplary evaluation — an “A” rating for his oversight of a system that hasn’t even been able to bring 80 percent of high school students up to grade level in math. 

One can say what they want about “grade inflation” in high school and college, but this certainly seems like a good example of such a phenomenon in an administrative setting. 

The three metrics chosen for Jara’s evaluation looked at the proficiency of third-grade reading, a reduction in suspensions and expulsions among African American students, and the hiring of 1,655 classroom teachers. According to the summary, Jara met his goals in each of these areas — but there remains much disagreement about whether or not that actually means anything of substance about the educational environment in Clark County. 

An educational data consulting firm, Data Insight Partners, for example, went into great depth on Twitter to outline the way Jara’s evaluation was fundamentally unrepresentative of the district’s actual educational trajectory. While third grade reading proficiency showed a marginal increase year-over-year, for example, Clark County nonetheless continued to lose ground compared to the rest of the state — a trend that clearly highlights CCSD’s underperformance in the area.  

Trustee Danielle Ford similarly pointed out that while Jara has indeed hired many new teachers, his evaluation made no mention of how many teachers have resigned, retired or otherwise quit during the same time period — an amount estimated to be around 2,300 individuals, according to the Las Vegas Sun. As a result, the metric presented in Jara’s evaluation completely ignores the one thing that actually matters the most to students, parents and CCSD staff alike: The number of teacher vacancies still plaguing the district. 

Moreover, by focusing on such narrow data points, the evaluation brushed over a host of other metrics that would more accurately portray how good (or bad) Jara’s tenure has been for families, students and staff — such as parental and staff trust in CCSD administration, student safety concerns, or the fact that less than one in ten African American students are proficient in math. 

Public education advocate Sylvia Lazos further pointed out on Twitter that even beyond the metrics used in Jara’s evaluation, the review should raise an eyebrow with parents and activists — namely because of the way it was seemingly rushed by the school board to take place before the November elections. 

Would it be far too crass to suggest the timing was politically motivated? After all, the upcoming elections have the potential to change the makeup of the school board — and given that Jara has already almost been fired once before, it doesn’t seem outside of the realm of political possibilities that he and his allies might look for a way to gain a little contractual job security before November’s results come in. 

Political or not, the evaluation and requested pay increase should be considered a slap in the face to the thousands of families struggling under the district’s inadequate and failing system, 

To be sure, CCSD is facing numerous educational “headwinds” that even a very successful superintendent would struggle to overcome. From economic and cultural challenges to the lingering effects of school closures during the pandemic, there is a laundry list of structural, cultural and managerial problems plaguing progress in public education. 

However, with more than half of his student population falling behind grade level proficiency, the fact that a superintendent would feel justified in requesting a massive 23 percent salary increase reveals one of the largest barriers to bettering the Clark County School District: a profound lack of accountability.

Among administrators, bureaucrats and even (some) elected officials, there’s seemingly little concern that the district’s institutionalized failure will reflect poorly on their professional prospects within the institution. Rewarding the leader of that institution with a pat on the back and a pile of money isn’t going to make things better… 

Nor will it somehow help 80 percent of high schoolers catch up on their math. 

Michael Schaus is a communications and branding expert based in Las Vegas, Nevada, and founder of Schaus Creative LLC — an agency dedicated to helping organizations, businesses and activists tell their story and motivate change. He has more than a decade of experience in public affairs commentary, having worked as a news director, columnist, political humorist, and most recently as the director of communications for a public policy think tank. Follow him at SchausCreative.com or on Twitter at @schausmichael.