During Thursday’s CCSD school board meeting, the trustees voted to terminate Superintendent Dr. Jesus Jara’s contract.

The grounds for termination were “for convenience,” meaning they didn’t have to state a specific reason to release him from his duties, which leads to them having to pay out the rest of his contract (about $320,000 a year).

“I want to be very clear. My focus never wavered from working every second day to improve the well-being and academic success of our students,” Jara said after the vote by the trustees. “While some members of this board seek to continue and try to run the operations of this school district and micromanage me and undermine staff, I have been dedicated to protecting the staff from overreach and interference. My focus on student achievement and well-being have never and will never waiver in my career. Unfortunately, the majority of this board did not share the same vision for this community and the children will suffer because of it.”

Dr. Jesus Jara reads his statement at the @ClarkCountySch board meeting tonight shortly after trustees voted to terminate his contract. Story: https://t.co/zyWwMxrCbJ pic.twitter.com/KLM16qV3D2

— KTNV 13 Action News (@KTNV) October 29, 2021

Members of the board that voted for the termination were board President Linda Cavazos, Trustees Danielle Ford, Irene Cepeda and Lisa Guzman, some of whom argued that Jara lied to the district. The trustees that voted for him to stay in his position were Brooks, Morales and Williams, who believe that terminating his contract could lead to conflict in the district.

Prior to the vote, the public comment section on this agenda item included some members of the community voicing their reasons for him to be let go, including stopping letting the pandemic be an excuse for Jara’s actions and that he divided the district. 

“Today, you will likely hear some that fall on either side of the decision you need to make tonight, and those that are on the side of maintaining superintendent Jara’s contract are not correct when they say there is no abuse or retaliation,” CCSD teacher Sarah Comroe said. “They are just lucky.”

Another item on the agenda was the discussion and possible action to remove Cavazos as board president. In light of Jara’s removal as superintendent, the trustees decided to push back the vote to a later date. However, public comments questioned the item of Cavazos’ removal as president.

“I cannot believe that this item was brought forth on the agenda. In all of my years at CCSD coming to school board meetings, I have never seen anything like this,” CCSD school teacher Autumn Tampa said. “I believe I see open hostility of several different trustees towards other trustees. Quite honestly, I call it bullying and harassment and to me it’s totally unacceptable. And I am very, very disappointed in everyone doing it.”

Towards the end of the meeting, Trustee Williams and Cavazos got into an argument about why Williams wasn’t wearing a mask. After Williams told Cavazos she was not “the boss of her,” she continued with why she supported Cavazos’ removal as board president.

“You have been unwilling to compromise, you circumvent processes and exclude key personnel in an effort to work in a silo shrouded in mystery,” Brooks said. “When you bring items forward, frequently no one knows where they came from. You bring items after a formal agenda review process has been completed outside of board policy.”

A tense exchange between School Bd Chair Linda Cavazos and Board Member Katie Williams as Williams left tonight’s board member before its ending. #ccsd #lasvegas #educhat #nvleg pic.twitter.com/7jodfx9r6L

— KNPR ? (@KNPRnews) October 29, 2021

Cavazos tweeted on Monday that a meeting will be held this Thursday to address finding an interim superintendent.

“I hope that the  district will resume the normal operations to the best of their abilities despite not having a  permanent superintendent because the success of our students, the wellbeing of our teachers, administrators and support staff all depend on the central office working in our favor, and hopefully the absence of Jara’s presence won’t hinder the good work that a lot of people in this district are doing.”