Clark County School District Superintendent urges schools to engage students, raise the bar

Dwight Jones is entering his ninth month as Clark County School District superintendent and faces a $150 million budget deficit, which could mean hundreds of teacher layoffs if negotiations with the teachers union aren't settled soon.

Of the school district's more than 20,000 seniors, half are not on track to graduate this year. More rigorous curriculum and tougher standardized tests are likely to lower proficiency scores and the graduation rate in coming years.

These problems weigh heavily on Jones' mind and keep him working late hours.

"I start in this office about 4:30 or 5 (a.m.) and I get done about 9, 9:30 (p.m.) about every night and one weekend," he said. "I've been telling my wife, 'Sleep is overrated,' but at some point, I'll have to get some."

JUGGLING BEING A SUPERINTENDENT AND A PARENT

His son is a third-grader at Stuckey Elementary School, 4905 Chartan Ave. When asked about his concerns as a parent, Jones said, "I can't really say I have concerns, it's really more based on excitement. ... I haven't been spending a lot of time at Stuckey, but my wife has, and my wife is so excited about that staff and about the principal, and my son got into the G.A.T.E. (Gifted and Talented Education) program, and they're going to be doing robotics or something, and he's talked about it all summer. I hope every parent is having that kind of experience with excitement for the beginning of the school year."

Jones said his son's biggest frustration is with homework and being asked to work on things he already knows how to do.

"So that's part of where we're trying to raise the bar," Jones said, "because kids get frustrated. ... We have so many of those kids that just are so ready to learn but they learn in such a different way, and they're not afraid of technology. We're actually continuing to find a way that kids really engage and then give them that opportunity and attach homework to meaningful stuff. I mean, they could give him a project to do online or a research project, and that'd be great homework. You could give a big topic that he could do in third grade for three or four weeks.

"Not a packet of worksheets or something. That's just the way I think. And we've got a lot of kids I think that can do a lot more I think we can expect a lot more of our kids and make them work a lot harder, but it needs to be meaningful work that connects."

SCHOOL DISTRICT INCREASING ITS USE OF TECHNOLOGY

Jones said the school district is working to incorporate more technology into the classroom, including giving iPads to low-income students and their teachers.

"They're eighth-graders and attaching it to algebra," he said. "It's a pilot (program) for us to think about if we can get kids to learn algebra in eighth grade, look at the different math classes they can take when they get to high school. At some point we're going to do a pilot where kids actually do it on their phones. It doesn't matter what your income level is, if there's one thing constant with kids (it's cell phones). I think the district has to continue to push outside the status quo to say kids are learning a different way. We've got to catch up to that and try to keep our kids more engaged, because way too many of them are dropping out."

IMPROVING THE GRADUATION RATE

The school district has set a goal to raise the districtwide graduation rate to 75 percent by 2015. When asked if he considered that number to be realistic, Jones said, "I think it is. As a matter of fact, I think it's very realistic even though I think things may actually go down before they go up. I've been trying to be honest with the community when the bar really gets raised, and I want to be honest with our reporting that there's a good chance we're going to have a dip that happens by expectations and standards going way up before we actually start really building to get better.

"But I'm all right with that," Jones added. "What we're expecting right now is not sufficient for kids to even demonstrate on the proficiency exam. And personally, I don't think our proficiency exam is the most rigorous in the country. So you can see that that can't be our artificial bar. We've got to push beyond that. I have some kids who say, 'That was easy.' They pass it like that (snaps his fingers). And I say they ought to. It's actually not so difficult. We should have the bar up here, but right now I think we've been teaching to this, and the bar's been too low. We've got to teach beyond that, in my mind."

SETTLING THE BUDGET ISSUE

The school district has asked the teachers union to agree to a new contract that would eliminate pay raises this year and save about $56 million. Teachers, and all other district employees, also are being asked to pay half of the 2.25 percent increase in their contribution to the Public Employees Retirement System. With negotiations between the school district and the teachers union still unresolved, the district has warned that 500 teachers could be laid off this month. Jones said the budget is still $150 million short.

"If I don't get concessions, then I don't know how to avoid it," he said. "I don't have the money somewhere. I don't get to print it, and I don't get to make the decisions how my budget gets built. That's actually made in Carson City. I have very little control on any of those things. All I can do is deliver a balanced budget.

"I'm trying to help folks understand that it's nothing personal," he said. "I wish everybody could have an increase, but we can't. But what I wish now is that nobody has to be laid off. So what I've asked employees is for some concessions, because if we make some concessions, I can make the budget work. I know everybody's suffering, and it's hard to keep the troops motivated and especially with the new expectations. I expect folks to work a lot harder and be held to a lot higher accountability and standard, and it's pretty hard to do when we still have such cuts and the negotiations and all those things."

STAYING ON TRACK

Looking ahead to the next legislative session and the likelihood of additional cuts, Jones said he doesn't have a good feeling about it.

"I'm sure the employees don't, because I've been here since December, and many of the employees have been here for the cuts that have happened over the last three years. And that's tough on folks. it always keeps, I think, a little level of fear in the organization because you can't totally focus on learning and kids and improving the system when you also have in the back of your mind, 'Boy, I hope I have this job next year.'

"You know, I say we don't get to feel sorry for ourselves. The whole community is hurting, and we know there's many in the community who have been without a job for two or three years. So in some cases, I think we're a lot better off than a lot of other folks and in some of the other industries. But at the end of the day, regardless of all of those things, that's not what I spend my time thinking about. I still focus on (making) sure kids get a good education. I have to make sure more kids graduate. I have to make sure kids can read. And so the budget and all that stuff stays in the back of my mind. I have to stay, and I'm asking employees to stay, focused on our core mission and our core job, and that is educating kids. So regardless of the issues we have as adults, we have to try to keep the kids protected because they can't get that year back. We don't get to spend any time feeling sorry for ourselves, we've got to keep pushing forward."

Contact View education reporter Jeff Mosier at jmosier@viewnews.com or 224-5524.