Just the beginning

Terry Webster

Saturday, Jan. 6, 2001 | 2:52 a.m.

The first six months for Clark County School District Superintendent Carlos Garcia have offered only a taste of the changes he is promising.

A reorganization plan that's expected next month, and which already is making some district employees nervous, is one major change. There will be others -- including raising the issue of higher taxes -- now that Garcia is shaping his position as the point man for K-12 education in the county.

"People tell me it can't be done, but I say we can make this elephant dance," Garcia said.

The "elephant" is the nation's sixth largest school district, with a student enrollment exceeding 230,000. While not everyone agrees that the 49-year-old superintendent can pull off all that he promises, Garcia himself exudes confidence.

"There are some things that need fixin'," he says.

And he says his plans are just the tools for the job. But he worries about whether there will be enough money to pay for them.

Garcia is critical of politicians who talk about education while campaigning but fall short when funding time comes around.

"You walk into this state, and you have a proficiency exam and higher standards," Garcia told the Sun last month after a Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce speech. "And we have all of that without any additional funding."

The district's per-pupil spending, Garcia tells anyone who will listen, is about $1,000 below the national average.

"If I had $1,000 more per student, can you imagine what I could do?" he says.

School Board members say the jury is still out on Garcia; they haven't had enough time to assess whether his plans will carry through.

Despite his confident demeanor, Garcia is under no illusions about the road ahead.

"This is probably the hardest job I've ever had," he said.

His resume includes being a teacher, principal and assistant superintendent before becoming superintendent of the Fresno Unified School District in California, the position he held prior to assuming the Clark County job in July.

In Southern Nevada, Garcia is grappling with a district that perennially leads the nation in dropouts. It's a district under the gun to cut $18 million from an already stressed budget. Overcrowded classrooms and high teacher turnover are other major issues.

"When I came here, I was expected to do something," he said. "I guess I feel fortunate to have walked into a place that is so ripe for change."

His latest concerns center on potential cutbacks in student transportation. Specifically, Garcia ordered a study on how much the district could save by changing the busing limit for high school students from 2 to 3 miles.

Future plans

A grim meeting on the district's financial status last week still hasn't dimmed Garcia's outlook for his future plans.

"We'll have to cut something else out of the budget in order to do them," he said after the meeting.

Former School Board member Lois Tarkanian, who was on the board during its superintendent search, said, "What he is talking about is great. I can't say he's done it all yet, but his plans as far as accountability and student achievement are great."

John Jasonek, Clark County Education Association executive director, said he also likes what he is hearing.

"By and large (Garcia) is saying the right things," Jasonek said. "Then again, we (the teachers union) are still waiting to see things happen. Deep down, he's a teacher advocate. But right now we're still seeing a lot of the same employee bashing between principals and teachers. Maybe his philosophies just haven't taken root yet."

School Board member Ruth Johnson said Garcia appears to be offering staff members a chance to creatively address student achievement.

"I think we'll have a better idea of how he's doing over the next couple of months," Johnson said. "We've given him a year to show us what he can do."

Garcia says he will unveil detailed plans to improve the district over the next several weeks.

He already has told business and political powerhouses that it's time to boost taxes to fund education. Bluntly he tells his administrators that changes are coming.

"I don't mind stirring the pot," Garcia said during his chamber speech, his arm making the motion. "I don't run away from controversy."

Garcia admits to doing poorly himself on tests in school and growing up in a rough Los Angeles neighborhood. He visits classrooms to talk with teachers and students, attends football games and student plays, and gives pep talks to everyone from top administrators to janitors.

He's out there "walking the walk" and "fighting for children," two of his favorite sayings.

Garcia's down-to-earth style and casual speech are described as disarming.

"He's actually pretty crafty," said Sig Rogich, a political consultant who headed the School Board advisory panel that endorsed Garcia to replace Brian Cram, who retired.

"All in all, he's a quiet, unassuming guy with really good leadership skills," Rogich said. "I think the business community feels he has put a calm on the transition from one superintendent to another. He's a very good listener.

"And he's everywhere. He has made himself available."

Garcia's high visibility may be just what the school district needs if it expects to garner more support from the business community, said Terry Wright, a Nevada Title Co. executive and co-chairman of the search committee.

"The district is going to have to get more money out of the business community," Wright said. "Part of it is money. Part of it is working together and running the school district more like a business. And they (school officials) have to make businesses more aware of what the problems are so we can find a way to get more assets to the school district."

Garcia has a top-three list, with money coming first. Without money, he said, the district cannot achieve its paramount mission.

"Our three main goals need to be funding, accountability -- to make sure we're running a tight ship -- and obviously, the most important thing is student achievement," he said. "I have a lot of ideas on how to improve education. I just don't have the funds to do them."

In the meantime, Garcia is looking for ways to operate the district more efficiently.

In the past two years, the district had to cut $50 million out of its $1.1 billion budget.

"I want to know how efficiently we spend our money," Garcia said, pointing to audits being conducted on school construction funds and compensatory education, which manages the district's Title 1 funds for at-risk students. "We're going to continue with that because it's good base data."

But art, music and athletic programs are likely to fall if the district's financial outlook doesn't improve, Garcia said.

He would rather see those programs expanded.

"We should have even more art and music programs," he said. "In the middle schools we need more activities for kids. Why? Because we lose too many kids by the time they get to high school."

Reorganization

Days after Garcia arrived, he began talking about his plan to break the district into subdistricts.

Each subdistrict would have a center staffed by a regional superintendent and two assistant superintendents. There would be supervisors overseeing transportation, maintenance, purchasing and food services. The centers would likely be housed in portable units, Garcia said.

"This way you assure accountability," he said. "What happens now is that when you call a division, you get sent from one person to another. What we need is one-stop shopping.

"If I'm a principal, I'm not going to have to go from division to division. I'm going to go see my regional superintendent and get the answers I need."

Garcia's vision counters a plan by Assemblywoman Sandra Tiffany, R-Henderson, who wants voters to have the option of breaking the district into several independent districts.

Tiffany's proposal will make the district more responsive to community concerns, she said.

Garcia said he can do that without breaking the district apart. He expects to present his complete plan next month.

He likes to call attention to his plan's purpose.

"The idea is that everybody in our organization is there to serve schools," he said. "The schools are the focus of everything. And all of our decisions and all of our practices are based on asking whether something is serving the best needs of the school."

Tinkering with the district's framework is exciting to Garcia, but it's making making some people nervous.

The prospect of change is creating an atmosphere of unease in the East Flamingo Road Education Center, Garcia admitted. But he said he just wants to place his key administrators where they will be most effective.

He spent part of the past six months meeting them and assessing who belongs where.

All of his top administrators were asked whether they wanted to continue in their current capacity or do something else.

"It's been a real eye-opener," Garcia said. "Not everybody wants to be doing what they are doing. So when I reorganize, I have the ability to take people's strengths and weaknesses and put them where they are needed."

Other plans call for a reduction in the number of people who report to Garcia. Instead they will report to other area or assistant superintendents.

"As superintendent, I have 24 people who report directly to me," he said. "That's ridiculous."

Funding

Looking ahead to the legislative session that starts Feb. 5, Garcia hopes lawmakers will launch a long-range study on how to fund public education.

"We can't continue to fund it as it currently is," he said. "There is no sufficient tax revenue to run it. We're also looking at staff development, because we need to set aside funds to train people."

Another proposal calls for changes in teacher recruitment, which would allow the district to hire teachers from other countries and remove some of the red tape associated with hiring and certifying teachers.

"This will allow us to hire people and credential them," Garcia said. "It's important to us. So if I'm a teacher somewhere else, I can come teach here."

The district hires about 1,400 new teachers every year.

Garcia also has concerns with how the district-run television station, Channel 10, is operating.

"It's going to all-digital now, and we're looking at how we are going to fund that and how it affects our distance-learning program."

Achievement

"Algebra by eighth grade" is one of Garcia's favorite mantras.

Now he adds science and social studies to the mantra.

"Every single student in sixth, seventh and eighth grade needs an entire year of science and an entire year of social studies," Garcia said. "We aren't doing that right now. How in the world are they going to compete?"

Or pass the proficiency exam?

Garcia's concern is magnified by the state Department of Education's move to include science on the High School Proficiency Exam.

Test scores are another concern, even for schools that perform well.

"One school said to me, 'Look at my test scores and how well we're doing,' " Garcia said. "And I said, 'Way to go, congratulations.' However ... find out how well girls are doing in math classes. Are there as many minorities in advanced placement classes? Is there equal access to the curriculum? For students in the lowest quartile, how much improvement have they shown?"

When you're really good, Garcia said, you can always find ways to get better.

"Overall we're doing very well," he said. "But we also know we have 25 or 30 schools in the lower quartile. If we're doing so good, we need to do something with them."

Critics

Although most people wouldn't call their critics a blessing, Garcia is trying to view his that way.

"In a way, I'm blessed," he said. "I have millions of critics to point out things that maybe I've overlooked. If they bring something up, maybe I've overlooked it. If they're bashing something, maybe we should find a way to fix it."

And he's pledging to be open about any problems that arise.

"I don't think we should be embarrassed about any warts we find," Garcia said. "We had 4,000 ninth graders who are credit deficient and weren't going to graduate. We have to be honest with our own data so we know how to fix it.

"I'm upfront about things, and if people want to criticize me -- let them, because nobody will ever criticize me more than I criticize myself."

Shortly after arriving in Las Vegas, Garcia found himself embroiled in controversy for uttering a racially derogative word while condemning racism.

There were highly vocal protests, including calls for his resignation.

At the height of the controversy, a speaker at a School Board meeting pointed out that Garcia "at least showed he can take it on the chin."

Garcia said he learned from that blunder. "I hated to go through it, but I learned more in that short time period about how Nevada works than I could have in a year."

In retrospect, Garcia says the city wasn't that hard on him.

"People here are pretty forgiving, they are willing to say, 'You made a mistake, but let's see what you can do.' "

Now that his plans are on paper, Garcia is anxious to show everyone.

"What people will be seeing in the next six months will be more than they ever imagined."

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