Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Board pushes for vote on new school superintendent

A majority of Clark County School Board members said Monday they want to choose a new superintendent today rather than put off the vote until they gather more information about the remaining out-of-town candidate.

The board's eagerness to make a selection gives a slight advantage to Walt Rulffes, whose performance as interim superintendent of the district is well known to board members.

The other candidate, Eric Nadelstern, chief academic officer for the New York City Education Department, has undergone the same questioning as Rulffes, but board members have not traveled to New York to learn first-hand about his performance.

"There should be a site visit to make things equal, but life isn't always fair," said board member Larry Mason.

After the board narrowed its list of candidates to Rulffes and Nadelstern on Friday, some members said they would consider a trip to New York. As of Monday, Mason and School Board President Ruth Johnson still leaned toward taking the trip, but Mason said that if his colleagues call for a vote today, he will probably be ready.

School Board members are weighing whether to choose the reform-minded Nadelstern, whose work is less familiar to them, or to pick Rulffes, 65, who has said he would retire after three to five years at the helm.

"The question is do we stick with the status quo and go through this all over again in three to five years, or do we try something new with no guarantee or hard evidence that it will be successful?" Mason asked.

Johnson said Monday her choices as the two finalists were Rulffes and Peter Gorman, superintendent of the 20,000-student Tustin, Calif., School District, but the board voted Friday to eliminate Gorman and keep Nadelstern in the running.

"By Mr. Nadelstern's own admission he's the equivalent of one of our region superintendents, and to me that just wasn't sufficient experience," Johnson said. "If my colleagues continue an interest in Mr. Nadelstern, I would consider a site visit a prudent move before we make our decision."

Members Susan Brager-Wellman, Terri Janison and Sheila Moulton said Monday they were prepared to cast final votes. Members Mary Beth Scow and Shirley Barber could not be reached for comment.

Nadelstern is an advocate of decentralizing the district, giving individual schools the authority to operate with minimal direction from central administration.

Nadelstern is superintendent of New York City's "autonomy zone," an 18-month-old pilot project that has posted some early successes in improving attendance and areas of student achievement. Schools are granted more authority in hiring, budgetary decisions, scheduling and instructional methods.

Rulffes, who was the district's chief financial officer before becoming interim superintendent following Carlos Garcia's departure in July, has vowed to bolster existing district initiatives aimed at reducing the number of dropouts, improving graduation rates and continue expanding programs such as full-day kindergarten.

As the board narrowed the field to two candidates, the comments of several members indicated that Rulffes had a slight advantage. But Janison said Monday that opinions now are "all over the board."

Janison said the bulk of calls and e-mails she has received fall into two groups -- community members eager for the change Nadelstern represents and district employees who say they prefer Rulffes.

"I would hope that whoever we pick that the community, and that includes all our employees, will stand behind the district," Janison said. "Nothing matters except the children."

Brager-Wellman, who has announced her plans to run for the Clark County Commission, said Rulffes' plan to retire within five years didn't particularly worry her.

"It's almost a year-to-year situation with this job anyway," Brager-Wellman said. "The person we pick may want to stay lostay longer than five years. We may want less."

Nadelstern, in a telephone interview with the Sun on Monday, said he believed Clark County was ready for the "far-reaching agenda" he has proposed.

"I am impressed with both the vitality and diversity in the district but also that there is a strong base of support for school reform among community organizations and the private sector," Nadelstern said.

As for his lack of experience overseeing bond programs and school construction, mentioned by several School Board members, Nadelstern said he was prepared to tap the wealth of talent already in the Clark County School District.

Interviewed Monday, Rulffes said he would provide the stability of leadership that the district needs as it heads into the 2007 legislative session and prepares to ask voters in 2008 to renew a 10-year, $3.5 billion bond measure for new school construction, replacement schools and modernization projects for older campuses.

If the School Board indicates it wants to change directions, Rulffes said, he is prepared to follow through.

"I will seek help with such things as smaller high schools that add rigor, choice, challenge and accountability with more autonomy," Rulffes said.

University Chancellor Jim Rogers, a founding member of the Council for a Better Nevada, a coalition of leading business executives, said he was pleased the candidate his group recruited - Nadelstern - was still in the running.

"Walt is a very good administrator and a great mechanic, but I don't think hes a visionary," Rogers said. "I'd like to see Eric as superintendent and Walt as his second in command. They would make a good team. I think Walt needs Eric, and to some extent Eric needs Walt."

Emily Richmond can be reached at 259-8829 or at [email protected].

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