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Tuesday, June 1, 2010 | 5:24 p.m.
Walt Rulffes
The Clark County School District has hired a firm to help in its search for a new superintendent.
The Clark County Board of School Trustees on Tuesday hired McPherson and Jacobson of Omaha, Neb. The firm was chosen from three search firm finalists at the end of a special board meeting.
Clark County schools Superintendent Dr. Walt Rulffes is retiring in August, but has offered to extend his tenure for a few months, if necessary, while the board searches for his replacement.
Rulffes announced in March that he would not be renewing his contracting. He became superintendent on an interim basis in 2005 and won the job permanently in 2006.
The Clark County School District is the nation's fifth-largest.
Who is kidding who, Sig Rogich already has his "bitch" picked and plucked.
OK. They have hired a firm to find a chief babysitter for the Clark County children. How much are we, the taxpayers, paying this firm? Can't the duly elected officials (School Board) do the job that they were hired (elected) to do without calling in an expensive 'consultant'?
Nice that they realize they aren't even competent enough to find a leader for themselves. Not to mention their own lack of confidence in the "talent pool" already employed by the CCSD. Sad that not a single one of the six-figure a year morons at the CCSD can be entrusted to lead the other morons.
Agree with bape702... what a stellar job they've done so far with Carlos Garcia. That decision only cost a few hundred thousand kids their future.
Kenny Guinn and Carlos Garcia were hand picked, in the case of Kenny farm raised, by the commander Sig the almighty.
What a waste of money. I would have volunteered as I am sure other parents would have too, and done the job for free.
From what I understand, it's not that uncommon to hire a search firm. We REALLY need to find great candidates, and there's no excuse. The economy is terrible, lots of layoffs, which means lots of talented people that are either unemployed or in a less than ideal position. To me, this is the most important position to be hired/elected/appointed in our area. Governors, senators, etc. have their role, but education can improve the entire community.
We need to find someone that's willing to work with the employees, but isn't going to back down from union pressure if they're right on a particular issue. We need to implement some form of pay for performance tied to test scores, and teachers' unions need to help to design the criteria. They can't just say no to the entire concept. We need someone who isn't afraid to fire underperforming teachers, not "ease them through their transition", or put them in a non-teaching role where they still get paid. They need to go. We need someone that will cut programs that aren't being used. We need to focus on child education/instruction. Adult education is very low on the list. We can't just reduce program budgets across the board, we need to eliminate some, reduce budgets for some, and increase budgets for others. As the politicians like to say, we need a scalpel and not a hatchet. We need accountability from everyone from the superintendent, to the principals, to the teachers. I've been told that English as a second language and parent involvement are challenges, but not the primary problem. After reaching out to many educators, the issue is the quality of teachers. To the teachers, I promise I'm not just saying that to prove my point, It's honestly based on feedback that I've received from educators with real accomplishments.
I pray that the school board reads these boards and takes some of these recommendations seriously. I'm certainly no genius, but I've done a lot of research and talked to a lot of smart people, both inside and outside of education, and I've experienced the benefits of performance based compensation over seniority based. I hope others on this board will offer some constructive ideas, and not get too political.