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Thursday, April 28, 2011 | 10:59 p.m.
Pedro Martinez
Sun coverage
Pedro Martinez, who has never taught in the classroom but is credited with helping raise high school graduation rates in Washoe County, was hired Thursday as deputy superintendent of instruction for the Clark County School District.
Martinez, 41, will oversee classroom instruction, becoming a key player in the cabinet of first-year Superintendent Dwight Jones.
Jones has vowed to raise student graduation rates, despite a pending budget cut of as much as $400 million and the possible layoff of at least 2,000 teachers amid the state budget crisis.
Martinez, who is Hispanic, joins Jones, who became Clark County’s second African-American superintendent in December.
Supporters say Jones and Martinez are reflective of the diversification of the Southern Nevada population and the school district’s student population, which is 41 percent Hispanic and 37 percent white.
Martinez, who held a similar position in the Reno-based Washoe County School District, replaces Linda Kohut-Rost, who is retiring.
Sylvia Lazos, a professor at UNLV’s Boyd School of Law, spoke in support of Martinez, in part, because of the “cultural affinity” that could come from Hispanic students seeing a native Spanish speaker atop the school district’s hierarchy. Lazos is a member of the district’s Hispanic Roundtable, a panel that provides members with the opportunity to discuss the relationship of the 309,000-student school district with the region’s booming Hispanic population.
Other activists in the Southern Nevada Hispanic community echoed those comments, but they primarily pointed to the credentials of Martinez, a certified public accountant with a master’s degree in business administration. He served as chief financial officer for the Chicago Public Schools when U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan headed that city’s school system.
Martinez received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana and his master’s degree from DePaul University.
“Three months into this, you’ll say, ‘Wow, what a great hire,’” Jones told members of the School Board, who unanimously approved the hire after a closed-door executive session to finalize the negotiations. “The plans I have for Mr. Martinez will align quite well.”
Martinez will earn $158,795 annually and will receive $27,000 over eight months to aid with moving costs.
School Board member Linda Young, a former teacher and school administrator who recently raised questions about Martinez’s lack of classroom experience, was the first person to speak Thursday in support of his hiring. “We’re all looking forward to working with Mr. Pedro Martinez,” she said.
Martinez will be charged with helping the district increase graduation rates.
The Clark County School District claims a high school graduation rate of 72 percent, but think tanks and universities place the figure closer to 50 percent.
Jones has repeatedly said in public that he has demanded district staff produce an accurate and transparent accounting, noting that its failure to do so has created a crisis of confidence that is plaguing the district in the current budget debate in the Nevada Legislature.
CORRECTION: This story was changed to correct that Dwight Jones is the second African-American superintendent of the school district, not the first, as was originally reported. | (April 29, 2011)
Martinez's useless position will cost the district the amount it needs to pay three teachers!
Way to go, CCSD. Hire a new administrator, kick your teachers when they are down.
".... Jones, who became Clark County's first African-American superintendent in December."
What?" Did you forget that Clyde Perkins was actually the first CCSD African-American superitendent?
Dr. Claude G. Perkins was the first African American superintendent for the school district. He succeeded Dr.Kenny Guinn in 1978.
This man's appointment to oversee instruction in this district is nothing short of a slap in the face to every teacher here. This man, with no background in teaching whatsoever has no place directing teachers in how they teach.
The appointment of Martinez as it is being portrayed in this article seems to be nothing more than an attempt to racially pander to hispanics.
I just have to shake my head at the idea that Mr. Jones would appoint someone who has never taught in a classroom to the position of what is essentially the district's "head teacher."
The guy might be a genius when it comes to business administration. Who knows. But what kind of experience does he bring to the table that will help to improve student outcomes in the classroom?
This is like appointing a coast guard admiral to be in charge of an army tank division. The qualifications held by the appointee don't align at all with the skill set needed to do the job.
Also, $27K in moving expenses? From Reno to Vegas? I know gas is expensive, but the guy would have to be moving his house in a fleet of Hummers to justify $27K in moving expenses. But let's lay off some teachers and cut student programs.
Mr. Jones, I'm not impressed at all with you so far.
To all the teachers and parents that blame the Governor, ask yourself who has the spending problem? Tell the admin. you are tired of the money not making it to the classroom.
This, for sure, is Bush's fault!
This looks like a good hire. I personally don't think you need someone with class room experience in order to raise graduation rates. You need a problem solver that isn't going to whine every time something doesn't go their way. If he does what everyone thinks he's capable of doing he'll be worth every penny he's being paid.
You think it's a good hire because he's Hispanic. It doesn't matter that he doesn't know what a classroom looks like. What a screwed up system you have here.
27k to move from Reno. It cost me 8k to move from a 4 bedroom home on the east cost. That's just enough to pay for a 1st year teacher.
Do we just need to raise graduation rates? We need to raise the standard to graduate and hold kids accountable to the standard, including the proficiency tests. We need to stop social promotion. Teachers are often under pressure to graduate students to increase the graduation rate. Why kind of message does this send? We need an alternative to regular high school, that was designed to prepare students for college.
Someday soon, possibly very soon, you're going to read an article about a man standing atop the Stratosphere with a megaphone shouting "What is the matter with you people?! Didn't you grow up on planet earth with the rest of us???"
Just so you know, that man will be me.
A head of classroom instruction...a head of classroom instruction. Where I come from they're called teachers. They go to school before entering a classroom in order to, among other things, learn to teach. They don't need a "Head of Classroom Instruction" as they have, generally, a minimum of six years of education and hands-on experience prior to instructing.
So I must ask. What the hell is the matter with you people? Why is everything in Las Vegas a reinvention of the wheel? Why must everything be a failure? You do everything you possibly can to be as absolutely contrary to the rest of the country and when your methods don't work you always say the same things, "well people just don't get it", "this is a transient ciy", or my personal favorite, "well the economy..." No doubt some homegrown wahoo like J.P.R or Longtimevegan, who defend everything that's done here as sheer genius, will have lots of things to say including, "if you don't like it get out". Well for every person with a brain who leaves this city, five without one move in. And the results are plain. I'll stick to the topic and not diverge but the Clark County School District and the poor performance of that joke known as UNLV are perfect examples of what happens when people who actually think and care decide to up and leave.
Clark County ain't Washoe County my friend. And who in their right mind, when the Governor is threatening all sorts of cuts, would go out and hire a "Head of Classroom Instruction" who had never actually instructed in a classroom??????????
I'm getting out my megaphone. Look for me on the news.
Most of these kids in school do not even know who their principal. is. They will know who this guy is? Forget about it. This is just another waste of money. Bye, bye education!
@keystone6--get over it dude with the racial pandering stuff.
Some people think this is a decent appointment. Let's see how it goes.
It's not a though the results in the district are sterling. Nothing to lose and everything to gain by going with an innovative choice. Puts the education establishment on notice.
The outcomes in the CCSD are unsatisfactory when viewed in aggregate. Different outcomes requires different approaches have to be tried. Kudos to Superintendent Jones for thinking outside the box on this one.
Typos everywhere in the previous post (sorry)
The outcomes in the CCSD are unsatisfactory when viewed in aggregate. Different outcomes require different approaches. Kudos to Superintendent Jones for thinking outside the box on this one.
Turrialba:
Offer me one example of what this guy can say to a teacher to improve their approach to teaching a third grade class.
What does an MBA have to do with teaching an english learner how to read?
What does being CFO of any organization have to do with teaching a high school freshman basic chemistry?
How can Mr. Jones expect any of the educators in the district to take seriously as chief of instruction someone who has never set foot in a classroom as a teacher?
This is like making someone who has never sold anything the sales manager at a business.
What teachers do in the classroom takes a developed set of skills. Those skills take years to manifest through structured training and experiences. Mr. Martinez has exactly zero background when it comes to trying to impart information to students. As I said, he might be a great business man, but being great in business and being great in front of 40 students is a completely different ballgame.
Frankly, this appointment just shows that the school district has little interest in the quality of education it offers, and it seems to me that Mr. Jones is now just throwing sh!t at the wall to see what sticks.
What I find interesting is that all of the fiscal-conservative nutjobs suddenly lose sight of this guy's lavish compensation when they discover that he is a a "businessman." Apparently, if we hire "businessmen" to do something, it is ok. But if we hire someone from within the educational establishment it is a wasteful mess.
Is $157k a lot for managing several thousand employees?
What I find really dull is someone who draws conclusion from what people do not comment on such as 1745night. Pretty pathetic reasoning if you ask me with your previous comment.
As for your comments, you just decided to take a shot at a conservative poster for no other reason than your own stupid preconceived notions. Businessman? Never mentioned the term and to my knowledge the man is an administrator, not a businessman.
The man hired by the District according to the rules. Call the School Board.
With all due respect to the person's qualifications as an administrator, his experiences do not include the tasks he will be overseeing. I must agree with the keystone in the notion that one's actual experience performing the task, doing it well and then having significant experience leading others in improving their performance would seem a likely background for someone whose expertise draws a salary of 3 teachers, 3 and 1/2 counting the exorbitant moving costs.
I managed a barbecue restaurant once upon a time without much knowledge of the key ingredient - smoke. And I must tell you that I'd have better had I known more before I started.
Our ribs were first smoked and grill marked, then boiled in orange juice with a healthy blend of black pepper, ground clove and basil.
When I asked the boss why we even smoked them("Doesn't it WASH off?"), he explained the secrets to me: "Smoke IS something. It sits on the surface and then with the slow heat, presses into the meat, adding its flavor and tenderizing. Pork is a very tender flesh and turns soft with slow cooking. The orange juice tenderizes and sweetens. We end up with sweet marshmallows of smoky pork, and people pay me for the yum, tell their friends and come back for more!"
The kids at CCSD are getting a rookie to cheer-lead who doesn't know teaching from BBQ, a formative assessment from a journal entry, or the experiences of a first year or twentieth year teacher from pinball games.
Would you hire a dancer to perform surgery on your daughter? A race-car driver to design an Alzheimer facility? Help me understand from what's in the article how in the world the fellow is qualified to raise outcomes in a foreign land, the classrooms of CCSD.
Joe:
I think we disagree on this one.
I don't think the he plans to have "dancer perform surgery".
Indeed as noted "Pedro Martinez, who has never taught in the classroom but is credited with helping raise high school graduation rates in Washoe County...
As Superintendent Jones is quoted"The plans I have for Mr. Martinez will align quite well." If the goal is to improve graduation rates, the district just hired someone who is credited in part with doing so elsewhere in this state. Sound like building on what he has done elsewhare and not the dancer doing surgery.
As I said earlier, if we want different outcomes, we have to start trying different approaches. This was what Mr. Jones was hired to do.
This is an interesting choice. It is a risky choice, but circumstances require some risk taking. I would submit it is no riskier than continuing on the path we are on. I read very statements here and elsewhere, that the status quo is okay, quite to the contrary.
How else do we bring about better outcomes?
Exponent: Mr. Martinez
Mentor: to achieve the self actualization of students.
Mascot: to identify with an icon.
Exponential: the multiplying of exponent proportionally.
If open minds can envisage the future, then this is a no brainer; EZ8.
EZ to the power of 8.
Where EZ is equal to Mr. Martinez plus a student; 2.
EZ will touch the lives of 512 minimum each and every visit he makes to a CCSD location.
To help you'll understand my dementia; it all adds up EZ, more students graduate because of student selfrespect, and visualization in debunking the self fulfilling prophecy syndrome, in toto.
Turrialba,
I have some experience working with mentors and mentees in school settings, and I have to tell you something. Some are excellent; some aren't.
Yes, he's had some success in Reno where things are considerably different. Your expectations are quite positive, but I think the best qualities I ever found in an administrator came from their experiences in the field where we work. In my book, the guy is a dancer doing surgery because he's not been in the trenches, working with kids with bad homes or with teachers who get tired of being lied to and spit on. Not that I disagree with taking a chance on somebody who has success, but mostly my fears are that his lack of experience will antagonize some experienced folks whose opinion he can not understand, whose accomplishment he can not see, and whose methods he is unable to appreciate.
It's for the future to decide; I wish him well. And I hold no grudge, though I'da been a better candidate. LMAO woo hoo I coulda moved ten times for $27K !
Joe:
I agree the moving expenses thing is high, but the salary and moving expense would likely be the same for anyone they hired.
Indeed, would the CCSD had been better served by retaining some classroom teachers instead of hiring an administrator?
If you take a look on the editorial page for the piece by Regent Wixom, calling for paradigmatic change in higher education. Something he does not discuss is that paradigmatic change in any field does not come from within. Its source is outside the discipline.
This is a risky selection by Superintendent Jones and the School Board. There were no doubt people with experience in the trenches, as you put it, some of whom would no doubt have been less risky.
There is an awful lot riding on this selection for Mr. Jones. This selection will be under the microscope. Indeed, Mr. Jones seems to suggest that the choice will be viewed positively in only a short time.
If this turns into an unmitigated disaster, responsibility will be the Superintendent's and his alone. There will be a lot a scrutiny (he no doubt understands this). He is still going ahead with this choice.
Sometimes you have to take a chance to bring about change. I think the outcomes we now have are not satisfactory and steps need to be taken to facilitate better outcomes.
The solutions we harp about in this forum are useless because the ship has become rudderless.
The principles that underpin the philosophy of education and how it is dilivered must be examined. The mission of any school district is quite simply, to prepare the children to become contributing members of society. Its vision must be focused using a single lens: Student achievement.
Sadly that vision is flawed with politics and personal agendas.
'delivered' sorry.
Just checking in to see how Pedro (our reject) is doing in Vegas.