New CCSD superintendent: We must ‘do better by our students’

By Paul Takahashi

Wednesday, June 5, 2013 | 2 a.m.

Patrick Skorkowsky has some big shoes to fill as the new superintendent of the Clark County School District.

As the leader of the nation's fifth-largest school district, Skorkowsky inherits challenges including large class sizes, low teacher morale, high student poverty, and some of the lowest test scores and graduation rates in the nation.

The School District offered the Las Vegas Sun a 10-minute interview with Skorkowsky on Tuesday morning, shortly after the School Board reappointed him and the Nevada Legislature approved a $2.5 billion education budget for the next biennium.

This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.

You were chosen to lead the School District on a wave of broad community support. However, some in the community were disappointed that the School Board did not conduct a national superintendent search. You have remained silent on the issue. Why have you not advocated for opening the superintendent search to other local or national candidates?

I think the board has to determine the process before I should be making any statements. As employees, we don't determine the process. It's the board's job to make sure that they set up the process they want to ensure they get the best employee.

I'm focusing in on the job at hand: delivering on increasing student achievement, ensuring that we are increasing our number of teachers so we can decrease class size, and focusing in on our second-language students. That now becomes the priority.

I'm not going to go back and second-guess anything that happened in the past. It's time to work.

While many teachers and parents voiced their support of your leadership, some in the community have questioned your appointment as a "status quo" choice. Is your tenure going to be a continuation of the policies that existed before Dwight Jones arrived, or can we expect more reform efforts?

I was fortunate enough when former Superintendent Jones and the deputy superintendent (Pedro Martinez) were setting forward their reform agenda, I was tasked with a great deal of the implementation of the reform agenda. It hasn't been status quo for the past two years of my work; it sure won't be (status quo) from here on out.

There's no going backward. It's all moving forward now to ensure that we get the best possible education for our students.

You have received much support from teachers and support staff employees, who have advocated for your appointment since almost immediately after Jones resigned. Many see your appointment as a boon to employee morale, paving the way for more collaborative reform efforts. However, some are concerned that the School District, under your leadership, may shy away from making tough decisions for students when it comes to union negotiations. How do you respond to those concerns?

Negotiations are an essential piece for the success of our district. I'm not the only negotiator. It's a team, and we set the tone, but it's important that we don't lose focus of students in the classroom, that we don't lose focus of work in the classroom. We've got to do more by our students and do better by our students.

We've had to make some difficult choices in the past and we will have to make some difficult choices in the future, and I will have to set some difficult directions. But it's going to be done in a collaborative way, understanding that we're not going to always agree. But sometimes you disagree and you move on because it's about our students.

What did you like about Jones' reform efforts and are planning to continue? What didn't you like about Jones' reform work and are not planning to continue?

It's not about likes and dislikes; it comes down to return on investment. Were these reforms, for the money we spent, getting us results? We have to look at that return on investment and make decisions based upon the achievement gains versus the money spent.

That's what I'll be doing from here on out is looking at each of these reform initiatives. Do I need to reallocate resources because it is working, or do I need to look at putting those resources somewhere else because it's not getting us the return on investment?

Your predecessor has argued that the School District should look at return on investment before requesting more state education funding. Jones even battled with the teachers union for money before lobbying the state for more funding. You have seemingly advocated for more state funding immediately, standing with your employee unions last month in pushing for a $1.2 billion, four-year initiative to reduce class sizes. Are we seeing a shift in philosophy when it comes to lobbying the state for more funding?

My predecessor said his No. 1 priority was reducing class sizes, and that was the message sent to the Legislature — and it started long before he left.

It has been a continuation of that tone. Our priority at the legislative session was full-day kindergarten, early childhood education for second-language students, looking at reducing class sizes, looking at our ELL students and our program overall, and ensuring that we put forward good quality education for any money that we are given.

(The state funding is) somewhat not as extensive as we would've liked in the last legislative session, but we're appreciative of what they have done in the last 24 hours to help us move that forward.

School Board members say they picked you based on the "raw data" that you have improved the schools you have taught at and led. However, some in the community have characterized your 25 years of experience in the struggling district as a "failure." What do you think about your record in the School District?

My record shows that if you're willing to put in hard work, use data to make good decisions and look at what every student needs, then you're going to see success. You look at the schools I've worked in, and the schools I have supervised, you will see success.

I'm proud of my work. I'm proud of my work ethic, and I'm going to work even harder to ensure that success is spread across the district.