LETTER: School district playing games in contract negotiations

The Clark County School District’s grand proclamation that it is now offering teachers a 9 percent first-year pay increase is disingenuous because it fails to inform the public that teachers started the year with a nearly 2 percent pay cut. If the truth be told, the district is offering teachers a 7.125 percent first-year increase, an amount that fails to keep pace with the crushing inflation of the past two years.

The district is playing a public relations game as it continues to have the nation’s largest class sizes, falling test scores and substitute teachers trying to fill in for the scarcity of full-time, licensed instructors. If district officials think that their shenanigan’s with statistics will fool the public, they needs to realize that everyone — including parents, teachers, students, legislators and the public at-large — is sick of teachers being treated as though they are incidental. This, while Superintendent Jesus Jara pulls down close to $500,000 a year, and that amount does not include the $95,000 Jara’s attorneys were paid by the school board after he sued the district.

I have never read an educational study that declares angry teachers who feel disrespected by their superintendent and school board best foster increases in student achievement. That’s because no such study exists.

The school district truly is “on fire” — and not in a good way. Who will finally have the guts to terminate Mr. Jara, wake up the school board, settle the teachers’ contract and allow teachers to do what they do best—educate students? If Mr. Jara and the school board are not going to lead, at least they can have the decency to get out of the way.