Clark County school superintendent finalist Jesus Jara

Jesus Jara possesses two qualifications that could serve him well in the top job in the Clark County School District: He has experience as second-in command in a large, urban district and has held the top job in a much smaller district.

Jara has been the deputy superintendent for Orange County Public Schools, in Orlando, Florida, since July 2012. The district is the ninth-largest in the country, with 208,000 students. Prior to that, he was the superintendent for Monroe County Public Schools, a much smaller district encompassing the Florida Keys.

“I’ve never seen him ruffled on anything, he’s a true educational leader,” said Orange County board president Bill Sublette. “He fills in for the superintendent when she’s not here. I have nothing but great things to say about him.”

After working as the district’s chief operations officer in Monroe County, Jara was appointed to the top job by Florida Gov. Rick Scott in 2011 after the previous superintendent resigned amid a financial meltdown.

At the time, the job in Monroe County was an elected position, so the governor was given the power to fill the vacancy, even as the school board was moving to make the job an appointed position.

Jara was tasked with cleaning up his predecessor’s mess, said Monroe County school board member John Dick. He had to make tough decisions — including cutting jobs and approving furlough days, moves that made him unpopular with the teacher’s union — but he retained the support of the board throughout, Dick said.

When his term ended, and after the board had done a national search to appoint a new superintendent, Dick was the only member who voted to keep Jara on. Dick said political pressure from the upset teacher’s union got to the rest of the board members.

A letter from the United Teachers of Monroe said Jara couldn’t effectively manage a district of that size, and said he wouldn’t be able to manage district the size of Clark. But Dick disagreed.

“But you see where he’s gone, he’s up in Orlando and he’s doing a hell of a job as the No. 2 there,” Dick said. “If you’ve got financial problems, he’s very good and if your minority students are not doing what you expect for them, he’s got some ability in improving that.”

That sentiment was echoed by Wendy Doromal, president of the Orange County Classroom Teacher’s Association in Orlando.

In February, the teacher’s union staged a week of action to shine a light on working conditions. Jara issued a memo afterward and granted teachers some of the provisions they wanted.

“I feel like he’s a person you can talk to and negotiate with and he listens,” she said.

Contact Meghin Delaney at 702-383-0281 or mdelaney@reviewjournal.com. Follow @MeghinDelaney on Twitter.