Ex-district employee lands job

Karlene McCormick-Lee, who retired as a Clark County School District administrator in June, was awarded a consulting contract for up to $40,000 Thursday after a contentious 4-3 vote by the Clark County School Board.

McCormick-Lee will help the district apply for federal grants and expand its empowerment schools program, which was created to improve learning and student performance by offering schools more independence.

Because the commitment has been made to expand the empowerment program, School Board member Carolyn Edwards said it would be inconsistent to reject the contract with McCormick-Lee, a 30-year veteran who started the program more than three years ago.

But School Board member Linda Young was applauded by teachers at the meeting when she asked why the district would hire a retired administrator instead of using its own employees to do the work.

The reliance on consultants hurts employees, because it keeps them from developing the skills needed for jobs that are filled by outside contractors, Young said.

She called it a vicious cycle because it keeps the district paying the same contractors "over and over."

'We bring people in and ignore others," Young said.

The contract for McCormick-Lee was backed by School Board members Edwards, Terri Janison, Sheila Moulton and Deanna Wright, who raised lots of questions before finally voting for it. Board members Larry Mason, Chris Garvey and Young opposed it.

Billie Rayford, the associate superintendent who oversees empowerment schools, said her staff did not have the time to do the work that McCormick-Lee will be doing. Board members and Superintendent Walt Rulffes also said McCormick-Lee, will bring the district her experience and other "intangibles," such as her relationships with the private donors who have contributed funding for the empowerment schools.

School Board members said contracting with McCormick-Lee would be economical. Another expert, Michael Strembitsky, the originator of the "empowerment school" concept, was paid $23,800 by the district for 14 days of consulting in July, according to a report the district compiled for the Legislature's Interim Finance Committee.

When Young contrasted the hiring of retired administrators with how teachers sometimes must pay for their own paper, Mark Wood, the School Board's legal counsel, tried to cut her off and asked her not to "wander."

Young got another round of applause when she referred back to the contract and retorted, "Is that on the agenda?"

Because the School Board approved the contract during the public meeting, a district policy that requires former employees to wait a year before returning as contractors does not apply.

The approval of McCormick-Lee's contract was followed by teacher complaints about other district polices. The meeting room at the Greer Education Center on East Flamingo Road was packed with teachers representing their union, the Clark County Education Association.

CCEA President Ruben Murillo and other teachers complained that the district has overloaded them with excessive demands for detailed and lengthy lesson plans. Teachers are shouldering too much of the blame for failing schools, they said.

"We're asked to do more and more with less," teacher Bonnie Peck said.

Contact reporter James Haug at jhaug@reviewjournal.com or 702-374-7917.