Rogers will apply for school chief’s job

Jim Rogers, former Nevada System of Higher Education chancellor, has decided to apply for the position of Clark County School District superintendent and is offering to work until July 1, 2013, without a salary.

Rogers, a philanthropist and owner of KVBC-TV, Channel 3, said he is not trying to pre-empt the Clark County School Board's search for a successor for Superintendent Walt Rulffes, who is retiring Aug. 31. But he does want to provide the board an "escape" in case its search ends up "in a disaster."

It's possible the search firm could fail to produce viable candidates, he said. The board might miss its self-imposed October deadline for selecting a new superintendent. And even if a new superintendent is in place by Christmas, there would not be much time for that person to get ready to lobby the Legislature on behalf of K-12 education.

"What I'm worried about is (the School Board) running up against the wall and picking somebody who may not really be qualified to handle the job," he said.

His offer "would take the heat off them," he said. "This would at least say to them, 'If we don't find anyone else, at least we have Jim. He's a known commodity.'"

Rogers said he is fine with the School Board picking someone else for the job and believes the School Board should proceed with a thorough search.

"They may wake up tomorrow morning and decide they love Jim Rogers and let's do away with the search," Rogers said of board members. "I wouldn't anticipate that. I'm not sure that's a very good idea. I think people would think I railroaded this thing through, but I think I need to provide them with an escape mechanism so they're not up against the wall when the search firm has not brought them anybody."

The School Board is scheduled to meet Monday with its newly appointed search firm, McPherson & Jacobson of Omaha, Neb. The firm has estimated the cost of the search at $50,000.

Rogers made his offer in an e-mail to School Board President Terri Janison on Wednesday, but added that "I'm not really pressing them at all." He said he has not met or discussed his interest in the job with Janison, whose husband, Kevin Janison, works for Rogers as a weatherman on KVBC-TV, the local NBC affiliate.

Terri Janison has said she would recuse herself from a vote to hire Rogers. She did not return a phone call Wednesday about Rogers' job offer.

School Board Vice President Carolyn Edwards said Rogers is "welcome to apply like everybody else. We certainly welcome him throwing his hat in. I think that's great."

School Board member Linda Young said she would give Rogers "serious consideration," adding that she appreciated his willingness to work for free, his background in higher education and his frank and direct approach. "He levels with you," Young said.

Rogers had offered to work as interim superintendent to give the School Board ample time to choose a replacement for Rulffes. Supporters have collected more than 7,000 signatures in favor of Rogers' interim offer, but the School Board has postponed the decision .

Rogers has gotten the public backing of parent groups, candidates for School Board and Stephen Augspurger, the executive director of the Clark County Association of School Administrators and Professional-technical Employees.

Augspurger has said the district is desperate for a new leader to make immediate changes.

Rogers said the district "has an awful lot of problems. I think they have internal problems. I think in a lot of ways they don't get the support they need from parents, the Legislature. The school district just can't go it alone, they really can't. They need lots of support from a lot of different areas."

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