A slow start: More change is needed in school district

The educational product of the Clark County public schools is often disappointing — despite the fact taxpayers in the past 50 years have tripled the amount of money per pupil they pour in, even after adjusting for inflation.

Parents and taxpayers had high hopes for Dwight Jones. But a mere two-and-a-half years into his rebuilding program, the superintendent is gone. Currently holding the fort is acting Superintendent Pat Skorkowsky. Some readers, expressing fatigue with nationwide searches, suggest the school board simply stick with local talent.

Could Mr. Skorkowsky turn out to be an agent of radical change?

Last summer, School District officials claimed the district’s graduation rate had jumped to 66 percent. But the Nevada Department of Education now says those numbers were wrong. In fact, the district’s 2011-12 graduation rate stands at 61 percent, a modest 2 percentage point gain over the previous year.

When asked about the inaccurate report, interim Superintendent Skorkowsky said on April 10, “Our graduation rate is no longer about a number — it’s about individual students.”

Yes, it’s true that behind the numbers stand individual students, who deserve to be treated as individuals. But the simple fact is that the graduation rate is a number, and good management requires accurate numbers.

If the most talented teacher has an attendance rate of 61 percent — showing up for work only 13 out of 22 days a month — would the superintendent tell us not to worry; “Our staff attendance rate is no longer about a number”?

In a commentary published in the Review-Journal April 24. Mr. Skorkowsky blamed the loss of 1,000 teaching positions last year on “the budget crunch.”

But that’s a familiar old song — that taxpayers refuse to shell out enough cash. In fact, wasn’t the problem last year an out-of-state arbitrator who decided to hand the intransigent teachers union the pay increases they demanded — even though all parties knew in advance that would require the elimination of 1,000 teacher jobs?

Someone has to convinvce the best teachers that the current system is not set up to encourage innovation or reward excellence, that major changes are needed to introduce competition and thus cast off bureaucratic lethargy.

Specifically, that means major changes are needed in binding arbitration and “evergreen” contracts.

When the state Legislature says the answer to a majority of Clark County kids failing the math competency test on their first try is simply to abandon the test, one might expect a dedicated educator to say “Hold on a minute; we need some way to certify our graduates are employable, and that most can handle college material if so inclined.”

Will interim superintendent Pat Skorkowsky do that? We’re waiting.