Board wasting money on new superintendent

To the editor:

I am astounded that the Clark County School Board would consider not only breaking Nevada law by offering a five-year superintendent contract to Dwight Jones, but also that a golden parachute would be written into the deal, and it includes an additional $50,000 to, in effect, partially compensate for his wife having to give up her six-figure job with the Denver schools system (Thursday Review-Journal).

Businessman and former Chancellor Jim Rogers said he'd be willing to work as superintendent for free until 2013. I understand that the search firm of McPherson and Jacobsen declined to slate him as one of its finalists for the board to consider.

It seems to me that if members of the School Board can arbitrarily decide to override state law in negotiating contractual terms, then surely they could have the ability to revisit Jim Rogers as a candidate for superintendent. Once you figure in the benefits package to the proposed salary of $270,000 for Mr. Jones, surely saving the district more than $300,000 a year would be viewed as a plus.

Not to mention that Mr. Rogers has deep roots in the Las Vegas education community and would not have a learning curve to overcome once taking office.

Saving that $300,000 a year would mean that the school district could hire, at the highest salary/benefits scale posted on its website: three more G14 Ph.D.s to work with children in the district; or four more D9 teachers with master's degrees; or five more A5 teachers; or even six more A1 teachers fresh out of college, with the ink still drying on their bachelor's degrees.

Every teacher we can get into the classroom to work with children right now during this time of drastic budget cutting is crucial. Surely, three years of pro-bono work by Jim Rogers and the possibility of up to six more classrooms opening is worth consideration.

Claire Raymond

LAS VEGAS