EDITORIAL

Consultants run amok

Being a Clark County School District administrator means never having to say goodbye -- not when the district throws around millions of dollars every month on consultant contracts.

At its Thursday meeting, the Clark County School Board approved a contract worth as much as $40,000 for retired administrator Karlene McCormick-Lee, who used to supervise the district's empowerment schools. She is being contracted to -- you guessed it -- assist in the administration of empowerment schools which, ironically, are supposed to be more independent than traditional campuses. What could make a school more autonomous than having an administrator retire and not be replaced?

According to Superintendent Walt Rulffes, Ms. McCormick-Lee's daily pay rate is equal to the cost of her former salary and benefits. It's quite a gesture considering Ms. McCormick-Lee, a 30-year employee, also gets to collect her pension on top of her consulting contract.

The contract, which was proposed and approved without a competitive bidding process, comes after the Legislative Counsel Bureau reported that the school district spent more than $14 million on consultants and speakers between June and October alone. In total, the district awarded more than 600 contracts during the five months, covering everything from administrative advice to instructional services.

We'd love to hear Clark County School Board trustees account for the fact that they never seem to have enough money for kids -- the district has made about $120 million in program cuts this year, and might have to make more depending on how Gov. Jim Gibbons deals with continuing state revenue shortfalls -- but they can always find enough dough to sweeten the retirement of former employees. Is there a secret couch cushion in the administrative palace on Sahara Avenue stuffed with Benjamin Franklins?

It's not just the district's extra effort to grease the palms of ex-colleagues, nor the dollar amount in fiscally challenging times that make these deals so unsavory. It's the fact that the school district has no meaningful measures in place to determine whether any of these contracts make the slightest difference in improving the education of the valley's children.

Does anyone really believe that if the Clark County School District stopped awarding these contracts for one year and simply asked its small army of administrators and its very best teachers to do the same work that test scores would drop the slightest bit? With all the master's and doctoral degrees in that bureaucracy, doesn't anyone know how to do his job without getting expensive outside advice?

The Clark County School Board needs to get a grip on consulting costs -- and stop giving ex-administrators retirement bonuses.

Trending topics:

• administration
• Clark County School District
• consultants
• contracts
• Karlene McCormick-Lee
• retired

Comments

Note: Comments made by reporters and editors of the Las Vegas Review-Journal are presented with a yellow background.

1. rascal Dec. 13, 2009 | 7:32 p.m. Report Abuse

   The CCSD leadership is made up of small minded people. They have for years taken for themselves while abusing teachers who have tried to correct the wrongs. Test cheating has run rampant to cover for the poor leadership and test scores.The children of our community have been given a poor education becaue of the poor leadership and squaundering of funds. Everyone should write a letter to our governor informing him of the spending habits of the CCSD. This may help in an attorney generals investigation of the CCSD. Who knowe what else we might uncover?

2. Imtalkintoyou Dec. 13, 2009 | 5:34 p.m. Report Abuse

   Now we know what they needed the room tax money for...
   Remember what long distance telephone service was like when there was only AT&T? We have the equivalent in our education system and the only thing that will improve this mess in competition! Children and taxpayers need an alternative

3. hdstmf Dec. 13, 2009 | 5:34 p.m. Report Abuse

   "According to Superintendent Walt Rulffes, Ms. McCormick-Lee's daily pay rate is equal to the cost of her former salary and benefits."
   
   She retired as supervisor of the district's empowerment schools. I'll assume she had a staff. I'll also assume someone was hired to fill the vacant position.
   
   Ms. McCormick-Lee's consultant contract is $40,000 for 52 DAYS work. According to Ruffles her daily pay rate is equal to the cost of her former salary and benefits. That's $769.23 PER DAY. Based on 260 work days a year. According to King Ruffles, she was making $199,999.80 per year in pay and benefits. I don't know what her retirement pay is, but you can bet it's really sweet. Don't forget, she retains many of those benefits too. She would probably have pulled down $500,000 a year if the scam had not been exposed.
   
   Meantime, back at the CCSD Puzzle Palace, she will be the de facto supervisor over her replacement and staff.
   
   Ah, being an CCSD educrat would be absolutely perfect if it weren't for those pesky students and their dumb parents.

4. teacher too Dec. 13, 2009 | 4:25 p.m. Report Abuse

   I am supposed to be an empowerment teacher - guess what? I am not empowered at all. Nothing has changed in my classroom. Karlene Lee had never been to a classroom when she was in charge. Yes, she made pretty charts, hired oodles of consultants to come and speak about what I do not know as it was for administrators and I can tell you that the administrators in this region or whatever they call it now, have plenty of time on their hands - certainly enough time to come up with more paperwork and lesson planning nonsense and to make fancy pie charts about empowerment. Then they will apply for more of our tax dollars for more empowerment schemes. Nothing will change in the classroom and the people at the Taj Mahal will tell you how great we are all doing. We teachers are suffering - in 15 years in the CCSD I have never seen morale as low as it is. Those trustees have got to go and they need to take Ruffels, Kohut-Roast and Karlene Lee with them.

5. Alcohol Dec. 13, 2009 | 3:25 p.m. Report Abuse

   Nice gig if you can get it.
   
   We have 2 kids that are teachers (insert "not here thank a Mormon")and I asked them.
   
   They thought it was insulting. They know there should be people "in-house" that could do that work.
   
   If I was in that department I would be embarrased. What it tells us the TAXPAYERS.....that department lacks the intelligence to do their jobs.
   
   So, therefore why were they hired and what do they do?

6. rascal Dec. 13, 2009 | 3:11 p.m. Report Abuse

   You only can hire employees who are already drawing retirement in positions deemed CRITICAL. When the school district gets done hiring their retired friends the law will be changed not allowing any retiree to be rehired. GRAFT AND CORRUPTION

7. rascal Dec. 13, 2009 | 2:52 p.m. Report Abuse

   According to an article previously published in the Las Vegas Sun, the school distict opened a real estate office at the district office that cost the taxpayers $1.87 million dollars before closing. However,it did say they sold 15 homes . No, I did not say bought 15 homes, I said sold 15 homes. The district also borrowed$ $500,000. from the City of Las vegas to help with down payments for home buying teachers. About a year later they had'nt had any takers so they asked the mayor and city council if they could keep the $500,000. for rental assistance for teachers. Where do you think all the money went? Then they considered building homes for teachers in a certain area, but someone finally woke up.and dropped the project.By the way, I had heard the real estate office had 22 employees. It would certainly help today in our declining job market. Yes, there is a lot to investigate, follow the money.

8. Captain Marvel Dec. 13, 2009 | 2:46 p.m. Report Abuse

   In the past 25 years education in this school district has degenerated tremendously. One of the factors of influence in this regard is the fact that teachers have been relegated to automaton or cyborg status whereby each one must teach exactly like all other in their subejct area. Orignality, creative, imaginative and inventiveness of a teacher has been greatly discouraged with the by-the-book mentality of many adminstrators.
   
   Every teacher within a department or subject area must closely follow a set curriculum, time line and other specifications set by the school administration.
   
   A science teacher for example, can no longer develop a unit lesson or lab experiment that is not utilized by all others teaching the same subejct. Uniformity this is a district mandate with no room for originality or idea of motivating a vastly different student audience than others.
   
   Teachers must plan together lessons that have the same time line, topics and method of approach regardless of individual class or student differences.
   
   In this district many outstanding and wonderful teachers have been demeaned and discouraged by such regimentation.
   So many have unique creative teaching gifts that these are no longer realized by administrators. Again, the philosophy of 'the minimum becomes the maximum' prevails even when it comes to lesson preparation and planning.
   
   Any talented teacher with less than 10 years of in-district employment should consider seeking another career or another disrict. Once in the 10 year tenure many are trapped and unable to leave as they may truly desire.
   
   Any teacher considering retirement soon should do so without too much hesitation because the prospects of remaing in a satisfactory environment has the prospect of diminishing expotentially with a change in admninistrative leadership. Get out while you can; this district is not worth sacrificing your health and life for.

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