LAS VEGAS (KLAS)–The Clark County Board of School Trustees’ Thursday night meeting was a heated one as trustees voted on two crucial votes.

CCSD trustees voted 4-3 Thursday night to terminate Supt. Dr. Jesus Jara’s contract.

Trustees Danielle Ford, Irene Cepeda, Linda Cavazos and Lisa Guzman voted in favor.

Right after the vote happened Jara read the following statement and left the meeting.

“I want to be very clear my focus never wavered from working every second day to improve the well-being and academic success of our students,” Jara said. “While some members of this board seek to continue and try to run the operations of this school district and micro-manage me and undermine staff. I have been dedicated to protecting the staff from overreach and interference. My focus on student achievement and well-being have never and will never waiver in my career. Unfortunately, the majority of this board did not share the same vision for this community and the children will suffer because of it.”

Dr. Jeses Jara

In May of 2021, the board of trustees voted to extend Dr. Jara’s contract in hopes that he would continue his role until 2023. 

8 News now reached out to CCSD to ask whether Dr. Jara will be paid out for the remainder of his contract but has not heard back. Jara was hired in 2018 and his annual salary was $320,000. He was hired for the job after a nationwide search.

The other major motion on Thursday’s agenda is whether to terminate Linda Cavazos of her title as board president.

CCSD trustees voted to table the discussion of Cavazos as board president passes by 5-1, meaning the original motion will not be voted on Thursday night to terminate Cavazos’s job as board president.

There is no future date to revisit this, but any board member who voted to table the motion can bring it up again. Cavazos, who voted no, joked she did not want to do that.

Conflict within the board was apparent during the meeting. At one point, Trustee Katie Williams and Trustee Linda Cavazos got into a heated exchange arguing about control of the room and Trustee Williams not wearing a mask.

Trustee Williams left before the meeting concluded, so the vote to table passed 5-1, with Cavazos voting no.