Amid staffing shortages of teachers, substitutes, and bus drivers, Christmas came early this year for sixteen Clark County School District (CCSD) officials in the form of pay raises totaling more than $408,000. After his controversial termination, ousted Superintendent Dr. Jesus Jara has created more controversy by awarding his executive staff and region superintendents with base salary pay raises, varying from more than $7,700 to nearly $45,000–an average of 5 percent to 28 percent.

A memo distributed by Trustee Danielle Ford to local media outlets illustrates the pay increases.

Sixteen district officials will get salary increases on December 1, 2021:  Deputy Superintendent, Chief of Staff, Chief of Facilities, Chief of Communications, President and General Manager of Vegas PBS (a CCSD employee), District Police Chief, Chief Human Resources Officer, Chief Financial Officer, Chief of Operations, General Counsel, Chief Information Officer, Chief Academic Officer, Chief College Career Officer, Equity officer and three region superintendents.

In his memo, Jara states “After staff undertook a review of local and national compensation levels for comparable positions, and to compete nationally for talent, and retain our existing talent at a time of instability, I will be adjusting the following salaries.”

This news comes while the district website shows nearly 700 openings for licensed educators and after 3 months of negotiations and approval to raise teacher salaries by 3%.

President Linda Cavazos has been unavailable for comment, but upon hearing the news, tweeted:

The Board of Trustees will be meeting tonight at the Edward A. Greer Education Center at 5pm on Thursday, November 4th, to discuss the process of Jara’s replacement. Judging from the public’s reaction to these increases, Thursday night will be animated and newsworthy. The Globe will be in attendance and will provide additional updates.