Join Chalkbeat Chicago’s free every day e-newsletter to maintain up with the most recent schooling information.
Chicago Public Colleges CEO Pedro Martinez is one among six candidates within the operating to develop into superintendent of Nevada’s Clark County Public Colleges.
The varsity board voted to fireside Martinez with out trigger in December after rising hostility with Mayor Brandon Johnson. His contract permits him to remain on as CEO till June and he is at the moment suing the Chicago Board of Training.
However based on an agenda for a particular assembly posted on-line, Martinez was one among 46 individuals to use for the job main the Nevada district, which is the fifth largest within the nation after CPS. The Clark County Board of Faculty Trustees will meet Feb. 18 to debate the slate of six candidates vying to be the subsequent superintendent.
CPS declined to remark for this story.
In Martinez’s on-line utility for the job, Martinez mentioned Nevada is a state “I do know and love.”
“It’s the place my kids had been born and spent their earliest years,” Martinez wrote within the doc included on the Feb. 18 agenda objects. “To return to such a personally and professionally formative place is a novel alternative I’m excited to discover.”
Martinez provides that Clark County’s “dedication to fostering scholar success in one of the crucial dynamic and various instructional environments resonates deeply with my values and my private background as a first-generation scholar rising up in poverty.”
His utility contains former Chicago Board of Training president Miguel Del Valle and former CPS CEO and former U.S. Secretary of Training Arne Duncan as references.
Clark County’s earlier superintendent resigned final February after what the varsity board described as an “amicable separation,” the Las Vegas Solar reported.
Clark County Faculty District serves practically 300,000 college students. Forty-nine p.c of Clark County’s college students are Hispanic; 19% are white, practically 16% are Black, and 6% are Asian American, based on district demographic information. Simply over 16% of its college students are English learners and simply over 14% have Individualized Training Applications, or IEPs, which define companies for college kids with disabilities.
The presentation outlines a slate of six candidates, which incorporates Jhone Ebert, Nevada state superintendent; Jason Glass, former commissioner for the Kentucky Division of Training; Joshua Starr, former superintendent of Montgomery Nation Public Colleges in Maryland; Jon Anzalone, superintendent of Camas Faculty District in Washington; and Ben Shuldiner, superintendent of Lansing colleges in Michigan.
The primary spherical of interviews shall be from Feb. 24-25, based on the Clark County presentation. The varsity board can select to interview all six candidates for the primary spherical however could forgo a few of them, that means it’s attainable Martinez is not going to get a proper interview, based on the presentation.
The second spherical of interviews would occur from March 10-11, which embody neighborhood boards. The Clark County college board is anticipated to rent a brand new superintendent at its March 13 assembly, however a spokesperson mentioned that timeline may change.
Martinez’s firing from CPS adopted months of disagreement between him and Johnson over the right way to alleviate the district’s monetary pressures, together with the right way to pay for upcoming labor contracts. For the reason that fall, the district has been mired in a management battle that included the mass resignation of Johnson’s first appointed college board.
Martinez, who served as superintendent of the San Antonio Impartial Faculty District earlier than taking the helm at CPS, is not any stranger to Nevada. Earlier on this profession, he was the “superintendent in residence” for the Nevada Division of Training, the place he was an schooling coverage advisor for each the governor’s workplace and the state superintendent of instruction, based on his biography. At one level, Martinez was briefly deputy superintendent of Clark County colleges, based on his on-line utility.
Earlier than then, Martinez was the superintendent of Washoe County Faculty District in Reno from 2012-2014. The Washoe County college board fired Martinez for allegedly misrepresenting himself as an accountant, then claimed it solely wished an administrative go away, Reno Gazette Journal reported.
Martinez filed a wrongful termination lawsuit and mentioned he didn’t misrepresent himself. Martinez settled the lawsuit for $500,000, the newspaper reported.
Correction: This story misstated the date during which the Clark County college board is predicted to a rent a brand new superintendent. A spokesperson mentioned the anticipated rent date is March 13.
Reema Amin is a reporter protecting Chicago Public Colleges. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.