CLARK COUNTY ASSOCIATION OF SCHOOL ADMINISTRATORS

AND PROFESSIONAL-TECHNICAL EMPLOYEES

4055 South Spencer St., Suite 230 Las Vegas, NV 89119

Stephen Augspurger, Executive Director

Office (702)796-9602 Fax 1-702-447-6886 Cell (702)279-0745
E-mail stephen.augspurger@ccasa.net

September 13, 2017

VIA ELECTRONIC MAIL

Dear Clark County School District Trustees:

Previously, on September 5, 2017, the Clark County Association of School Administrators and
Professional-technical Employees (CCASAPE), the recognized collective bargaining organization for
1,350 central-office and school-based administrators, with a membership of 98% of eligible
administrators, and the CCASAPE Representative Council, comprised of the elected leadership of the
Association, sent the Board of School Trustees a letter expressing administrators very significant
concerns with Superintendent Skorkowskys mismanagement of the Districts budget and other
performance issues. To date, no response to that letter has been received from the Trustees.

On September 7, 2017, following the first CCASAPE letter, the Superintendent held a press conference
to announce his retirement. He stated, I am not resigning. I am announcing my retirement. I am
leaving on my terms. The decision is mine and mine alone. On Friday, September 8, 2017, with
respect to Superintendent Skorkowskys announcement, a Las Vegas Review-Journal editorial reported,
He insisted that hes leaving on his own terms, but the timing and abruptness of his announcement say
otherwise.

Your administrators agree with the Review-Journals assessment. The Superintendents budget
mismanagement represents a crisis unlike anything the Clark County School District (CCSD) has ever
seen. Administrators remain concerned about the poor performance and failed leadership of
Superintendent Skorkowsky. They are concerned about the negative impact he is having on their ability
to successfully perform their responsibilities to the students of the CCSD. The Superintendents poor
performance cannot be set aside nor ignored simply because he acknowledged responsibility for it and
apologized for his mistakes at his hastily-called press conference.

The facts of this crisis include the following. These facts are not in dispute:

1. The Superintendent failed to appropriately notify and secure the required approval of the Trustees
to reduce the FY17 ending fund balance from 1.75% to 1.25%. This action caught the Trustees
completely by surprise;

2. The Superintendent failed to inform the Trustees of the growing deficit, even when he knew it was
developing, which caused there to be serious concerns regarding budget transparency. Whether
done with intent or not, he misled the elected Trustees;
CCSD Trustees
September 13, 2017
Page 2

3. Because the Superintendent failed to reveal the budget crisis in a timely manner, the Trustees
unknowingly approved and submitted the FY18 Tentative and Final Budgets to the state, not
realizing that the District was in financial crisis;

4. The District now suffers from an $80 million deficit, solely due to the financial mismanagement by
Superintendent Skorkowsky;

5. This deficit will result in the reduction-in-force of employees and untold hardship and disruption
across the CCSD, all because the Superintendent failed to perform his fiduciary responsibilities
and either concealed or did not know about the deficit until July 5, 2017;

6. The $80 million deficit will impede the full implementation of AB 469 and will ensure that the CCSD
is out of compliance with major portions of the law. Over $65 million in attrition money that comes
from the 400 teacher vacancies and 500 support staff vacancies has been obligated and spent
by the Superintendent. Under AB 469, these funds were to follow the students to their schools
but did not. Another way to look at the attrition issue is this: If 400 of the best teachers in the
country showed up at the CCSD to fill existing teacher vacancies, there is no money to pay them.
The money is gone;

7. During his September 7, 2017, press conference the Superintendent apologized for failing to
realize there was a budget deficit. The Superintendent acknowledged, ... mistakes have been
made in how we grappled with this budget crisis. These words do not excuse his actions and
will not make a difference to those who lose their jobs as the result of his mismanagement.
Likewise, his apology will make no difference to the many students who will be denied a quality
education as a result of these significant budget reductions;

8. An $80 million deficit is not a simple mistake that you can fix by saying what you should have
done differently. This deficit represents a complete abdication of the Superintendents fiduciary
responsibility to students, their parents, and the employees of the CCSD, as well as to the
taxpayers of southern Nevada. The deficit has created a breach of trust between the
Superintendent and all constituent groups;

9. The Superintendents financial mismanagement will negatively impact the Districts bond rating,
will diminish the Districts credibility with potential bond investors, and will add significantly higher
costs to new school construction; and

10. The Superintendents performance in each of the aforementioned matters is a violation of the
Executive Limitations established by the Board of School Trustees to evaluate his professional
performance.

This fact pattern reveals a complete disregard for the welfare of the CCSD. If a principal or
department head engaged in this same behavior, he or she would be fired. Yet, five Trustees, possibly
in violation of the State Open Meeting Law, stood in support of Superintendent Skorkowsky at his press
conference, and since that press conference, have expressed no concern or disapproval of what we know
to be true about the Superintendents responsibility for this financial crisis. How can the District expect
to hold other employees accountable when the Superintendent receives a complete pass from five of the
Trustees for his financial mismanagement and failed decision-making, which ultimately will adversely
impact the entire District?
CCSD Trustees
September 13, 2017
Page 3

Our students, CCSD employees, and Clark County residents deserve more responsive representation
from the elected Trustees. The educational community and Clark County taxpayers are watching to see
how and when the Trustees will hold the Superintendent accountable. Trustees are obligated to do the
right thing for the School District and the community, and this obligation must transcend the Trustees
personal feelings for the Superintendent.

The Superintendent is responsible for the CCSD budget crisis. This is a fact. He has admitted
his culpability. And, while he apologizes and takes ownership of the problem, he also effectively assigns
blame to a host of other reasons: he blames his subordinates, including those who undoubtedly told him
over and over again to put the brakes on his spending; he blames the state funding formula and the
outdated Nevada Plan; he blames unfunded mandates; and he blames what he calls a broken collective
bargaining system. During and since his press conference, he has found fault with those who push back,
with those who oppose the reorganization, with his community critics, and with the problem-makers.
But, in the final analysis, he alone is responsible for the financial crisis that has consumed this District
simply because he failed to ensure that the CCSD operates within its financial means. All this being said,
how could anyone think he is capable of fixing this crisis? How could anyone give him an additional ten
months to prove he wont be a lame duck superintendent? The answer to these questions is clearonly
the five Trustees who stood beside him at his hastily-called press conference.

The resolution of this matter is obvious. The CCSD needs an effective leader, and that person is
not Pat Skorkowsky. For the welfare of the CCSD and its students, Trustees must immediately do what
is required to resolve these terrible circumstances. Your administrators call for the immediate
appointment of an interim superintendent from within the CCSD and request that the Trustees embark
on a national search for a new superintendent.

The Clark County School District is in crisis. The time for strong, decisive action is now.

Respectfully,

Stephen Augspurger, Executive Director

Clark County Association of School Administrators
and Professional-technical Employees

c: CCASAPE Representative Council

CCSD Administrators
Superintendent Skorkowsky
Senator Michael Roberson, Chair, Advisory Committee Overseeing the Reorganization of CCSD
Steve Canavero, State Superintendent of Public Instruction
Elaine Wynn, Chairperson, State Board of Education
Las Vegas Review-Journal
Las Vegas Sun
The Nevada Independent