IMPACT on Teen Suicide

Carrie's Intro:

This week started out for me with my phone blowing up over a story from the New York Times. Erica Green, one of their education reporters, wrote a story on student suicides and other mental health issues during the pandemic.

Clark County School District was front and center.

Green said on Twitter that she had gotten her info from another school district leader, when she called him to ask if they were having bad mental health issues. He said no, but talk to Jesus Jara - who is, of course, the superintendent of schools at CCSD.

We talk about Jara a lot. I have written about Jara. Jara was the guy who tried to put through a bill during the special summer session that would take away carryover funds from individual schools and put them in a central budget. And then when the bill received backlash, he tried to pull it, and tried to say it was the governor’s idea. Or… no… the STATE superintendent’s idea.

Two days later, the GOVERNOR OF OUR STATE, along with the superintendent, wrote letters all but using the word “lie.”

Sisolak: “Being superintendent of one of the largest school districts in the nation requires leadership — especially in the midst of a crisis,” Sisolak said. “And leadership requires honesty. Unfortunately, that is not what we get from Superintendent Jara. Clark County students, staff and families deserve better.”

Ebert: “Once it became clear the proposal did not have support, Superintendent Jara disrespected our elected officials and the entire CCSD community by misrepresenting his intentions,” Ebert said. “As a leader in education, he has a responsibility to set an example for our children. Blatantly altering the truth is not only a bad example, but it’s a disservice to the educators, students and families he represents.” 

This was after Assembly Speaker Jason Frierson ended discussion of the bill with this:

"I want to... make it abundantly clear that AB2 was  exclusively the request of CCSD  to be placed on the agenda, and that request was withdrawn two hours before the actual proclamation was issued, which was too late. And so...You don’t get to light a firecracker and run just before it goes off. 

I should also note that at the same time this was happening, CCSD Trustee Linda Cavazos was discovering that the hybrid school plan that Jara told them over multiple meetings was mandated by the State Board of Ed - was not actually required at all by the State Board of Ed.

That’s the backstory. He survived being fired just narrowly, and survived being censured by a parliamentary maneuver that shut the special meeting down.

But Erica Green knew none of this. She was a reporter trying to get a story on mental health and the pandemic. And instead of calling one of our guests today - who is on the front lines of mental health in CCSD - she called the guy with the big title.

And the guy with the big title - as he has been doing for months now - said, “At-home school is leading our kids to kill themselves.”

Which is a dubious assertion at best.