Teacher recruiting fills almost every position

Friday, Aug. 13, 1999 | 11:24 a.m.

More than 1,475 new teachers were marked present this week at more than 230 schools across the Las Vegas Valley -- the culmination of what Clark County School District officials are calling a highly successful recruiting summer.

Still, with the opening of schools set for Aug. 23, district officials say they need to recruit 75 more instructors, including more than two dozen special education teachers and nine high school mathematics teachers.

"In my 8 1/2 years on this job we have never come this close this soon to filling all of our positions," said George Ann Rice, assistant superintendent of human resources.

"We need about 25 secondary teachers, 25 elementary teachers and 25 special ed teachers, but we have a lot of good strong candidates and are getting more every day."

In addition to the teachers' initial visit to see their classrooms and meet their principals Wednesday, many of the new instructors will gather at 7:30 a.m. Saturday at Silvestri Middle School, 1055 Silverado Ranch Blvd., for "Get to Know Your Community Day."

As part of the festivities, new teachers will learn more about the Southern Nevada community they chose to make their home and participate in a question and answer session regarding their assignments to elementary, middle or high schools.

Rice said that all of the positions for social studies, physical education and business education have been filled on the district's licensed staff, which will number about 12,770 teachers this school year.

While statistics on the new hires will not be compiled until after October, Rice said that the bulk of the new teachers appear to have come from Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, Arizona, Pennsylvania and New York.

"We get a number of new teachers from a teachers college in Pennsylvania and good math and science teachers from upstate New York," Rice said, noting that the Northeast was targeted heavily by the district for recruits.

The new teachers came from 43 states, officials said.

In addition to hiring so many new teachers, the district also had to replace 50 departures since Aug. 1, including six teachers who left for charter school jobs and two who were hired by the Community College of Southern Nevada.

"We had last-minute retirees, others who got medical leave extensions and a number of young mothers who decided they needed time to bond with their babies," Rice said.