New teachers welcomed: 1,300 prepare for Aug. 30 school start

Terry Webster

Tuesday, Aug. 14, 2001 | 11:11 a.m.

Nicolette Hubber broke her arm after a third grader kicked her legs out from under her.

Linda Cottier saw rats and cockroaches shambling through the hallways and classrooms of her former school.

Gay Jacobson braved minus 50-degree temperatures and bone-numbing blasts of arctic wind as she trekked across the Alaskan tundra to teach in a small Eskimo village.

The three are among the 1,300 new Clark County School District teachers getting ready for the opening of school Aug. 30.

Armed with school supplies, war stories and a lot of hope for the coming year, Hubber, Cottier and Jacobson on Monday stopped by the new-teacher welcome center behind the education center on Flamingo Road.

"Here we are, 'Viva, Las Vegas!' " Hubber said, bounding into the center. Hubber was a special education teacher in Napa, Calif., before coming to Las Vegas to be near family.

"It's a double-edged sword," Hubber said of working in special education. "You're dealing with kids who have difficulties learning and behavior problems that go along with it because they are frustrated."

Working with special education students opens the door to many different experiences, Hubber said. Despite some unpleasant ones, she remains dedicated to teaching.

In California, Hubber suffered a broken arm after being knocked down by an angry student.

"I have limited mobility in it now," she said, bending her right arm in and out. "I saw another student ram his head into a teacher."

Asked what keeps her coming back to teaching, Hubber joked, "I think I'm a masochist."

For Cottier, working conditions in a Bronx school left a lot to be desired. That, coupled with the low cost of suburban housing, led her to Las Vegas.

Cottier said she had a resident rat in her classroom -- "It was just there walking around" -- and a neighboring teacher had four rats. Teachers were afraid to open closet doors, she said.

"All I heard all day was this," Cottier said, repeatedly stamping her foot on the floor. "It was the kids killing the cockroaches."

Cottier also faced problems Clark County sees in varying levels: Students without basic skills, language barriers and a lack of parental involvement.

"Some of the kids just didn't show up," she said. "It was pathetic, really."

While many new teachers have already settled in, others are arriving with little more than the clothing on their backs.

"It's very maverick," said Mark Heywood, an O'Callaghan Middle School teacher manning the center. "They just head out West. They stop in here and say, 'I'm here.' "

Some recruits don't even have $100 to open a checking account, said Lou Ramos, a Silver State Schools Credit Union representative helping new teachers at the center.

Booklets in the center offer tips on everything from how to register a car to how to get a loan to buy one. Several different notebooks along one wall speak to different housing options and a roommate network.

The most popular feature is a $2,000 loan, Ramos said, explaining that the move to Las Vegas is usually more expensive than people anticipate. "The teachers generally are concerned with where to stay, banking and feeling a part of the community," Heywood said. "We try to help them with those three things."

Tiffany Tanton, a first-year art teacher fresh out of Brigham Young University in Utah, had additional networking resources to help her get settled.

"I'm Mormon, and I met my roommate through my church," she said. Tanton said she had offers in Arizona, Texas and two places in Southern California, but chose Clark County.

"At BYU, they said Clark County is such a great district, and they're really supportive," Tanton said.

Attending the new-teacher center is optional, but teachers have a series of orientations next week that are mandatory.

"We spend a lot of time with the new teachers -- those who have never taught before -- going over what to do on that first day," said Karyn Wright, director of preservice development and new-teacher induction. "Then we follow that up with training throughout the year."

With everything else there is to consider, Jacobson, meanwhile, is still trying to get used to the Las Vegas weather.

"In Alaska, it was 50 degrees below zero," she said. "When we came here, it was 115."