Buffalo’s bad luck helps LV schools

Terry Webster

Thursday, Dec. 6, 2001 | 9:19 a.m.

At the gambling tables in Las Vegas, one person's loss is another's winnings, and the Clark County School District is betting it can turn a winner out of another school district's misfortune.

The district's teacher recruiting machine is targeting Buffalo, N.Y., where hundreds of teachers are facing layoffs in the midst of a budget crisis blamed, in part, on the cost of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Clark County recruiters say Buffalo teachers could help fill the more than 1,000 new teaching positions in the county that will be available by the start of the 2002-2003 school year.

"We've had inquiries from several other districts, but Clark County has been the most forthcoming," said Andrew Maddigan, a spokesman for Buffalo Public Schools, a 46,000-student district.

Clark County, the country's sixth-largest and fastest-growing district, has a reputation as being one of the nation's most aggressive recruiters. Its repertoire spans from a barrage of Internet outreach programs to video conferencing, recruiting trips across the country, college partnerships, e-mail campaigns and programs to lure other professionals into teaching. The district builds about one new school each month, employs about 14,000 teachers and has a student population of about 246,000.

George Ann Rice, assistant superintendent for human resources, said she has to get creative because Clark County offers lower starting salaries than other districts. A beginning teacher with a bachelor's degree earns a salary of roughly $27,000.

One of the biggest selling points, Rice said, is the weather.

"For Buffalo, we've talked about sending out snow scrapers with a message on them that says, 'You could be teaching in sunny Las Vegas,' " she said.

The School District began placing newspaper ads in Buffalo shortly after the news hit that the district there is faced with a $28 million budget shortfall. Buffalo could lay off up to 557 employees, including 433 teachers, in what officials say could be "the worst single event in the history of the district."

Maddigan said about 150 school district employees have already lost their jobs. Another layoff round is possible before the end of December, unless the district receives emergency funding from the state.

Rice said the district received four applications from the Buffalo campaign and is interviewing the candidates by telephone.

"It really wasn't that fruitful," she said. "But we are keeping an eye out to see if more layoffs occur.'

If that happens, Rice said, Clark County will launch another recruiting effort in Buffalo, which could include a trip to the city.