Teachers protest outside School Board meeting

Terry Webster

Friday, Dec. 14, 2001 | 9:38 a.m.

Signs, whistles, bullhorns, marching -- and a lot of talking -- marked the latest round of protests by Clark County School District teachers.

About 300 teachers rallied inside and outside Thursday's School Board meeting at the Flamingo Road Education Center. Their message was a common refrain: We want better salaries.

Teachers also said they want more respect from administrators and better funding for more classroom supplies and smaller class sizes. Class sizes have been inching up as the district adds more students to classrooms in an effort to limit staffing and save money.

Outside the building, bullhorns blasted chants of "raises not rhetoric," as passing car horns blared, teachers blew whistles to drum up the crowd and the sidewalk filled with marching teachers carrying signs.

Their pleas come amid an economic downturn and about $10.4 million in budget adjustments approved by the School Board Thursday.

"Please do not balance the budget on the backs of teachers," said Jana Pleggen Kuhle, a teacher at McDoniel Elementary School.

Eldorado High School teacher Marj Robison said that to reach all of the students, her daily schedule runs from 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Teachers, she said, are already providing for students the three points in Superintendent Carlos Garica's A-plus plan: access, accountability and achievement.

Teachers said they are tired of hearing the district has no money, although administrators kept to that theme.

"I would give them double raises if I could," said Edward Goldman, southeast regional superintendent, who also is in charge of employee relations. "The Legislature funded a 3 percent bonus this year and a 2 percent increase next year. They did not give us any funding for raises."

About 88 percent of the district's $1.2 billion budget is tied to salaries and much of the remaining parts are fixed expenses, such as utilities, Goldman said.

Teachers are still working under last year's contract. The district and teachers are presently in negotiations, and if an agreement is not reached by June, an arbitrator will step in, officials said.

Many teachers asked the district to settle their contract immediately. Clark County, the country's sixth largest school district, employs about 14,000 teachers.

In addition to rallies at board meetings, Nevada teachers recently ran a series of advertisements asking for better raises and working conditions. Some teachers said they spend as much as $1,000 a year on supplies they can't get from the district.

James Campbell, a teacher at Camberio Elementary School, pointed out that the district does not even budget for salary increases for teachers.

District officials said collective bargaining for employee groups for 2000-01 has not been finalized and arbitration with the teachers' union is still pending. As a result, no costs associated with collective bargaining are included in the 2001-02 budget.

The $1.2 billion budget for 2001-02 represents an increase of $97,375,251 or 8.9 percent over the previous year. The increase includes 6 percent for costs associated with opening 15 new schools.

Among the $10 million in budget adjustments approved by the board are cuts of $3.4 million for purchases, such as supplies or savings realized by leaving positions unfilled.

Chief Financial Officer Walt Rulffes has called the budget "extremely tight."

On another matter, the School Board agreed to support a campaign to change state laws banning adults from smoking on school property. State law currently requires school and government buildings to provide indoor smoking areas.

Smoking by students already is prohibited on school grounds.

The earliest that laws could be changed is the 2003 Legislature.