The wisdom of their years: Retired teachers fill the gap

Terry Webster

Friday, Dec. 28, 2001 | 9:38 a.m.

At 300 mph, the fighter-bomber shudders like an earthquake; its engines scream as it plunges. Enemy fire sprays bullets past the cockpit and at the last minute the plane releases a bomb to destroy its target, then safely rises back above the clouds.

Teacher Jack Schofield, a World War II veteran and former fighter/bomber pilot with the 14th Air Force Flying Tigers, uses war stories like this one to grab the attention of his eighth-grade science class at Cannon Middle School.

"At the time, the technology used was state of the art," explains Schofield, who, at age 78, is a self-described "walking slice of history."

Schofield's latest entry in the history books came this fall, when he returned to the classroom under a new state law that allows retired teachers to resume their careers in areas such as math and science, where school districts face a critical shortage of teachers. The Clark County School District hired 23 teachers under the provision this year.

"It's not a lot," said George Ann Rice, assistant superintendent for human resources. "But we would have had substitute teachers in those classes if we hadn't hired these people."

As standards for students continue to rise, getting and keeping highly qualified teachers in the classroom is a big concern, especially in science. By 2005, students will have to pass science on the Nevada High School Proficiency Exam to earn a diploma. Students presently must pass exams in math, reading and writing to receive a high school diploma.

Traditionally, science has been a weak area for the Clark County School District. In November, for example, results showed that Nevada eighth-graders scored six points below national averages on a federal study, the 2000 National Assessment of Educational Progress. The state's science scores on the fourth-grade TerraNova have hovered just below national averages for the past four years.

Teachers like Schofield are needed, officials say, to help bring students' science skills up to par.

One reason science teachers are in short supply, according to organizations like the National Science Teachers Association, is that college students with expertise in that area pursue careers that pay much more than teaching.

Schofield said he has always moonlighted as a teacher to earn extra money.

"In 1953, my first year teaching at Paradise Elementary School, I earned $3,600 for nine months," he said. "I had a job at the Flamingo hotel as a lifeguard and I made $5,000 in tips in three months."

His teaching comeback came Oct. 15, after a short-lived retirement in 1999 from an education career spanning nearly 50 years in the Clark County School District. He estimates some 30,000 students have passed through his classrooms.

"The basic principles don't change, but science is new every day. That's what keeps it exciting and that's what keeps me coming back," says Schofield, who applies science lessons in his class that range from the development of the atomic bomb to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center.

"Science was very involved in those attacks," he said, explaining that terrorists likely figured the chemicals in the plane would cause enough of an explosion and enough heat to melt the framework of the Twin Towers.

Six times the age of his 13-year-old students, Schofield begins his class by talking hip. "Give me five," he says, raising his right palm. That means five things: Eyes on speaker, quiet, be still, hands free and listen.

Wearing a beige corduroy jacket decorated with airplane and flag pins, Schofield also dons a gold medal around his neck, strung with a bright red cord. He received the medal last year during a parade in China to honor the Flying Tigers.

His colorful background also includes stints as a state assemblyman from 1970 to 1974 and state senator from 1974 through 1978. He earned a doctorate in education administration from University of Nevada, Las Vegas, in 1995. "But the first thing I tell students is that I was the Golden Gloves West Welterweight Champion here in 1941," said Schofield.

He runs his classroom with military precision, using hand signals and writing notoriously detailed assignments and instructions on the chalkboard. Even student notebooks -- they must be loose leaf with six sections -- follow a protocol.

Students Daniel Dillman and Daryl Corpuz said everyone has to keep separate sections on vocabulary, notes, homework, labs, tests and assignments.

"It allows me to check their work easy," Schofield said.

Students use hand signals to communicate when they want to speak in class or leave the room. Schofield responds with a thumbs up or down, "just like pilots in the military."

"This is one of my hardest classes," said student Chez Mullen. "The hand maneuvers are kind of weird."

Schofield moves quickly and easily through the classroom, using a long ruler to point at the chalkboard or at pages in students' books.

"The most important thing is for them to do the work and spend time on task," he said.

Rather than stand before the class and lecture, Schofield hands out quizzes and asks students to draw diagrams explaining what they have learned. Their colorful "artwork" fills an entire hallway just outside the classroom.

Still determined to be part of history, his latest effort involves a plan to bring a replica of a B-25-H, the same kind of plane he flew in combat missions over China during World War II, to the middle school named after him at 8625 Spencer St.

Schofield says he would have taught there, but there weren't any openings.

"He has quite a background," said Rice. "I think he was ready to come back the day after he left."