District must get creative in teacher shortage

Friday, June 14, 2002 | 11:23 a.m.

George Ann Rice, associate superintendent of human resources for the Clark County School District, was elated this week as she carried an armful of 30 new agreements to hire teachers to the contract office for approval.

Thirty job openings down, and just 670 more to go by August when the school officials expect to have 1,500 new teachers in the district.

"We're advertising on our website, we're making follow-up calls and sending e-mails and we're taking new applications every day," Rice said. "I'm confident we'll be at full staff by the deadline."

For the past three years, the school district has had to hire between 1,300 and 1,700 new teachers, bringing staffing to its current level of about 14,000.

The district's annual turnover rate is about 4 percent, which means each year more than 500 teachers must be replaced. With six new elementary schools and one new middle school opening this fall, there's no shortage of need, district officials say.

Faced with a nationwide teacher shortage, Clark County is not only recruiting, but looking at a variety of innovative programs and incentives -- from home loans to a master's program -- to lure and keep teachers in the district.

Two years ago officials at the Nevada State Housing Division proposed offering low-cost home loans to out-of-state teachers who agree to relocate. Funding cuts stalled the plan, Rice said. Instead of waiting for the state to step back in, district officials are doing everything they can at the local level to offer incentives, Rice said.

Some of the proposals on the table include special deals for teachers with local home builders, and gift baskets of classroom supplies paid for by casinos.

Additionally, the district this week launched a virtual job fair -- a password-accessed website with employment listings with dozens of companies, Rice said. When a teacher is hired, the teacher's spouse or adult children will be allowed to search for jobs, Rice said.

"We want people to think of this area as their home, not just a place where they work," Rice said.

Another new incentive is an intensive master's degree program offered through Nova University, Rice said. By completing the summer course, teachers can earn 16 credits toward their degrees and move up the pay scale before they ever set foot in a Clark County classroom, Rice said. The Clark County Education Association, which represents 12,000 of the district's 14,000 teachers, is working to help defray the cost of tuition.

District officials hope such creative incentives will compensate for what they say they cannot offer -- competitive salaries.

The paycheck for a novice teacher in Clark County $26,847. It takes five years to reach about $30,000 and another five years to hit the district average of $40,000, the union says. The national average for a first-year teacher was $33,903 in 2000, the most recent year surveyed.

Giving teachers a fair contract would go a long way toward easing the staffing shortage, said Mary Ella Holloway of the Clark County Education Association.

Talented teachers are being drained away from the Las Vegas Valley -- and the profession -- because they cannot afford to raise their families on what the district pays, Holloway said.

The teachers union complains that teachers have not been offered a raise in four years and have had to fight through arbitration for even modest increases.

A survey by the American Federation of Teachers ranked Nevada 12th in the nation for average teacher salaries, at $43,083 for the 1999-2000 school year. But Clark County teachers say it can take 10 years to reach that salary mark, often working in overcrowded underfunded schools. The federation survey found Nevada teachers rank 38th in the nation for average pay per classroom student.

To combat the salary deficit, Clark County School District officials say they must be more creative in their techniques.

Elementary school students last year took home fliers asking stay-at-home parents to consider a career in teaching. College students taking education courses receive birthday cards from the district, and those who show even marginal interest at job fairs can count on follow-up phone calls, letters and e-mails.

Rice's staff is well-known for its aggressiveness, said Jim Cummings, director of communications for the Peoria Unified School District in Arizona.

"Everyone keeps their eye on Clark County, since Clark County is certainly keeping its eye on Arizona," Cummings said.

For Arizona schools, the goal is to not only hire new teachers but keep the ones they already have from heading next door to the Silver State, Cummings said.

"Everyone's fighting for the upper hand," Cummings said.

The Clark County School District relies on its own principals and other administrators to serve as volunteer recruiters, fanning out to job fairs and career centers across the country year-round, Rice said.

For many other school districts, recruiting is seasonal. At the Mesa Unified School District, Arizona's largest with 74,000 students, a part-time team of six recruiters works from December to June finding new hires, said Rosemarie D'Alonzo, director of certified personnel.

The recruiting game is only going to become more competitive in coming years as a nationwide shortage of teachers escalates. Rather than wading deeper into the rough waters of out-of-state recruiting, the Mesa school district is looking closer to home, D'Alonzo said.

The Arizona district has two "grow your own" programs -- one aimed at high school students and the other targeting individuals already working for the district as janitors, bus drivers or other fields outside of the classroom.

Since the employee recruitment program began in 1991, 21 existing employees have become teachers and gone to work for the Mesa school district, D'Alonzo said. The high school program began last year, focusing on juniors and seniors.