Teachers’ union opposes at-risk plan

By Emily Richmond (contact)

Thursday, Aug. 28, 2003 | 10:54 a.m.

The union representing teachers wants to scrap a Clark County School District plan to reduce turnover for at-risk schools by requiring new teachers to stay at least three years.

The regulation, negotiated by School District officials as part of last year's contract with the teachers' union, was supposed to take effect April 1 when teacher transfer season began. But the regulation was delayed after district officials realized not all new teachers had been told of the rule change when they were hired.

Now the Clark County Education Association, representing the bulk of the district's teachers, wants new employees to follow the same rules as veterans and wait just two years before looking for jobs at other district campuses.

The teachers' union had balked at the regulation from the start.

Forcing a teacher to stay where they are unhappy won't improve a school, said Mary Ella Holloway, president of the union.

"The School District has the right to restrict our movement between schools, but it's more fair to treat all the teachers the same," Holloway said this morning. "With the three-year rule, I think we would have seen more people just quitting the district outright, instead of trying to find somewhere they might fit in elsewhere."

But principals of at-risk schools, who typically have the hardest time recruiting and keeping teachers, had praised the regulation.

Deborah Slauzis, principal of Lynch-Edison Elementary School, which led the district in vacancies this summer, had called the new regulation a realistic way to improve stability among teaching staff.

The new teachers' contract also includes 2 percent pay increases in 2003 and 2004, as approved by lawmakers during the last Legislature. Teachers will also have two additional pay levels for educators who earn credits toward their master's degrees or doctorates.

The Clark County Association of School Administrators also ratified its new contract Wednesday, with the most significant changes relating to how pay increases are distributed.

In past years negotiated cost-of-living raises were distributed uniformly to all members. With the current contract, administrators who have more difficult jobs -- such as working in at-risk schools or campuses on year-round calendars -- would receive more, said Steve Augspurger, executive director of the union.

"It's our belief that people need to be compensated based on the complexities of their work," Augspurger said this morning. "These job reclassifications would allow for that."

Administrators are slated to receive the same pay increase as the teachers -- 2 percent for each of the next two years.

School Board members declined to discuss the contracts until after tonight's closed-door session to review the offers.