School district welcomes new teachers aboard

By Emily Richmond (contact)

Thursday, July 24, 2003 | 11:13 a.m.

Edna Campbell left the Clark County School District's new teacher welcome center with a critical piece of information Wednesday -- how to pronounce the name of the school where she'll be working.

"I've been saying 'Munch' and it turns out it's 'Manch,' " said Campbell, who will teach special education at the elementary school located in the district's northwest region. "By the time classes start next month I'll have it down."

Campbell was one of five teachers who dropped by the district's curriculum and development center, where veteran employees waited to welcome them with free pens from the credit union, Krispy Kremes and guidebooks to finding an apartment.

They were also there to offer encouragement and reassurances that schools will open Aug. 25 as planned, now that Gov. Kenny Guinn has signed the Legislature's budget bill, which determines school funding.

"It came down to the wire but things are worked out," said Gay Golden, a middle school teacher and member of the district's welcome team. "We want everyone to know that this is a first-rate place to work and that we're all ready to get to work."

At a news conference last week, district officials announced that if the budget impasse continued much longer there could have been serious repercussions for schools, including delayed openings and cuts to programs and personnel.

While those fears have receded, the problem of finding more than 600 new teachers in five weeks still looms.

The district hires about 1,600 new teachers each year, with 1,000 of the openings typically filled by April 1. But the district froze hiring in mid-June with nearly 1,000 openings after officials said it would be irresponsible to make job offers without knowing if the funding would be in place to pay salaries. To cut the teacher vacancies nearly in half, Superintendent Carlos Garcia ordered 411 literacy, technology and gifted and talented education specialists back to regular classroom assignments.

The specialists will be returned to their original assignments as soon as qualified teachers are found to fill the classroom positions, Garcia said. It will be a struggle, however, to find top-notch candidates at this late date, Garcia said.

"It's conceivable that this budget mess has disillusioned a lot of people," Garcia said. "People we were going to hire may not want to come here, and people already here who got disgusted by the process may decide to leave."

For hard-to-fill positions such as special education, mathematics and science, the district may have to use long-term substitutes, Garcia said. Whether that, or the loss of the literacy and technology specialists, has an effect on student achievement remains to be seen, Garcia said.

Over the course of the summer months typically 150 to 200 teachers hand in their resignation, said George Ann Rice, associate superintendent of human resources for the district. When those expected vacancies are added to the specialists that the district hopes to pull from the classrooms, the number of open positions climbs back up toward 1,000, Rice said.

"We're certainly facing a challenge, there's no doubt about that," Rice said. "We're calling all the candidates who stuck with us and doing what we can to get them here as fast as we can."

The district had already hired a dozen teachers by mid-morning Wednesday, Rice said.

Turnout at the welcome center, which opened this week, has been about the same as in previous years and did not seem to be dimmed by the hiring freeze, said Sarah Mast, who coordinates new teacher induction for the district.

"It's usually slow to start off," Mast said. "I think it's going to be a bit of a rush for us at the end, making sure everyone gets what they need to start school."

In addition to the welcome center, the district will conduct a variety of workshops and orientation sessions between now and when teachers report to their schools Aug. 13.

Campbell, who was hired by the district in April, said the ongoing budget battle didn't dampen her enthusiasm for her new job.

"Every state is having money troubles nowadays," Campbell said. "I think it's great that the district was out there fighting for education and not just sitting back and watching things happen."