Program draws teachers from other fields

Monday, Aug. 9, 2004 | 11:18 a.m.

After 13 years answering tough questions from the media, Clark County School District spokeswoman Mary Stanley-Larsen faces a whole new kind of grilling -- from her fourth grade students at Hollingsworth Elementary School.

"I've gone through the whole first-day circus so many times, but always from the other side of things," Stanley-Larsen said. "I'm excited, but I'm also a little nervous."

Stanley-Larsen's career shift comes courtesy of the district's Alternative Routes to Licensure program -- a crash course in everything from educational theory to classroom management.

Participants must have already completed a bachelor's degree. Those interested in teaching bilingual education or mathematics must have either a college major or minor in those subjects.

After completing 150 hours of training and nine university credits in education courses, Stanley-Larsen's name was added to the pool for principals to consider. Her alternative license lasts three years, after which she may apply to the state for the standard credentials.

The district-sponsored training and graduate school courses continue even after participants are assigned to classrooms of their own. Stanley-Larsen expects to earn her master's degree in education from Nova University in 2006.

Of the more than 1,800 new teachers that will be on the job when the new school year begins later this month, 65 come from the ARL program, said Lina Gutierrez, executive director of licensed personnel for the district.

But while their relative numbers may be small, their importance is not, Gutierrez said.

Teachers trained through the ARL program are only used to staff high-need openings, including elementary bilingual education, English Language Learners, mathematics and special education.

"Those are key areas where we are in serious need," Gutierrez said. "Every single person we can find is critical."

Of this year's new hires from the ARL program, 31 people were already working for the district as substitute teachers, Gutierrez said. Stanley-Larsen is the only one crossing over from a support staff job.

The other 34 new teachers come from a variety of backgrounds, including engineering, law and business.

Others, like Stanley-Larsen, worked in fields related to education and wanted to become more directly involved.

"For years I've been following along from the sidelines," said Stanley-Larson said. "The idea of being a teacher has been coming together in bits and pieces over the years and it just seemed like the right time to make the big leap."

Stanley-Larsen, who graduated from Milwaukee's Marquette University in 1982 with a double-major in Spanish and journalism, said her family always considered schooling a priority.

Her parents weren't just the first in their families to graduate college -- they were also the first to even make it to high school.

"My father's parents didn't get beyond sixth grade ... my mother's parents managed to finish eighth grade and then they had to drop out and go to work," said Stanley-Larsen, 44. "So my own family always emphasized the importance of education and how far it can take you and they never took it for granted."

After working at newspapers throughout the Midwest, Stanley-Larsen arrived in Nevada in March of 1990 and took a reporting job with the Las Vegas Sun. She left the position the following year for a communications office post at the Clark County School District.

"My first day on the job was the first day of school," Stanley-Larsen said.

"She absolutely goes above and beyond what anyone could expect and puts her heart into it. She's going to be a wonderful teacher," Pat Nelson, coordinator of the district's communications office, said she was confident Stanley-Larsen would shine as a teacher.