Entire state plans teacher job fair

Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2004 | 8:55 a.m.

Hundreds of potential new teachers are expected to flock to a job fair Saturday at Foothill High School in Henderson -- the first time the state's 17 school districts have joined forces to recruit.

"There's strength in numbers, and we're all in this boat together," said Steve Mulvenon, spokesman for the Washoe County School District. "If I were a teacher looking for a change or a new recruit just out of college, I would be more inclined to come to a fair where I had multiple districts to choose from."

The Clark County School District alone needs at least 1,600 additional teachers by August when 14 new schools will open, said JoAnn Schlekewy, director of licensed personnel recruitment for the district.

"We've got our work cut out for us," said Schlekewy, who was busy this week putting the final touches on information packets for prospective hires. "We have 25 recruiters set to work Saturday, and they all have full schedules -- about 12 interviews apiece."

The district's recruiting staff is made up of volunteers -- primarily principals and veteran educators.

The theme of the first statewide recruiting fair is "Fall in Love with Nevada" -- especially appropriate given that the date is also Valentine's Day.

"There's a lot to fall in love with," said Mary Ella Holloway, president of the Clark County Education Association, representing the majority of the district's 15,000 teachers. "My family and I came here 20 years ago, and we've had a wonderful life. Both my sons got excellent educations here and are public school graduates."

Holloway said she hoped the legislative logjam that tied up education funding during the last legislative session wouldn't discourage new teachers from applying this year. Clark County was left short nearly 1,000 teachers with weeks to go before the start of the 2003-04 academic year after the budget impasse forced a hiring freeze.

The job fair would probably be more successful if teacher pay were more comparable with surrounding states, Holloway said.

The starting salary for a new teacher in Clark County is $27,932 annually.

In addition to representatives from the various school districts, Nevada's colleges and universities will also be on site to tell teachers about opportunities for continued education and advanced degrees.

While Clark County has conducted recruiting fairs before -- both locally and nationwide -- Saturday's event will be a unique opportunity for smaller districts to benefit, said Keith Rheault, acting superintendent of the state Department of Education.

"Our rural districts don't have the resources to put something like this together or go out of state for candidates," Rheault said. "Hopefully teachers will find out that we're eager to have them come here and we're ready and willing to work with them to make that happen."

Officials from the state Education Department will be on hand at the job fair to answer questions about teacher licenses, Rheault said.

The fair will run from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Foothill High School, 800 College Drive, Henderson. For more information go to www.teachfornevada.com or call (702) 799-5427.