District welcomes thousands of new teachers

By Emily Richmond

Tuesday, July 20, 2004 | 9:33 a.m.

Rockford's loss is the Clark County School District's gain.

Connie Petersen, a home economics teacher for 20 years, found herself "downsized" last year when the school district in that northern Illinois city eliminated many elective classes as a cost-saving measure. So Petersen took an early retirement offer and went looking for a new job.

She found Walter Johnson Junior High School on Ducharme Avenue in Las Vegas.

"I'm trying to talk other people into coming here," said Petersen, who was one of about 30 new teachers who stopped by the district's welcome center on opening day Monday. "I'm amazed at the level of support we're getting -- the training sessions, the orientation events. I'm even supposed to have a mentor buddy."

The Clark County School District needs 1,824 new teachers for the 2004-05 academic year, which kicks off Aug. 30. The district has already hired 1,105 teachers with another 322 offers pending. That leaves about 400 additional spots at the front of classrooms to be filled.

That's a far cry from last year, when a legislative logjam during the 2003 session left the Clark County School District in a hiring freeze through half of the summer with more than 1,000 positions to be filled. District officials prepared for fall by planning to reassign technology, literacy and gifted and talented specialists to regular classrooms.

District officials had feared the situation would cast a pall over future recruiting efforts, but that has not been the case, said Lina Gutierrez, executive director of licensed personnel for the district.

Former Californian Susan Hill was the first visitor to the welcome center Monday, an honor that resulted in her being rushed by reporters.

Hill, who will teach fifth grade at the new Hayes Elementary School when classes begin Aug. 30, gave three interviews in rapid succession at the district's Curriculum and Professional Development Center on Pecos-McLeod Drive. Then she got what she came for -- some maps, a schedule of upcoming training sessions and a few minutes' conversation with the veteran teachers serving as welcome ambassadors.

Like other new teachers who visited the center, Hill also got a free T-shirt from the teachers' union.

"The size of things here is a little overwhelming but it's exciting, too," said Hill, who previously taught in the Central Valley's Clovis Unified School District. "Where I come from it was a big deal to open one new school each year. No one can believe that Clark County has 13 at the same time."

Each year 70 percent of the district's new teachers come from out of state. The district has been trying to change that. One "grow your own" program steers existing employees in non-teaching jobs to careers in the classroom. There are also magnet programs at both the middle and high school levels that target minority students, promising help with college tuition in exchange for a pledge to teach in the district.

Last week 148 student teachers from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas' College of Education interviewed for positions, along with 127 applicants from online programs such as the University of Phoenix.

While Southern Nevada's climate has proved to be a successful marketing tool, it's not enough, Gutierrez said.

"We can only sell so much sunshine," Gutierrez said. "We've had to become No. 1 in creativity."

Other sources of teacher talent include coaxing veteran educators out of retirement -- especially those with experience in hard-to-fill subject areas. On Friday retired math teachers were invited to the district for a special meeting.

"There are a lot of people out there with energy and talent left," Gutierrez said.

With the hiring of new teacher Fern Reynolds, the district could be getting a "two-for-one" special, although it will be a few years before a potential payout. Reynolds will be teaching English Language Learners at Chaparral High School while daughter Kacie will be a freshman in the future-teacher magnet program at Clark High School.

"I want to teach third grade because that was my favorite grade," Kacie said Monday. "I think it's a cool job to get to work with little kids."

The new teacher welcome center will be open weekdays from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. through Aug. 13. Teachers will find help with apartment rentals, roommate match-ups and credit union information. The Curriculum and Professional Development Center is located at 3950 S. Pecos-McLeod at Flamingo Road.