Nevada faces shortage of special ed teachers

Monday, Aug. 29, 2005 | 10:48 a.m.

As children across Nevada returned to school on Monday, education officials said they are dealing with a chronic shortage of special education teachers.

"They've got so much paperwork that they just get burned out," said state Superintendent Keith Reault. "We have a lot of special education teachers that just go back into elementary (education) because they just get burned out."

Many special education teachers, however, said the issues go deeper than an overload of paperwork.

Last week, the Clark County School District had 287 openings for teachers, with 174 of those in special education.

"We've got to start addressing their issues," said Carole Worthen, principal at Echo Loder Elementary. "There are a lot of teachers out there, but they are not going into special ed. The special education teachers have got to worry about the regular testing, the three-year battery of testing for all special ed students," Worthen said.

"Then you have the No Child Left Behind accommodations and testing, the meeting with parents, the meetings with students, the meetings with other teachers. You're always on the go. And that is outside of your regular work day. Does that sound like fun to you?"