Letter: Teachers better suited to recruit

Friday, April 28, 2006 | 7:33 a.m.

As a 28-year teacher with the Clark County School District and a local taxpayer, I am troubled by the longtime School District practice of sending our school administrators on visits across our country and around the world in the name of recruiting.

First, who better to recruit teachers than other successful, master teachers within the School District? If our School District administrative policymakers would use teachers on track breaks, it would cost the taxpayers much less than sending a higher paid administrator.

Secondly, successful veteran teachers thoroughly understand the complexities and challenges of the classroom and could answer recruiting prospects' concerns honestly and completely. Most certainly, this would diminish the huge attrition rate the School District currently experiences from first-year teachers who did not have a thorough knowledge of what they were getting into.

Finally, our School District will admit the tens of thousands spent to send administrators on recent recruiting trips has not yielded the results that warrant their continued expense without close public scrutiny. You would think our district leaders might consider more cost-efficient strategies to retain current teachers here or employ more of our local teaching candidates.

For reasons beyond understanding, our School District leaders appear unable to think outside the box and use successful private business strategies that retain good employees while costing taxpayers less. I'm not holding my breath waiting for our School District power brokers to address and resolve this issue, but for once it would be refreshing if the School District leadership could come up with some innovative answers to troubling concerns such as this.

Bart Boulton, Las Vegas