Students not sticking heads in the sand

Monday, June 5, 2006 | 7:20 a.m.

Following a Wednesday appearance by Khidir Ahmed, top envoy from the Republic of Sudan, advanced social studies students at Palo Verde High School sat down to re-read the United Nation's definition of "genocide."

But contrary to Ahmed's contentions, they decided what was going on in his country's Darfur region met the U.N.'s litmus test.

"They didn't buy his prevarications," said Marc Hechter, who teaches the Advanced Placement social studies class at Palo Verde and who invited Ahmed to address his students.

Ahmed, in town at the invitation of the Las Vegas World Affairs Council, spoke at the group's International Educator of the Year banquet later that evening. Hechter, who serves on the council's educational outreach committee, was among this year's recipients.

Ahmed's appearances here did not go unnoticed.

Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., spoke out against his visit, saying Ahmed should not have such a platform until his government acknowledges the devastating toll of its campaign of violence against the native tribes of Darfur.

"This man should not be welcomed into the bosom of our community, he should be shunned," Berkley told the Sun.

And a handful of protesters turned out for his council speech Wednesday.

Palo Verde Principal Dan Phillips said he approved the envoy's visit after discussing it at length with Hechter.

"I don't disagree with the congresswoman that this is a very controversial figure," Phillips said. "But these are some of our brightest government students. They asked pointed, intelligent questions and I was very proud of them."

To prepare for the visit, class time and after-school tutorials were spent on the politics of ethnic conflicts.

Tracey Kreiling, whose daughter Kelsey attended the Palo Verde presentation, said in an e-mail to the Sun that it was a valuable learning experience:

"If you put your head in the sand because you disagree with something, you can never make any kind of difference."

Gary Waters may be trading his seat on the state Board of Education for a seat on a military plane bound for Iraq.

Waters, a lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserves, has been exempted from active duty because of his position as an elected public official. But now he's wrapping up his 12th year in office and state law prohibits him from seeking a fourth term.

"I expect to get some kind of deployment, either to Iraq or Afghanistan," said Waters, a medical service officer whose training focuses on air evacuations and combat logistics.

His last tour of combat was with the Navy in Vietnam, where he spent 22 months on riverboats. Waters, an active Reserve officer since 1984, went to Panama prior to the removal of dictator Manuel Noriega. He was mobilized for Operation Desert Storm in 1991, but the conflict ended before he shipped out.

"I'll be proud to serve, whenever they call me," said Waters, who is also a licensed marriage and family therapist.

Two candidates are vying to replace Waters as District 2 representative on the state board: Kevin Davis, a local PTA leader and former Army engineer; and Anthony Ruggiero, an investigator with the Nevada attorney general's office.

Waters said he's impressed with both candidates and hasn't decided whether he'll make an endorsement: "Right now I'd say District 2 would be very fortunate to get either of these guys."

So how serious is the looming teacher shortage for the 2006-07 academic year?

Bad enough that George Ann Rice, associate superintendent of human resources, had her staff keep one impressive candidate from leaving the building, lest he walk out and never return.

The teacher, visiting from Hawaii, stopped by the district's offices on East Flamingo Road to pick up an application. After hearing the man mention his stellar credentials and work history - and that he would be driving later that day to an interview with the Los Angeles Unified School District - a clerk raced to Rice's office to alert the boss.

"I was in the middle of a staff meeting when one of our people comes rushing in and says, 'We've got a really great person in the lobby, he's driving to L.A., we gotta move,' " Rice recalled. "We immediately set him up with an interview, called all his references and then said, 'Please don't go anywhere, we're offering you a job.' "

The district has estimated that it will have as many as 1,100 vacancies for the upcoming academic year. District officials outlined a response plan Friday, including rearranging school staffing assignments to ensure every classroom has a qualified teacher at the helm.

Perhaps the most painful step will be putting off the long-awaited class-size reduction plan, said Clark County Schools Superintendent Walt Rulffes. Because of the teacher shortage, he said, class sizes in grades 4, 5 and 6 are unlikely to be reduced before the 2007-08 academic year.