Teachers feel betrayed by union’s collaboration with School District

Emily Richmond

Wednesday, May 31, 2006 | 7:21 a.m.

The decision by the Clark County Education Association to collaborate with the School District on a job satisfaction survey isn't sitting well with some of the teachers represented by the union.

"They're taking the phrase 'in bed with' to a whole new level," one irate teacher said of how the teachers union and the district were working together on the survey.

In the past the association's survey was conducted independently, with the results made available to the public and school principals.

But district officials argued the union's methodology did little to improve school climate. So this year the survey's scope was broadened and an outside firm was hired to conduct the survey. The results will be shared by union and district brass - but not with teachers or the public.

The district encouraged teachers to take the survey, saying that it "will provide you and the Clark County School District with information about the status of working conditions throughout the district."

Several teachers complained to the Sun that the memo was misleading and that they would not have participated in the survey had they known the union had cut a deal with the district to keep the results private.

Other teachers say they resented being forced to fill out the survey on school computers during staff development sessions.

"They herded us in there like sheep," one teacher said.

Last week the California Supreme Court reinstated a high school exit exam as a graduation requirement, overturning a district judge's ruling that the test was unfair to poor and minority students. Nevada educators have been watching the California legal fight unfold with interest.

Veteran administrator Agustin Orci, who retires next month from the Clark County School District, said "the state proficiency is a necessary event to give value and credence to a high school diploma."

Orci, a member of the National Association of Latino Administrators and Superintendents' board of directors, said he doesn't believe the exam should be made available in Spanish, as some California and Nevada educators and lawmakers have advocated.

He allowed that instructions for the mathematics test could be in Spanish - but not the actual word problems.

"I don't know how you can take a reading test or a science test in another language and call that validation of a high school diploma," Orci said.

The fallout continues from Bishop Gorman High School's decision to fire a teacher whose MySpace.com Web site indicated he was gay.

Letters, e-mails and phone calls to the Sun in the wake of last week's story have been largely supportive of Jeff Crouse, who was fired May 12 after six years at Bishop Gorman.

"There are students that are of gay orientation. Should they be kicked out too?" one student said. "People didn't see Dr. Crouse as 'gay.' They saw him as a teacher, a teacher whose opinions mattered to the students he taught."

Contrary to comments from current and former students who say Crouse never discussed his sexual orientation, one student says "nearly every lesson he was able to degenerate our class' conversation into a gay-issues debate."

As evidence the student points to Crouse's religion class screening of "Philadelphia," the 1993 legal drama in which Tom Hanks plays an HIV-positive attorney fired after his firm learns of his condition.

The Roman Catholic Diocese and school officials declined to comment on the situation, citing personnel confidentiality.

Silverado High School Principal Mark Coleman retires this summer after nearly 30 years in education and will become deputy executive director of the Clark County Association of School Administrators and Professional-Technical Employees.

Coleman is a well-known figure beyond Silverado's campus. He serves on a committee overseeing a state-ordered performance audit of the School District. He is also leading the call for revisions to the state's interscholastic athletics regulations, saying the current rules favor private schools.