Monday, Feb. 12, 2007 | 7:13 a.m.
The Clark County School District is bracing for a brain drain.
Nearly one out of every five principals has at least 25 years in the teaching profession, and the number of retirements is continuing to climb.
The exodus comes at a time when Clark County is already struggling to attract and retain principals, who, as a group, are among the least experienced in the nation.
At the elementary level, 42 percent of Clark County's principals have no more than three years on the job, compared with 7 percent nationally. At the secondary level, 48 percent of Clark County principals are newer to the job, compared with 16 percent nationally.
Nationwide, school districts face a shortage of qualified applicants at all levels of school administration, from deans and counselors to superintendents.
Some states, like California, send out a crisis management team to schools with particularly high turnover in leadership. Others, like Georgia, are offering salary bonuses and grant money to principals who agree to run failing schools.
But no state is facing a challenge quite as vast as Clark County's, the nation's fastest-growing school district. Of the district's 320 principals, 75 have retired since 2004 and nearly that many now have been in the profession at least 25 years.
In light of the looming exodus, Superintendent Walt Rulffes said the district should rethink its policy of offering early retirement buyouts to administrators who have 27 years of experience.
"Why should we pay people to leave, only to have to go out and try to hire new people to fill those vacancies?" he said. "A person who has worked 27 years is still valuable to us - we would like to retain them as long as possible."
The departures also could affect Rulffes' "empowerment schools" initiative, which he hopes to increase from four campuses to 40 in the coming years.
"Less-experienced principals are not going to be as inclined to function well with lots of autonomy," Rulffes said. "I think the success of the empowerment model depends on a well-experienced principal who is adept at leadership skills."
What's happening in Clark County reflects a national trend, according to the Education Commission of the States, a legislative clearinghouse. Two-fifths of the nation's school principals have been replaced in the last decade.
Some of the turnover is attributable to the graying of the profession - after working 30 years, principals are ready to step down. But others are quitting much earlier, saying their salaries don't compensate for the ever-increasing workloads and stress.
"Unlike the national teacher shortage," a commission report concluded in May, "there are plenty of credentialed school and district administrators available, but they are choosing not to use their licenses to move into leadership positions."
The challenges facing a school's leader - and the penalties for falling short - have never been greater. The federal No Child Left Behind Act holds principals accountable for a school's success and failure. Too many years on the "needs improvement" list, and the state education department can demand replacement of individual principals.
Principals also are responsible for a growing amount of paperwork, whether it's analyzing quarterly test results or filling out applications for state and federal grants. The work cuts into the time principals have to supervise teachers and interact with students and parents.
Clark County is seeing increased turnover in all of its administrative ranks, not just amongst principals, said Steve Augspurger, executive director of the Clark County Association of School Administrators.
The number of school administrators who have retired or resigned topped 10 percent in 2006 and 2005, compared with a steady rate of about 6 percent in prior years.
"We're concerned about the loss at both ends of the spectrum - the people who have long fulfilling careers and retire, and those who make the decision to become administrators and then cut that career short," Augspurger said.
"There's a tremendous amount of time, effort and money put into training those people, and when you lose them it can't be good for the system."
Augspurger said he isn't blaming the district for the attrition. The reasons are numerous, and can include dissatisfaction, a desire to return to teaching, or better offers elsewhere.
"The job is only getting more difficult, with more time required and fewer and fewer resources," he said.
The longest-serving principal in Clark County is Linda Gipson of Kit Carson Elementary School, who began teaching in the district in September 1971. She confirmed to the Sun this week that she plans to retire at the end of the school year.
"I haven't even told my parents yet," said Gipson, who has been at Carson since 1994. "I guess I better do that."
The loss of people like Gipson is tough to swallow, said George Ann Rice, associate superintendent of human resources for the district.
"The people who have helped us through these challenging times have gained skills and knowledge along the way," Rice said. "When we lose that experience, we can't just go out and replace it. It's going to take us many years to rebuild that talent pool."
The district has taken several steps to address its dwindling roster of experienced administrators, with mixed results. Efforts to recruit principals from outside the region brought only a handful of new hires. More effective has been the district's focus on employees it already has, and grooming them for leadership positions.
The district offers a program through UNLV and the online Nova Southeastern University, in which employees earn their master's degrees while continuing to work for the district.
Additionally, teachers with at least five years of classroom experience are eligible for the district's 16-week leadership academy, a requirement before applying for an administrative position.
It's not unusual for teachers to be offered jobs within days of completing the leadership academy. Of the 50 teachers who completed the program in December, half have already moved on to administrative posts. Another 72 teachers began their leadership academy training last month.
To Gipson, who spent nearly 15 years teaching before becoming an administrator, such speedy progression up the ladder is somewhat unsettling.
"Some people bring natural leadership instincts to the job," Gipson said. "But for others, five years is too soon."
But the district has little choice. For every teacher who is pulled from the classroom to become an administrator, another vacancy is created that must be filled. And it leaves schools without mentors for the newcomers.
When asked what she planned to do after retiring in June, Gipson shook her head.
"I'm not even thinking that far ahead yet - I still have plenty of work to do right here," she said.
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