Sunday, June 3, 2007 | 7:11 a.m.
When veteran educator Rosanne Winter considered moving to Las Vegas from Naples, Fla., she thought she'd be welcomed with open arms.
After all, here's a fast-growing community, requiring a new school to break ground almost every month. The Clark County School District needs not only thousands of new teachers, but experienced school administrators, too - people with her kind of credentials.
Her husband already had a Las Vegas job offer as special assistant to the president of the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation. William Winter accepted the post, figuring his wife, with her stellar resume and impeccable references, would quickly land a plum position in the School District.
He was wrong.
Over a six-month period, she applied for every high school and middle school principal position that came open. Nothing.
Then she applied to be an elementary school principal.
Not only could she not land a job, she couldn't even land an interview.
She applied for three central office positions, and had brief interviews for each. She learned later she scored high, but still there were no job offers.
Maybe she had to pay her dues, she thought, or prove her commitment. So Winter applied for several assistant principal positions.
Silence.
She called George Ann Rice, then-associate superintendent of human resources for the district.
What's the problem? Winter asked. Is there something else I should be doing?
Rice promised to have someone call Winter to discuss the situation. But no one did.
So, after arriving in Las Vegas in June 2006, Winter has given up getting hired here. Her husband quit his job at the foundation, they sold their Summerlin home and in April moved near family in Ohio to set up shop as consultants.
"I just couldn't understand what was wrong," Winter said. "Nobody would tell me what the problem was. The only answer I could come up with was that the district thought I was too old."
She's 57.
There's no question Clark County needs more experienced school leaders because of a combination of new schools and old-timers leaving. The district has some of the greenest principals of any district in the country, and nearly 20 percent of the current crop are approaching retirement, having logged 25 years or more.
On paper Winter looks like an ideal candidate. She spent 16 years in the classroom at the elementary and secondary level before moving up the administrative ranks, and taught graduate-level courses for 10 years at three respected Virginia universities. She earned her doctorate in school administration and psychology. From 1999 to 2004 she was director of instructional technology services for Fairfax County Public Schools, the nation's 12th largest school district. (Las Vegas is the fifth largest.)
Winter was principal of Naples High School in Florida from 2004-2006. Her boss there is surprised she hadn't been snatched up in Clark County.
"She was an outstanding administrator - dedicated to her job, knowledgeable and professional," said Michelle LaBute, chief operational officer for the Collier County Public Schools. "We were very fortunate to get her, and sorry to lose her."
The reason Winter wasn't hired by Clark County is unknown. No one from the School District would discuss her status, citing the confidentiality of the hiring process. But several administrators said qualified candidates from other regions often go unnoticed, particularly when they don't have someone here to put in a good word for them.
Good people can fall through the cracks, Clark County Schools Superintendent Walt Rulffes said.
While he didn't know the details of Winter's situation, her claim that she was ignored by the human resources department "is not an original complaint," he said. "That has occurred on many occasions, I'm sorry to say."
Rulffes said the district "takes seriously the issue of people not being treated professionally and courteously when they apply. I had hoped that had been fixed, and if it hasn't been, it will be. It's highly inappropriate to go through our process and not be fully informed of the outcome."
He said he was thankful that Winter shared her experience so that the district could "respond by making the appropriate internal adjustments."
Martha Tittle, who succeeded Rice as the district's chief human resources officer in March, said she planned to look into the notification process for out-of-district candidates. Applicants for central office positions receive a follow-up letter, but there's no specific policy for school site positions.
"I agree with the superintendent that candidates should be notified of their status," Tittle said. "This is something I need to pursue."
While district officials may have validated Winter's depiction of an application process in need of revision, they said Winter's age had nothing to do with how she was treated.
In recent years the district has hired several over-50 candidates from outside the district, including two region superintendents, several central office administrators and at least two principals.
"I'm confident we've added a number of people beyond AARP membership age," Rulffes said.
The School District doesn't ask applicants their ages, but it's fairly easy to figure out a ball-park range based on their resumes. In Winter's case, she graduated from Kent State University in 1971 with a bachelor's degree in special education and elementary education.
In age discrimination cases the plaintiff must be over 40, and able to show that there were available jobs for which she was qualified but were given to younger applicants, said Ann McGinley, a professor at Boyd School of Law at UNLV.
McGinley, who has no personal knowledge of Winter's situation, said the plaintiff must show it was more likely than not that age was a motivating factor.
Interestingly, one reason why employers might shy away from older applicants is that more experienced workers can command higher salaries. Courts have held that if high salary is the only reason a person isn't hired, "that's not age discrimination," McGinley said.
It's arguable that Winter's status as an outsider was a contributing factor, perhaps more so than her age. In 2004 the district revised its hiring policy to encourage more out-of-state candidates, allowing individuals to be hired even if there wasn't a specific position immediately available. Since then, the Clark County School District has hired administrators from other states, including at least five principals, the two region superintendents and the chief financial officer. But still, in-house candidates are preferred.
Winter said she has no plans to take action against the district, preferring to just forget her "awful year" in Clark County. But a part of her still longs for an explanation from someone, anyone, as to why she didn't even merit a phone call.
"I'm sure they would say there was somebody better for the job," Winter said. "I would ask them, 'How do you know? You never even talked to me.' "
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