Overtime pay buys safety at sports events, officials say

By Emily Richmond

Saturday, Jan. 10, 2009 | 2 a.m.

Student safety shouldn’t be a casualty of the School District’s plans to trim overtime costs, officials say.

From July 2007 through June 2008, the district spent more than $14 million on overtime, totaling 411,905 hours of work. From July 1 through Jan. 1, district employees racked up 155,541 hours of overtime, at a cost of $5.75 million.

Of the 12 employees who each worked at least 1,000 hours of overtime from January to November 2008, five were school police officers. The bulk of School Police overtime comes from athletic events.

Typically, six officers are assigned to a high school football game, said Ray Mathis, executive director of instructional support and student activities. For a game between rival schools with a history of problems, an even larger police presence would be required, Mathis said.

School Police has 145 officers, with another 13 new hires in training. The department is budgeted for 175 officers. Fifteen games might be played on a Friday night, and there aren’t enough School Police officers available to cover all of them. Officers from municipal agencies fill the gaps. But that’s a more expensive option, Mathis said.

Several years ago fights were common at games, and it was not unheard of for spectators to be caught with weapons. The district revised its security procedures, including requiring spectators to show identification and to pass through a checkpoint.

So far this school year there have been few problems at athletic events, said School Police Lt. Ken Young, the department’s spokesman.

“We’ve had one or two fights and no weapons that I can recall,” Young told the Sun.

The presence of School Police at the games is “absolutely” a factor in the decline in violent incidents, Young said.

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There’s been something of a coup d’etat in the School Police union.

School Police Officer Mike Thomas is now president of the Clark County School Police Officers Association, replacing Sgt. Phil Gervasi.

But that doesn’t mean Gervasi is out of the game. He’s president of the newly formed Clark County School Police Sergeants Association. Gervasi told the Sun he’s submitted the required paperwork for district recognition of an independent bargaining unit, representing the department’s 16 sergeants. The intent is to negotiate “our own contracts, separate from the police,” Gervasi said.

Las Vegas Metro and Henderson police departments have separate associations for the sergeants, lieutenants and captains. North Las Vegas Police has one union for all ranks.

The larger the organization, the more likely there will be separate associations, said Chris Collins, executive director of the Las Vegas Police Protective Association. For a department as small as Clark County School Police, one association might be more realistic, Collins said.

“It takes a lot of money, especially if you end up in arbitration over something,” Collins said. “I don’t know that 16 people can support that.”

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Teacher Ben Salkowe spends a lot of time talking about college with his fifth grade students at Laura Dearing Elementary School — why it’s important to be ready academically and what opportunities can come with a degree.

Now his class has been invited to spend the day at the Claremont Colleges outside Los Angeles. They’ll get to meet with professors, take part in experiments at the science center and eat with college students in the dining hall.

The cost of the trip is about $3,000. That’s too steep for the campus budget at Dearing, which serves a high-poverty student population drawn from neighborhoods behind Boulder Station.

So Salkowe has taken his plea online via DonorsChoose.org, a Web site that helps teachers secure funds for classroom supplies, field trips and projects.

He’s one of 14 Clark County teachers who have posted requests for financial support on the site.

Salkowe is in his second year with Teach for America, a program that trains recent college graduates to work in at-risk schools. He’s also looking for $275 to buy four iPod Shuffles, which would be used to help students with reading comprehension.

To find out more about the requests, go to

www.DonorsChoose.org and enter Salkowe’s name or “Las Vegas” in the search field.