Facebook
Fark
Digg
Reddit
StumbleSign of the times: Smaller class of new teachers
Stadium space not needed for this year’s welcome event
New teacher Vilay Thao, left, of Texas listens to Rita Tracy of American Fidelity explain benefit options during teacher orientation Wednesday at Coronado High School in Henderson.
Thursday, Aug. 19, 2010 | 2 a.m.
Sun archives
- Plummeting demand for teachers has silver lining (8-7-2010)
- Some teachers moving to Nevada struggle with licensing process (7-18-2010)
- Recruiting blitz on even as teachers await layoffs (4-27-2010)
- Teacher recruiting ‘not pretty,’ and it’s expected to get uglier (4-20-2010)
- After years of explosive growth, schools to feel economic pinch for years to come (3-25-2010)
- Teacher pay cut might not sting recruitment (1-12-2009)
Sun Archives
Beyond the Sun
The group included a government lobbyist, a chemical engineer and a trainer of security officers.
It was new-teacher orientation Wednesday, the run-up to the organized chaos of the first day of school, Aug. 30.
That’s D-Day for public schoolteachers in Clark County, the fifth-largest district in the nation and one facing some of the harshest budget cuts in education.
Nearly 400 teachers — some new to the county, some veteran teachers and some altogether fresh to education — gathered in the echoing cafeteria of Coronado High School in Henderson.
They spent from 8 a.m. to nearly 4 p.m. filling out paperwork, attending sessions on state standards for teaching and asking questions about what to expect on their first day in the 352 elementary, middle and high schools that employ more than 18,000 teachers.
This is the smallest crop of new teachers in years as enrollment is leveling off after decades of explosive growth. Teacher pay ranges from $35,000 to $70,000 a year.
No teacher, at least in the interviews organized by the district and conducted with an official present, mentioned misgivings about joining a district that scores low in graduation rates and, in the view of some critics, public respect.
Nathan Lasha, 29, a first-time teacher from Yakima, Wash., will teach geography to eighth-graders.
He used to train security officers while getting his education degree at Western Governors University. “Up until two days go, I had a weapon,” a Glock 9 mm pistol, “on my body at all times,” he said, grinning.
“The things I really like and enjoy, like history, I want to pass on to others,” he said about teaching. “In the job that I did, I learned a lot of patience, and that definitely is going to translate into the eighth grade.”
Rhiannon Gollhofer, 30, is a native Las Vegan whose family has lived in the area for 80 years. She is a former government lobbyist in Iowa, where she promoted programs for abused children.
She asked herself, “What can I do that I can share my love of government, my love of politics, but actually make a difference in the community that I grew up in?” She has substitute taught in Clark County.
Gollhofer is not teaching social studies, but dance, where she is more needed. She has made a Pilates-style CD of music of Lady Gaga, Kylie Minogue and Queen for her first day.
Her strategy, in part, is to exhaust her students immediately. “My theory is that my job is to get the students’ energy out,” she said, smiling, “and I am doing a disservice to all the other teachers if I don’t let them get their energy out.”
It was a teacher orientation like any other, according to Debbie Tomasetti, who coordinates what is called “teacher induction.” Her first day of school was in 1985 teaching fourth grade at Mountain View Elementary.
“Today is about orientating all the new licensed employees to the Clark County School District,” she said.
And yet it wasn’t like any other. So far, 395 teachers have been hired, 40 percent more than an estimated 275 only a few weeks ago when projected enrollment was still fluid and so was hiring.
Many teachers had been recommended for hire two weeks ago, but their status had not been made final.
Still, this year’s hires, enough for four good-sized schools, is a drop from only three years ago, when the district hired more than 2,300 teachers, or enough for 20 schools.
The hires reflect a stunning contraction. In the boom time of the past two decades, some schools didn’t open on time and had to share rooms in other schools. In the late 1980s, enrollment was 111,000. It is now about 300,000.
For more than a decade, more than 70 schools operated without a summer break, a practice that will end this year because of budget concerns and flattening enrollment.
As recently as 2006, to orient new teachers, the district needed most of the indoor sports arena at Cox Pavilion.
Joseph Lin, originally from New Brighton, Minn., a suburb of St. Paul, is a first-time teacher without an education degree but took a special course to train teachers in needed topics. He will teach math at Rancho High School.
He is a former chemical engineer who was educated at University of California-Berkeley and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
He worked for an environmental engineering firm in Las Vegas for six years but said he felt unchallenged.
“I had a lot of friends growing up who said you always explain things so well to me. Why don’t you become a teacher?” he said.
“And I said to myself: Why don’t I become a teacher?”
Discussion: comments so far…
Comments are moderated by Las Vegas Sun editors. Our goal is not to limit the discussion, but rather to elevate it. Comments should be relevant and contain no abusive language. Comments that are off-topic, vulgar, profane or include personal attacks will be removed. Full comments policy. Additionally, we now display comments from trusted commenters by default. Those wishing to become a trusted commenter need to verify their identity or sign in with Facebook Connect to tie their Facebook account to their Las Vegas Sun account. For more on this change, read our story about how it works and why we did it.
Only trusted comments are displayed on this page. Untrusted comments have expired from this story.
No trusted comments have been posted.
Post a comment
Most Popular
- Viewed
- Discussed
- E-mailed
Everything Under the Sun
Blogs
The Kats Report
Las Vegas Philharmonic says search for new music director to begin 'immediately' (1 Comment)
With Shenandoah project stalled, Wayne Newton hits back legally (7 Comments)
Where does a Playmate play when she turns 21? Vegas! (3 Comments)
Ice Ice Billy
The road to six-toed cats and Mayor Bubba
The Kats Report
David Itkin tells L.V. Philharmonic officials he's on his way out (14 Comments)
Diamond Dave sells it well as Van Halen pours out the power at MGM Grand (2 Comments)
Entering debut at Tryst, Nick Hissom is a model for a rapid rise to prominence (3 Comments)
- Locally owned and independent since 1950; Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service, best news website in the nation & DuPont Award for broadcast journalism
Congratulations to all of them.
Hopefully the tell them not to give out chocolates/lollypops/and other garbage candy on the first day of school and as rewards throughout the school year. (like last year)
They can pay my kids dental bills.
I find it so disappointing that a teacher with experience in and a love for government and politics isn't teaching social studies OR some equally essential class"but instead is appointed to teach dance? Seriously? I have nothing against dance. I love to dance. But I think it's time for a reality check.
Electives are currently required for graduation across the nation to the best of my knowledge. Every school district across the nation is struggling, cutting corners in order to function at what are surely very substandard levels in many cases. My opinion is that 95% of electives teach subjects that are not essential to life or success. Are they fun? In many cases. Do the kids like them? Usually. But that cannot be the basis to decide what is beneficial in the long term. Especially when our country is facing such a brutal economy.
Rather than divide those limited resources across what I will refer to as "essential classes" (Math, English, Science, Social Studies) AND "non-essential classes" (Electives) wouldn't it be better to focus ALL of those limited resources on the classes these kids NEED to make it in life? Am I crazy? Am I the only person who sees it this way?
We need to assess the parents an additional $500 per child to make up the budget.
Vegas71 you said exactly what I was thinking. If the school system is financially strapped why are we paying a teacher to teach dance. I also enjoy dancing. Other then the Las Vegas Academy which specializes in the arts, I don't see a need to waste money in this way. tvegas you may be right that parents who want their child to take dance they should pay extra and also for any other electives.
I would love to see a follow up story on these new teachers next Spring after 8.5 months of teaching in the district. What do they think of the requirment to write 'scripted lesson plans' outlining everyting they plan to say, discuss, lecture on in advance? What is their opinion of their school in terms of administrative support on their individual classroom policies, grading, homework, etc.? How well are they supplied with textbooks, papers, pencils etc, and did they have to buy their own supplies? What is their general opinion of the district after 8.5 months of teaching in the CCSD? Do they plan to continue in teaching as a profession? yes or no? What is their opinion of parental support they did or did not receive this year?
Hi Folks,
I just finished my third year of teaching in CCSD and my 47th year of working. No rest for the wicked, or so they tell me. I put in 30 years in the trades, owned my own business, managed for other people, the whole gamut, all on the private side of things. I believe that entitles me to comment.
vsestini...the beauracracy and paperwork are overwhelming! I came in as a vocational teacher with no "teacher" training. As a business guy I thought that a lot of these requirements were bogus but there is a purpose to lesson plans, parent contact forms, daily schedules, etc. Supply-wise I probably spend $3-4000 a year out of my own pocket for both shop supplies [remember, I teach Auto shop, it's not cheap] and stuff for kids [no I don't buy them candy and stuff. I'm a diabetic and I won't buy kids stuff I can't eat myself] like notebooks, a zillion pencils, etc. I've had experience with a lot of employers, good bad and indifferent. CCSD is pretty good overall. I've run into a few @sspots but you do in any job. It's a reasonably well run large enterprise with the caveat that Rulffes is staying way too long after his stated retirement and the sharks are circling. Bad management on the Board's part to let him stay.
biggy and jem....electives are one of the tools to keep kids in school. Unless you were a geek like my wife and you couldn't wait to go to English Poetry class, most kids do not line up at school for Trig, World Lit, Biology [except for the sex part] or US Government. They come for Dance, football, Food and Nutrition, etc. Yes, they come for Auto Shop. Some are bitterly dissappointed to find out that Auto Technology is a Science, Technology, Engineering and Math class, that they have to research and write on topics, that they have to learn Ohm's Law, that they study organic chemistry when they figure automotive emissions. Dance??? A good dance teacher is teaching socialization skills, poise, culture, appreciation of art, as well as writing and research, math and other skills. Kids' music stinks, right? Dance teaches appreciation for music from across the world.
In my view, the useless class is "Study Skills", offered because we do not have enough elective teachers.
Sorry that this is running way too long.
best regards
Hi Folks,
A follow-up based on my rereading prior comments. Parents and kids do pay for many electives. My Auto classes cost $40 a year with proceeds purchasing consumable shop supplies, replacing broken tools, paying for theOSHA Safety test, etc. Football...$100 or more, Photography and art classes $20-40, Theatre $40, etc., etc. Do all kids pay...no. Some simply cannot afford it. I'll talk to parents and work out a plan...every year the shop needs a complete top to bottom cleaning that takes 2-3 days, sign up here.