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Andrew Piotrowski, 9, from left, Lincoln Aquino, 9, and Alexis Almeido, 11, all students at Glen Taylor Elementary School, rally to encourage the governor and Legislature to support education at Glen Taylor Elementary School in Henderson Wednesday, April 13, 2011.
By Kyle B. Hansen (contact) 
Wednesday, April 13, 2011 | 7:57 p.m.
Education rally
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KSNV coverage of school rally for education, April 13, 2011.
Glen Taylor Elementary
Sun archives
- District to cut 200 bus driver positions, change school start times (4-8-2011)
- School District gives early approval to budget that cuts 2,500 positions (4-6-2011)
- Higher ed system responds to lawmakers, details impact of budget cuts (4-5-2011)
- UNLV president presents cuts, says they are “a tragic loss and a giant step backward for Nevada” (3-8-2011)
- Assembly passes bill to use reserves for school construction (3-3-2011)
- Democrats say Sandoval budget has $325 million hole (2-24-2011)
- UNLV president’s somber warning on budget cuts moves faculty to tears (2-16-2011)
- Regent says it’s time that K-12 shares in budget sacrifice (2-8-2011)
- Higher education officials say Sandoval budget cuts a ‘death sentence’ (2-4-2011)
- Education in forefront of upcoming budget battle (1-30-2011)
- Chancellor: University tuition would have to go up 73 percent to cover Sandoval budget gap (1-27-2011)
- School officials warn of jobs cuts, larger classes under proposed budget (1-26-2011)
- A steep climb for Nevadans (1-26-2011)
- Soft words during State of the State hide Nevada in pain (1-25-2011)
- Teachers not pleased with most of Sandoval’s speech (1-25-2011)
- In response, Democrats say taxes might be part of budget solution (1-24-2011)
Parents, students and teachers have been holding rallies at Las Vegas-area schools this week as the Legislature considers education funding.
“We heard that the Legislature thinks that we and the parents don’t care because they haven’t heard from us,” said Bob Miller Middle School teacher Jen Stellavato. “So we’re showing them that we care.”
Teachers from Miller are now working just their basic contract hours — canceling all after-school clubs and activities, which the teachers ran on their own time — so they could “educate the public,” teacher Melanie Teemant said.
The budget Gov. Brian Sandoval proposed would slash K-12 education funding by about $625 million.
In Clark County, the school board approved a tentative budget that includes cuts of more than $407 million. It would eliminate 2,500 staff positions and includes pay cuts and benefit concessions equaling an 8 percent reduction.
At Bob Miller Middle School, teachers began standing on street corners around the school before and after classes with signs.
They have been handing out fliers to parents with contact information for the governor, members of the Senate Finance Committee, the Assembly Ways and Means Committee and representatives for the school’s area.
Then they started taking their rally on the road, alternating days at the middle school’s three feeder elementary schools.
On Wednesday afternoon, they were at Glen Taylor Elementary in Henderson, joined by about 50 parents, teachers and students from that school.
“We are here for our teachers or anyone who’s losing their job or getting their pay check cut,” said Colleen Fernandez, who has a fifth- and third-grader at the school. “We’re losing some great teachers because our system is so messed up.”
The elementary school children seemed to have fun holding signs and chanting, “Save our school” and “Save my teacher.” They broke into wild yells when the wind carried a poster out of a child’s hands and into traffic.
Cherrie Schell said she thinks the Legislature should remember that each member there was once in elementary school, too.
“I wish the Legislature would do the education budget first and make sure we have proper funding for our kids,” she said, adding that raising taxes to funds schools was OK with her.
Some parents “don’t realize how drastic the proposed cuts are,” said Julie Buck, who has been teaching third grade at Taylor for eight years.
Buck said the school averaged 20 students in each third grade class last year and is up to 22 this year. Next year, she expects to have 26 or 27 in her small classroom.
“The public needs to be aware how drastic these cuts are going to be,” she said. “Raising class sizes drastically decreases the effectiveness of the teacher.”
Shelly Soule, a fourth-grade teacher, said she, too, is worried about class sizes. “You’ll just have kids who are lost in the shuffle,” said Soule, who also expressed concern about pay cuts.
“After getting two master’s and a bachelor’s, it’d be nice to get paid for my education like other jobs are,” she said.
Because her husband is also a teacher, the cuts will hit her family doubly hard. “So, we’re concerned about the paycheck, because that impacts us. But we’re more worried about the kids,” the 12-year teaching veteran said.
Glen Owen, who works at another school but came to support his wife, a teacher at Taylor, said it’s not just teachers who are under fire.
As an education computer strategist, he works with students and teachers to use technology at two schools. If his position is eliminated, which is a possibility, there will be no one left to fill that role.
“They have hundreds of millions of dollars in technology that will literally be down the drain because nobody will be able to support it,” he said. Some teachers might know how to use the technology, but with larger classes, they won’t have time to implement it, he said.
“What they’ve proposed is irresponsible. It doesn’t represent common sense in our politicians,” he said. “I wonder if they understand the cause and effect of what these cuts do.”
When it is all said and done, the State of Nevada is run by the gaming/resort, and mining industries, and unless THEY are taxed in a meaningful way, organizations and people will lash out at public servants, demanding they work for virtually free, rather than LAWMAKERS make the gaming/resort and mining industries accountable for the inhumane exploitation of human beings/citizens of Nevada.
So VOTERS, what will it be? Will allow these unsuccessful LAWMAKERS WHO HAVE KICKED THE CAN DOWN THE ROAD FOR DECADES, continue to do business as usual here in Nevada?
NEVADAFREEDOMFIGHTER; fighting for freedom from intelligent thought since 2001.
We don't need no education, as long as we have Fox "news", talk radio and "Reverend" Pat Robertson to illuminate and enlighten us. We only need minimal skills to serve as troglodytes in resort or mining or nuclear waste handling industries. We don't need no labor unions or health care either. This will lead us to an ideal Republican society where a few plutocrats control life for the trolls and trogs who toil for their benefit.
Yours in Christ
Rob Whitetrash
Pahrump Deluxe Trailer Park - home of the Republican troglodytes
The teachers should march on the capital and demand that everyone start paying school taxes like the rest of the country then there would be plenty of money for school funding. There problem solved. What was so hard about coming up with that idea to fund your schools. The teachers union should start lining up buses immediately to take their fellow educators to the capital with this new idea for school funding. The best part is this new tax could be put in motion before the new school year starts in September.
The message is clear: we the people have had enough of the obscene greed of politicians who will sell out our schools and our childrens' futures for a few pennies more for the selfish indulgences of the rich. What a powerful lesson for our kids to learn, that to raise their voices in outrage and protest can influence policy. Let's hope this works, that teachers and students and then their parents everywhere keep taking to the streets until this state's "no new taxes" stupidity finally changes.
Let's all get out to the streets and the barricades to shout and keep shouting: Tax the rich!
Get rid of the school board. Those cowards are supposed to be for the protection of schools and education. Whats up with the 8% pay reduction for the poor teachers? Gosh, their union blows. Maybe the teachers should get a new union or stand up for themselves because their union does not seem to be.
I'm a teacher and of course I don't agree with the cuts, but cancelling after school activities in protest only hurts the kids. Maybe they think this is the best way to get the point across, but I think it comes across as selfish. It says that they only really care about themselves and damn the kids. Protest after you activity and before school and you can get your point across without hurting the kids.
It's very easy to organize a protest. It's a lot harder to figure out where the money is going to come from to even put a dent in the state's budget problems. When I was in the 8th grade my history teacher told us to tell our parents to vote yes on the school bond election. She said that a "bond" means that it won't cost any money to pay for textbooks, building repairs, etc. (good grief!!) I hate to think what crazy stuff teachers are telling their kids to explain budget cuts.
The In Idaho, one of the new education bills is substituting a percentage of it's teachers with laptops...the percentage isn't a settled number yet. From the 9th grade on, the Governor and State Supr of Schools have decided that watching class material on laptop screens is more effective then having a teacher in the class.
The number of students in one online class can be increased without limit. With cameras in the laptops, they can tell who is paying attention and who isn't...that's already been attempted elsewhere.
Would someone please explain to me why a teacher would need, or be paid extra for, having 2 master's and a bachelor's degree to TEACH 4TH GRADE?
A good high school grad could teach the 4th grade. Same thing year after year. How many jobs are like that?
Miller's doing more than the CCEA has ever done since I've been here. (That's the org that people call a "union," but it's not.) Please send out all the leg addresses to other schools, too. I'm in the process, and it could save me lots of time if I could cut and paste addresses.
Bob, believing in the self-aggrandizing, megalomaniacal Rhee fairy tale doesn't make it true. The latest is a major test cheating scandal. Look up the excellent breaking story in USA Today a couple of weeks ago. Focus on educators? Rhee took joy in firing teachers, like it was a sport or something. She's a dictator who has very little actual teaching experience, but the make-the-rich-richer crowd loves her! They are spreading their propaganda all over the media, which they own, and people like you are buying it.
Ever seen the movie Idiocracy?
Furthermore, in my 4th grade class (Catholic school) there were 56 students. One nun taught all subjects and I don't think she had a degree, either.
So two years ago when the teachers were faced with a 5% cut in salary the District ended up cutting other programs to SAVE the teachers. Now when the paycut is there again the teachers cry wolf again and are cutting the after school programs, to basically prove a point and each time this has happened the mantra has been save the schools for the Childrens sake. Hogwash the teachers are doing this for there sake, so they don't have a 5% paycut, they do this so they don't have to pay there fair share into their retirement, they do this so they do not have to pay their fair share for health benifits. In the future I will vote for whomever promises to break te Teachers Union as well to break the District.
These kids/teachers need to get their butts back to the classroom instead of protesting. Here's a good idea, why don't you chip in for your own education and quit begging for a handout.
If there isn't any money then there's just no money.
Another idea, CCSD should cut some administrative jobs. This outfit is so top heavy that it's ready to topple over.
Hell I paid for my daughter's education from daycare through college, no one helped. I worked my butt off. This crap does nothing for me. Stop complaining and pay, then you'll learn because it isn't free. Last point, stop educating Illegals and you'll free up lots of money.
Everything about education is corrupt. Parents chip in for your kids education.
Vicious cycle, tax the smoking and drinking bums more to fund Nevada education so we can have more smoking and drinking bums. We only have 1 more to go to get that last place rating for education funding. We are making a great effort to achieve that ranking.
When the citizens elect a Republican ideologue as Governor, why do they expect empathy and concern for the common man? Remember the wise citizens almost gave us Sharon Angle. Wake up, some Republicans only follow the money, and if you are black, Hispanic, poor or uninterested, do not count on these bastards to provide honest, intelligent leadership. How much have you contributed to their campaign?
This could be a reason why housing prices are falling again. People aren't going to work part time jobs for 5 yaars until the "economy" recovers. They are walking away from their homes and moving out.
They know all the difference between "shared sacrifice" and "shared gain" - only one is real. A greater Exodus is in the pipelines when the education system craters.
BTW Freddie_ray..........I AM NOT begging for a handout as you so kindly suggest. I am a tax paying citizen, just like yourself. I "chip in" financially more than you know to my girls classrooms on a consistent basis. Maybe not paying for their tuition, which is what I believe you are sugggesting.............
AND, just so you know, I spent over $70,000.00 for my son's Private College Prep HIGH SCHOOL, and you know what, I would do it again with my girls if we could afford it. Unfortunately, construction in this town has gone down hill and with my husband and I owning our own company, we have not only cut back in ALL of our expenses, but have had to find alternative employment to get us through.
To tell the teachers and students to get their butts back into the classroom is despicable. You should be happy that you live in a country where we are allowed to protest. If I choose to have myself, and my children out there protesting, it is because I am passionate about seeing the future of ALL of our states children taken care of.
Our Legislatures need to wake up and fund education 1st, then worry about everything else. Or is it that they too think that we should all be paying for our kids education and stop begging for a handout! Oh yeah, their kids must be in private schools and this issue doesn't really affect them.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I say keep protesting teachers, parents, students and CONCERNED citizens that believe that education is important for everyone and NOT just those that can afford private education.
Speak for yourself, Douglas. I see the teachers as "greedy" and uncaring about the majority of Nevadans. Especially the 140,000 who have lost their jobs completely. Then there are the 10s of 1,000s who have had their hours and paychecks reduced. Using children to make their unseemly point is another indication of how public schools have become bastions of indoctrination rather than of education. A pox on the "greedy" teachers and their "greedy" union, as well!
Hey Jerry Fink,
Something is wrong with your basic premise. These teachers did NOT go into their profession because they wanted to get rich. They have more compassion than greed. Their wish is to help kids get a sense of control over their future, not to make bank.
You seem to dismiss this notion of teachers actually helping the little ones get their act together as you emphasize the request for a living wage over all else.
A class of forty some kids is fairly chaotic, leaving the learners in there kinda helpless compared to other kids their age around the world who will be competing for chances in years to come.
We do NOT put much stock in learning here because most have not done well in school, yet our chances for successful diversification and job creation suffer horribly as a result.
The kids NEED a chance to better themselves. Whacking their potentials is tantamount to clipping their wings or handing them a bowling ball to lug during their sprint. Whacking teachers is just a cheap shot at the most vulnerable when they need our support, not our antipathy and abusive neglect.
Most of the time, the teachers union is a puppet of the administration. Most of the reps are former teachers who kiss the a$$ of the district to get by and 'Appear' to help the teachers in distress while in fact the rep knows who butters the bread.
Fink has an appropriate name for a teacher basher. How can any professional making 35K-55K (max) per year be called "greedy"? What planet is this Fink living on? Obviously the GOP planet, on which only quasi-criminal banker CEOS and phony mortgage salesman who make millions really count. And this Fink blames teachers for tens of thousands of Nevadans who have lost their jobs!
What stupid logic, really, when education for unemployed workers is the key to retraining and finding new employment. But that's the trouble with Nevada: too many mud-rock ignorant idiots who sit back believing the lies on Fox News.
We should be focusing on education reform not on education spending:
http://www.tilsonfunds.com/Personal/TheC...
Jerry Fink, openly throwing around the label "greedy" towards teachers who have decided to point out how badly they have been taken advantage of by politicians, administrators and yes, parents.
All in the name of the poor Las Vegans who are seeing hours cut and paychecks reduced. You seem to miss the point Jerry, that the real greed isn't coming from people like teachers who are speaking out against the destruction of their profession. The real greed is coming from the "can do no wrong" business community in this county and in this country who have ruthlessly taken advantage of their own failings to facilitate the taking of hours and dollars from working people.
You want to label people as greedy? Go ahead. Start with Goldman Sachs, Lehman Bros, AIG, BOA, Wells Fargo, Wachovia, Citibank, J.P. Morgan Chase, Countrywide, GE, EXXON...
Label the conservatives who have repeatedly and doggedly fought for tax cuts for the rich and tax breaks for corporations, leading this country into a financial crater that will take generations of cuts and broken promises to citizens to correct.
Label the business owners who have jumped on the opportunity to force fewer workers to produce more for lower wages under the constant threat of job loss, all while collecting record profits for the company and its shareholders, who then find every way imaginable to avoid paying taxes on their newfound riches.
Label as greedy the people who maliciously committed the largest acts of financial fraud ever with the combined wealth of hundreds of millions of Americans. Keep in mind though that no one has been prosecuted and that the fraudsters have been able to buy their way out of any investigation into their crimes.
After you have labeled all of the above named parties as "Greedy," then you can turn your attention to teachers in Clark County. In the light of the wholesale fraud committed against the American people and the world economy, I don't think that teachers are being a single bit "greedy" in only working their contracted hours.
If you were a home builder would you just build a few dozen extra houses in a neighborhood, for free, even though you contractually wouldn't be paid for them?
Of course you wouldn't. So why should teachers, especially when they are facing another massive workforce reduction coupled with a huge reduction in compensation?
Get over yourself and your bloated sense of self importance, Jerry. Teachers have every right to stand up for themselves and speak out about the ways they are taken advantage of every day. Until you are volunteering at an elementary school every day before and after school, you have no room to criticize.
Considering the fact that education reform requires teachers and teachers need to be paid for their work, we do need to focus on spending as well.
Ah, there's Patrick R. Gibbons (tm) "Education Expert" (based on one year of substitute teaching in Virginia) and "financial whizkid" (based on an unjustified sense of self importance).
Surprise, surprise, he's chimed in with yet another "study" published by someone other than him.
Looks like the only thing Patty boy is good at is slinging the ideas of other people.
Patrick R. Gibbons is a fraud and a shill. He accepts money from conservative backers to forward their agenda of "education reform," which really means nothing more than spending as little on education as possible while cramming as many children into as few classrooms as possible.
Patty boy claims that advanced degrees are worthless, yet boasts one of his own on his (rather thin) resume.
Time for you to try selling your snake oil in another state Pat. We're on to you here you fraud.
r5332e,
Nothing cracks me up more than grammar errors in a comment about education. Thanks for the laughs bud.
At end of the day K-12 teachers are nothing more than a glorified babysisters. Teachers don't change lives of any children. If they did, how do you explain poor students. Don't tell me its money thats holding them back.
Mr. Boston must have been eating some of those famous baked beans today because boy is he spewing some hot air.
"don't tell me its money thats holding them back."
Ok pal, I won't tell you that poverty is a viscous cycle that compounds itself with passing generations. I won't tell you that children who live in poverty are more likely to be illiterate, more likely to be malnourished, more likely to come from a home with one or no parents, more likely to enter into criminal activity.
I won't tell you that children reared in conditions of poverty are more likely to develop mental health problems and learning disorders. Or that poor parents are themselves more likely to have mental health issues that impact the lives of their children.
How in god's name do you expect teachers to solve the problems of poverty in this county? Please provide me with a roadmap for that plan.
You're right about one thing though... Teachers are little more than glorified babysitters. Why? BECAUSE THAT IS HOW THE SYSTEM IS SET UP IN NEVADA. I doubt you'd say the same about k-12 teachers in the Catholic schools here in Vegas, where at Bishop Gorman class size is currently sitting at about 17 students per class. In CCSD we have 35 or more right now, and most teachers are expecting more than 40 next year.
You don't want teachers to be babysitters? Give them the opportunity to teach effectively. Cramming kids into over-occupancy rooms does nothing to help the situation, and sets both the student and teacher up for failure.
You are a damned fool and an ignorant one at that. Get a clue before stinking up the world with any more of your nonsense.
There is need for reform in three major areas: taxes, school district administrations, and classroom performance evaluation. There are obviously more areas to be looked at, but I consider these to be the root cause of the problems we see.
The politicians do not have a moral leg to stand on so long as they refuse to address the lack of equitable taxes on Nevada citizens and enterprises (i.e. mining.) It is one thing to say no new taxes to support non-essentials, but education is a primary need for society and should always be funded at an efficient, effective level.
That brings up my next two areas.
CCSD is the fith largest school district in the country if I recall correctly. While there are certain economies of scale to be realized in buying power and centralized management in some operations, there is also bound to be increased inefficiency in others due to a much broader communications net. I have little doubt that a re-organization of CCSD could result in significant savings.
Classroom performance is almost impossible to measure now. Serious effort must be put into identifying an equitable way to measure this. Once this is done, real reform can be made to how teachers and administrators are retained and rewarded.
@Strykertyme
Sorry about the Grammatical errors, guess I'm just a product of the CCSD when they taught the kids just to pass the profiency tests instead of actually teaching us anything. Oh wait that is still happening. When I ask my kids who go to school what they did that day and all they say is we watched some movies. Makes you think
The problem with all the folks yelling about "greedy" teachers is that the simply aren't aware of the facts:
- Teachers in Nevada are not allowed by law to contribute to Social Security - so their pension is all they have when they retire.
- Starting teacher's salaries are about $24,000/year - darn close to poverty level.
Where the county ought to start cutting is at the top - all those fat-cat do-nothing administrators and principals, all of who make over $100,000 a year and never see the inside of a classroom. But it's the good-old-boy system, and no one at the top is going to recommend their $100,000+/year friends get laid off or even get a pay cut - instead they pick on the teachers at the bottom of the ladder, while giving every single administrator in the district a $500 iPad. Money well spent ... NOT!
What kind of sense does it make to lay off those who can least afford to lose their lobs instead of trimming the huge amounts of fat on the top rungs of the ladder?
Great...next the teachers will have the kids singing about our great leaders: Obama, Biden, and Reid. It's called: 3 BLIND MICE.
r5332e: It's really too bad that you didn't put forth any effort in school. I can proudly state that I received an excellent education in the Clark County School District, but then I had parents who instilled in me from a very early age that my job was to go to school and apply myself.
As to your kids who go to school and claim they only watch movies, what have you done about it? Have you talked to the teacher or the principal? Could it be that your kids are sitting in a classroom with a long-term sub? Could it be that your kids aren't telling you the truth? Your kids tell you something like that and...what? You just let it go?
Education does need to be reformed.
1. Social promotion needs to end.
2. Students need to be taught to think, not taught to pass standardized tests based upon minimum skills.
3. Administrators need to evaluate teachers more thoroughly and then act on those evaluations. Every ineffective teacher who is taken off probation was taken off probation by an administrator who didn't do his job.
4. Poor classroom behavior needs to be taken seriously, and students who are continually disruptive need to be removed from that classroom and given an alternative placement. Those who are there to learn should have as few obstacles to their learning as possible.
All of these reforms are needed, and all of these reforms require teachers. Unfortunately, Nevada won't have many teachers left unless people stop blaming them for every issue in education. The only teachers CCSD will be able to attract will be those denied employment elsewhere.
n7ekg (Ed Carp) Sir! you are right on...
Mr. Carp,
Considering Social Security averages a 2 percent annual rate of return teachers are lucky not to be participating.
Next, a teacher's starting salary here is $35,000 - well above the poverty level http://www.ccsd.net/jobs/LLPsalary.php
I agree, it makes little sense to fire the cheaper young teachers when there are lots of highly paid administrators. I also note there are highly paid teachers who probably shouldn't be in the business.
I would like to thank keystone6 for very intelligent comments and support for the teachers. It truly is appreciated.