LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — The Clark County School District says it will make adjustments to school start and end times at approximately 47 schools as a result of ongoing contract negotiations with the union representing district educators.
In a news release on Wednesday, district officials accused the Clark County Education Association of making "unreasonable demands" and using "bad faith, obstructionist tactics" in its negotiations with the district.
In response, a teachers' union spokesperson wrote that the district "still refuses to pay educators what they deserve."
"It is the height of hypocrisy for CCSD to demand that educators extend their school day without adjusting their pay with a salary increase, especially when the money is there," the union representative stated.
The district and the union are in the process of working out the 2023-25 Negotiated Agreement. CCSD claims its efforts to negotiate contract waivers have been met with "additional, unreasonable concession demands" from union representatives.
Channel 13 Anchor Reporter Joe Moeller spoke with both a teacher and John Vellardita, the executive director of the CCEA, to get their perspectives on negotiations.
"We are so far apart you can but an iceburg between it...the district is not willing to pay teachers what they need to be paid," said Vellardita.
He says the starting salary is $50,000 but they want the increase to be on par with other cities.
As for the school time changes, Moeller spoke with Melissa, a CCSD teacher who says the CCEA did not conduct a vote for the extra minutes at schools, something she says is actually wanted.
"Every year we have voted for it, how come not this year? Why are the optics saying that somehow CCSD is trying to force these minutes on us. Part of our negotiated agreement is we always had a voice on whether or not we add these 19 minutes," Melissa said.
Vellardita says the CCEA hasn't conducted a vote because they want the contract negotiations to be done first, to get teachers more money for their extra time.
I think that is a noble effort and I do believe that should be something we fight for and I want to make sure that we are speaking out to the world is accurate information, these 19 minutes were always going to be compensated," Melissa tells Moeller.
"As a result, students in some of the most underserved communities will lose approximately 171,000 minutes of instructional time that the district planned to offer," district officials stated.
According to the teachers' union, CCSD is the one refusing to increase teacher salaries, despite Gov. Joe Lombardo and the Nevada legislature's recent allocation of $250 million for educator raises.
"CCSD Trustees can give Jara a $75,000 raise, hire consultants and lawyers, give President Garcia-Morale’s employer a contract using ESSER III funds, but they can’t give educators a raise," a union representative stated.
In response, CCSD provided Channel 13 with the following document that lays out what compensation has been negotiated with the union, dating back to 2018:
Teacher Compensation CCSD Negotiated With CCEA Since 2018 by alyssa roberts on Scribd
A contract waiver agreement is necessary to change a school's schedule from the standard six hours and 11 minutes of instruction time per day, school district officials explained. The district had asked for 106 contract waivers impacting approximately 86 schools.
Without those waivers, school officials say "some schools will be forced to change their schedules, reducing instruction time for those students and impacting families."
According to district officials, the contract waivers they proposed included additional incentives for the extended time worked at the impacted schools. They estimate cutting instruction time at those schools will impact pay for more than 3,000 staff.
"Educators are not going back to work on the same pay scale while CCSD receives hundreds of millions of additional dollars," the union spokesperson wrote.
The education association noted that, over the past school year, CCSD lost 2,000 educators and said "parents should be outraged that we are three weeks away (from the start of the school year), and due to these vacancies, there will be 35,000 kids without a classroom teacher — because CCSD refuses to pay salary increase to educators on the scale that we deserve."
CCSD estimates the reduction in work hours from adjusting school start times will result in more than $10 million less in pay for employees at the impacted schools.
Parents of students at impacted schools will be notified by school administrators, officials stated.
CCSD's 2023-24 school year is scheduled to begin on Monday, August 7. Teachers' union members will meet on Saturday, July 29 "to determine what action to take if there is not a contract in place before the school year starts," the union spokesperson stated.
This report has been updated since its initial publication to reflect the response from CCEA and additional information from CCSD.
