LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — The Clark County School District Board of School Trustees have voted to designate certain positions as critical labor shortage areas.
According to a press release, district officials said those positions include:
- bus drivers, special education bus drivers and bus driver trainees
- elementary and secondary licensed personnel positions
- secondary mathematics, science and English licensed personnel positions
- substitute teachers
- secondary career and technical education positions
- special education positions
In the past, the district has utilized this designation to help attract candidates for those positions. It also allows recently-retired personnel to return to the classroom and begin serving in those positions without delay.
Board documents state the designation will remain in place through June 30, 2026.
CCSD By The Numbers
When taking a closer look, the documents lay out vacancies across the district. As of Feb. 5, 2024, the following positions were waiting to be filled.
- 389 elementary grade vacancies
- 56 vacancies for adaptive PE, business, social studies, social worker, school mental health professionals
- 101 openings for high school mathematics teachers
- 86 openings for middle and high school science teachers
- 57 openings for middle and high school English teachers
- 104 openings for autism specialists
- 35 openings for early childhood special education specialists
- 125 general resource positions, including SLD and STAR
- Six openings for hearing impaired and visually impaired instructors
- Two school nurse openings
- Nine openings for occupational therapists, physical therapists, and speech/language pathologists
- 22 openings for school psychologists
Based on the district's paperwork, in all, that is 992 positions total.
As of April 4, 2024, there was also a total of 5,039 substitute teachers in the district and as of Feb. 5, 2024, CCSD documents state that an average of 12,077 shifts need to be filled by substitute teachers every month.
While overall turnover rates are better, these are the classifications and fields where more teachers and staff are leaving CCSD.
- Adaptive PE
2022-2023: 1.3% turnover
2023-2024: 2.6% turnover - Gifted and Talented Education (GATE)
2022-2023: 3.2% turnover
2023-2024: 3.9% turnover - Secondary Mathematics
2022-2023: 6.07% turnover
2023-2024: 14.14% turnover
District documents also state there are some positions that have just been historically hard to fill, especially in secondary career and technical education. That includes instructors teaching students about things like food production and management, hospitality, travel and tourism, hotel/motel occupations, cosmetology, electrical technicians, drafting, automotive service, construction, graphic design, welding, and air transportation/aviation technology.
According to CCSD, there are several factors that are contributing to staffing issues in the district. That includes shortages of qualified candidates, other districts having higher salaries, and extensive testing in fields like mathematics and special education. District documents also state when it comes to mathematics, "many qualified candidates have difficulty licensing in Nevada because of the State licensing requirements thereby not allowing for true reciprocity."
The District states they're also facing challenges in finding school bus drivers due to shortages of qualified drivers, drivers assigned split shifts with six-hour days for nine months and they have non-assigned days, and many work for "consecutive years without pay step advancement". According to the district, 40% of those who start, do not pass. or finish the training required to be a school bus driver.
What is the district doing about the shortages?
In addition to approving the critical labor shortage designation, CCSD documents lay out several strategies the district is using to try and attract candidates.
- Face-To-Face Events (teacher career fairs, college/university visits, information sessions, recruitment trips, etc.)
2022-2023: 4
2023-2024: 71 - Virtual Events (virtual career fairs and District recruitment-hosted webinars)
2022-2023: 145
2023-2024: 27
District documents also state they've been working with several programs like Teach For America and the J-1 Cultural Exchange Program to find and hire other teachers and staff members to fill open positions.
The recruitment trips that CCSD officials have taken over the last year have cost taxpayers over $150,000. As 13 Investigates and Darcy Spears revealed, two of the destinations district officials traveled to were Miami Beach and Hawaii, which raised some red flags and left lingering questions.
WATCH: 13 Investigates looks into CCSD recruiting trip to Hawaii
In January, 13 Investigates sat down with then-Superintendent Dr. Jesus Jara to discuss the trips like the one to Miami Beach, which he admitted weren't successful.
"In the State of Florida, teachers are under attack by the governor, by the legislature, so why not go out and recruit where we can try to find teachers to come? We're very inclusive. We've been recruiting outside before I got here," Jara said at the time. "Obviously, we didn't get a return on what we wanted, so we've got to re-look at our [return on investment]. But to me, we have to continue looking and going to places where the public education is not supported. And I came from that state, you know."
WATCH: Superintendent tells 13 Investigates that taxpayer-funded Miami Beach recruiting trip was a failure
As for current educators in the district, several voiced their frustrations at Thursday night's board meeting.
One teacher stated the district hasn't been aggressive enough with recruiting.
"Despite some people's best efforts, we have one of the best pay scales in the country. We're competitive with Houston for the first time. We're competitive with California for the first time. We should be going to the far ends of the country preaching this and it doesn't seem to be the case," said Jim Frazee, a high school teacher and Vice President of the Clark County Education Association. "We have fought to put in qualified educators in every classroom because our children deserve it, our businesses need it, and our community expects it for their tax dollars. No more trips to Miami to lay on the beach. No more half-hearted efforts. It is time to be aggressive and optimism should be our key for what the possibilities are. Our lack of aggressiveness is going to cost us dearly in the fall. There is a short window for people to look at us and we're going to give it away, it feels like."
Another teacher said the district is so concerned about recruiting new teachers and staff members that they aren't taking care of business to retain the teachers they already have.
"If you don't seriously address retention, none of your recruitment efforts will matter. I saw nothing in the documents to address retention. Not one. We are literally bleeding licensed educators. Until we sew the wound shut, it will continue," reading teacher Vicki Kreidel told the board. "To stop the bleeding, we are going to need to take action. These actions must be highly visible. People need to see what you're doing so they have hope things will get better. Until you address school safety, school cultures, issues with our health care, people will continue to leave CCSD. Until you give educators hope that things are going to get better, people will continue to leave. Until you ask your educators what it will take to keep them here, people will continue to leave. Please do something before it's too late because once people leave CCSD, it's unlikely they will ever return."
