Thursday, August 25, 2005
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Experienced teachers spurned despite shortage

Theresa Porter holds up credentials that she used to gain 14 years of experience teaching in California and overseas. Porter wanted to teach in the Clark County School District but was told her credentials didn't qualify her. Photo by Jane Kalinowsky.

Theresa Porter thought her academic credentials and 14 years of experience teaching in Japan and California would be enough to get a job in the Clark County School District.

"I thought a good teacher can get a job anywhere, right?"

She thought wrong.

Porter touts a master's degree in English literature and was licensed by the state of California to teach students whose primary language is not English, an area designated by the district as "high needs."

She was named "teacher of the year" in the 2004-05 school year, beating out about 140 faculty members at the high school where she taught in Stockton, Calif. But during her interview with the Clark County School District, Porter said, she was told by a district official that she lacked the requirement of student-teaching from an accredited university.

Porter fulfilled her student-teaching requirement in California through programs at San Joaquin Delta College and Fresno Pacific University.

"A district that needs teachers this badly would want any teacher. But I'm not just any teacher ... I'm excellent," she said.

"The state is blocking a lot of qualified people from teaching," said Porter, who moved to Las Vegas to be close to her mother, who lives in Clark County.

District officials announced a shortage of 287 teachers as of Tuesday, and the bulk of the vacancies are special-education positions and middle and high-school math teachers. All vacancies will be filled by substitute teachers.

That figure is up from a shortage of 278 teachers last week. Officials said the higher figure is due to resignations, leaves of absence and retirements.

Keith Rheault, Nevada's superintendent of public instruction, said the state's standards for obtaining a license are not unreasonable.

In recent years, Nevada added a law to accept from 44 states their tests granting teacher licenses.

But state law requires all incoming teachers to fulfill eight credits of student teaching before they can set foot in the classroom. And the requirement to have teachers earn student-teaching experience from an accredited university is something the state does not waver on.

"With all the fly-by-night Internet programs out there, you have to have some assurance that someone's taking a look at them," Rheault said, referring to which university programs are accredited by Nevada.

Rheault said the state in at least the past five years has seen fewer than 10 cases similar to Porter's.

"We get very few transcripts from unaccredited universities. She's more of the exception than the rule," Rheault said of Porter.

To become a teacher in Nevada, the state requires candidates to pass three tests.

Those who pass can be granted one of five licenses: a three-year provisional license; an elementary license; a middle school license; a secondary (high school) license; and a special license for counselors, administrators and special-education teachers.

Rheault added that if the district really wanted to hire Porter, the state might be able to grant her a provisional license, giving her three years to obtain her student-teaching requirements from an accredited university.

Lina Gutierrez, the district's executive director of licensed personnel, said Nevada is ahead of the curve in creating strict standards for teacher licenses.

Gutierrez said she's seen "excellent" applicants who can't license in Nevada. "If you can't license here, I can't give you a job."

George Ann Rice, the district's associate superintendent of human resources, would not address Porter's situation because it's a personnel issue. However, she agreed with Rheault and said situations like Porter's have not presented a problem to the district.

But Rice did say that state requirements for math teachers have prevented the district from hiring some prospective teachers.

The district is short 35 middle and high-school math teachers for the upcoming year.

Rheault said prospective middle and high school math teachers are required to have 36 credits in specific courses such as multi-variable geometry, and Euclidian and non-Euclidian geometry, courses not readily available at all colleges.

"We're reviewing math requirements to see if we can clean up some of our language for licensure."

But factors that don't include state requirements might also be deterring qualified teachers.

The ever-present complaint of low pay might be even more of barrier in Clark County than seen in other districts. Low salaries coupled with skyrocketing property values torpedoed Beverly Tracy's hopes of working for the district.

Tracy, a prospective teacher from Michigan, held a brief interest in working in Clark County earlier this year.

She printed out an application from the district's Web site, and drove to the education headquarters in February on East Flamingo Road near Eastern Avenue.

Tracy holds a dual master's degree in English and history, and has 24 years of experience in public and private schools.

She works in the Detroit Public School District teaching advanced placement English courses. Her salary is about $80,000 a year.

But when she asked an official what her starting salary would be based on her qualifications, she said she was shocked to hear the pay would be $36,000 a year.

"I was flabbergasted," Tracy said. "I could not believe that a city as prosperous as Las Vegas was paying at poverty level.

"I think teachers in Kentucky earn more than that."

Maximum pay that any teacher can receive under the district's salary scale is $57,480.

Tracy chose not to pursue a formal interview with district officials.

As for Porter, she was considering accepting a longtime substitute position at Rancho High School. She said she would have been making $110 a day without benefits.

But on Tuesday, she said she will instead be taking a job in Bakersfield, Calif., to teach high school English and students whose primary language is not English. She said her salary is $60,300 plus benefits.

"It's a far different welcome on this side of the hill," Porter said.