Administrators to teach or observe

Clark County School District Superintendent Walt Rulffes leads the nation's fifth-largest school system, managing a $2 billion budget.

He added math teacher to that list of responsibilities on Thursday.

"I'll be teaching," Rulffes said. "It will probably be algebra or geometry."

With a 7-0 vote, the Clark County School Board on Thursday required that district administrators teach or observe a class for at least a half day during this school year.

With the same vote, the School Board also increased the compulsory attendance age to 18 from 17.

The measures were passed by the 2007 Legislature and required School Board approval.

Rulffes said the changes will take place immediately, although details for how and when administrators will teach have not been ironed out.

Also, a committee will be formed to address student truancy, Rulffes said.

The new state law requires administrators with valid teaching licenses to lead one full day of classes. Administrators who are not licensed teachers are required to observe a classroom for a half day. The administrator might choose to be a guest speaker or reader, the law says.

The law does not apply to school principals.

The requirement that administrators teach irked Steve Augspurger of the Clark County Association of School Administrators union.

"If anybody should be observing classrooms, it should be the legislators who passed this law," Augspurger said. "We can't find enough qualified teachers. We can't find enough substitutes. So you exacerbate the problem by having administrators teach who may not have taught for a long time."

One teacher at the School Board meeting thought it was a good move.

"They have no idea what goes on in the classroom," Bob Yeary, a math teacher at Eldorado High School, said of administrators.

State Sen. Bob Beers, R-Las Vegas, who backed the proposal, could not be reached for comment Thursday.

Rulffes does not hold a teaching license in Nevada. But he said his role in the classroom will be more than that of an observer. Rulffes taught accounting and finance as an adjunct professor at Washington State University and Gonzaga University.

As for the increase in the compulsory attendance age, educators, parents and politicians were unsure what impact keeping students in school until 18 would have on the district's dropout rate.

Michael Rodriguez, spokesman for the district, said district officials don't expect it will alter the dropout rate.

The district has reduced its dropout rate two consecutive years. During the 2005-06 school year, the latest statistics available, the district's dropout rate was about 5.9 percent.

The district does not collect dropout data based on students' ages and was unable to provide the Review-Journal with statistics based on high school grade levels.

Julie Masterson, a parent at the School Board meeting Thursday, said keeping students in school until they are 18 is a good idea.

"They're basically under their parents' control until they are 18," Masterson said. "They might not make the best choices until they reach that age."