Schools face new challenges

Superintendent Walt Rulffes asked for the public's patience and cooperation as the Clark County School District starts a new school year Monday facing many challenges: under-staffed schools, program cuts of $120 million, swine flu pandemic fears and a higher threshold for showing progress under the No Child Left Behind Act.

"It's going to be a difficult year," Rulffes said Wednesday at McCaw Elementary School, 330 Tin St., near West Basic Road in Henderson.

The nation's fifth-largest school district is expecting 313,688 students next week. That's a slight increase over last September's official tally of 311,240. More than a third of the students -- 140,000 -- will receive free and reduced- price lunches.

The school district is opening three new elementary schools, one replacement elementary school and three high schools.

Because of budget cuts and enrollment uncertainty, the district's 353 schools are staffing teachers at 97 percent of their projected need.

"We've been staffing very frugally," Rulffes said. "As a result, many schools will have a vacancy or two. We're going to hold those vacancies until we know what the enrollment is."

As of Monday, the district had 170 teacher vacancies in the elementary schools, 89 vacancies in middle schools, 82 vacancies in high schools and 70 vacancies in specialized positions such as school psychologists and speech pathologists, said Martha Tittle, director of human resources.

It is still recruiting for hard-to-fill jobs such as math, science and special education teachers.

"We are not holding openings in high-need areas," Tittle said.

Through alternative licensure programs, or assistance for staff getting specialized degrees, the district has had success in filling many special education openings.

It has about 30 vacancies for special education classroom teachers for middle and high school, which Tittle called a "significant reduction."

Because of budget cuts and staff reductions, many high school electives, such as drama and Chinese, will not be offered this year. High school students can expect large class sizes, too.

School Board member Sheila Moulton knew of a high school history teacher with class lists of 37 to 39 students. On a positive note, Moulton said, the teacher will have only 16 students for an advanced placement class.

"I know (class sizes) makes such a big difference," said Moulton, who has a son-in-law who teaches high school physical education classes with 55 to 60 students.

The district will be following state requirements in maintaining class sizes of 16 students to a teacher in the first and second grades and 19 students to a teacher in the third grades.

Coincidentally, Rulffes said, the school district's best test scores are achieved in the first through fourth grades.

The School Board has been adamant about not increasing class sizes.

"I mean, they have had me by the ear a time or two," Rulffes said.

The schools will be judged this year by target benchmarks under the federal No Child Left Behind Act that are increasing as much as 10 percent, said Lauren Kohut-Rhost, the deputy superintendent for academics.

The goal of the law is to have all students reading and performing math at grade level by the 2013-14 school year.

If there's cause for optimism, it's that the H1N1, or swine flu, virus remains a mild illness that's not much different from the seasonal flu, according to health officials who spoke at Wednesday's news conference.

"Most people will recover from it without seeking medical attention," said Dr. Lawrence Sands, chief health officer of the Southern Nevada Health District.

As a rule, Rulffes said, schools won't close this year if there's a reported case of H1N1.

School closures have not proven to be very effective at preventing the spread of the illness, Sands added.

Sands urged parents and students to take normal precautions such as frequent hand-washing and staying home from school if sick.

Health and school officials said they will be watching for an outbreak of H1N1 and are making contingency plans for mass inoculations if necessary.

Contact reporter James Haug at jhaug@reviewjournal.com or 702-374-7917.