In America's fastest-growing city, where 11 new schools opened this year, recruiters are already identifying thousands of potential teachers for next year.
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Lina Gutierrez had her way, Las Vegas would not be known as Sin City. She’d drop the
homage to legalized gambling and adult entertainment in favor of something that gets
at what Las Vegas is really about these days: schools.
It’s not such a stretch. Eleven new schools have opened in Las
Vegas this year. More than 12,000 new students have joined the Clark County School
District, which encompasses the vast Las Vegas metropolitan area and is the
fastest-growing school district in the country. Gutierrez, executive director of
human resources and licensed personnel for the district, knows the numbers by heart.
She oversees the city’s latest hot commodity: teachers.
"It’s crazy. It’s as if we’re opening a big new hotel every
year," Gutierrez says. She’s not far off the mark. For the 2005-06 school year,
Gutierrez and her team of more than 100 principals and others involved in recruiting
hired more than 2,100 new teachers—not quite enough to cover every class. "We have
some gaps," she says, noting that substitutes could fill some high-need areas,
including special education, science and math. Meanwhile, recruiting for next year
has already begun.
Scouring the globe
When Las Vegas was still a sleepy desert town, the school district
could rely on the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, for a steady supply of new
teachers. These days, the search takes recruiters considerably farther afield. The
district holds regular recruitment drives at universities across the country.
Beginning in April, the height of recruiting season, Gutierrez and her staff of two
directors, along with principals and other administrators from Las Vegas schools,
spend each weekend traveling to colleges and universities across the country in
search of likely prospects. "UNLV can’t provide us with the teachers we need, so we
have to look other places," she says.
This year the school district even looked overseas. "Because of
the tremendous need for teachers in special education and mathematics, we started
foreign recruitment," says Gutierrez, noting that the trips to Spain, the Philippines
and Canada resulted in the hiring of 90 foreign teachers.
Like kids? Come on down
While the school district plans to expand its foreign
recruiting operation for the 2006-2007 school year, Gutierrez and her team are also
focusing their efforts on residents of Las Vegas. The goal: to identify local
residents who, with a bit of training, could join the district’s legions of teachers.
"A lot of parents, male and female, say, ‘I’d like to be a teacher,’ " Gutierrez
says. "Our response is ‘OK. We’ll teach you how to be a teacher.’"
The Clark County School District's campaign, called A Call to
Teach, includes newspaper ads and public service announcements using Las Vegas
celebrities. The district is welcoming area residents with bachelor’s degrees into
the classroom while they complete the coursework necessary to obtain a teaching
license in Nevada. More than 150 locals have heeded the call this year, a number that
Gutierrez hopes will be even higher next year.
Gutierrez also sees potential teachers in the school district’s
support staff, the administrative employees who keep the enormous school system
running. For them she has a deal that may be too good to turn down: Attend the local
university to get teacher training while the school district continues to pay your
salary. "The support staff has already proven to me that they like kids," Gutierrez
says. "This is a way to take it a step further. You have credits but not a degree?
Come on down."
Home field advantage
While the school district still recruits most of its new
teachers from outside of Nevada, persuading local residents to join the school system
is often far easier than getting teachers to relocate to Vegas. The reason: the Sin
City factor, Gutierrez says. "We’re definitely fighting an image of what Las Vegas is
all about. Some people are surprised to hear that there are schools here at all." To
counter that image, the school district sends every potential teacher a CD touting
the city’s charms and recreational opportunities.
Teachers who are offered contracts even get a call from a local
ambassador--a representative of the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce--in an effort to
persuade them to make the move. Still, Gutierrez concedes, more than sweet talk may
be necessary to lure new instructors to the city. "Housing is the latest challenge
we’re facing. The price of housing has doubled here," she says. "Now we’re working
with the city to try and address that. How are people going to come teach here if
they can’t afford to live here?
Referring friends
Wherever prospective recruits come from, they all encounter
the school district’s streamlined electronic application process. Potential teachers
submit an interest form listing their educational background, any teaching experience
and the subjects they’d like to teach. In two days, applicants who make the grade are
invited to submit an application. "I download the applications every day," Gutierrez
says. "As soon as we hear from you, we start working your references. By the time you
interview, we may be ready to offer you a job."
As for the interview process, Gutierrez and her team have
recently added a new question: "Do you know anyone else who wants to be a teacher?"
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