Sun File Photo
The exterior of the Clark County School District’s headquarters in Las Vegas.
Wednesday, May 1, 2024 | 2 a.m.
The Clark County School District is targeting Southern California with its newest educator recruiting campaign, the district announced Tuesday.
District officials unveiled the initiative with a screening of two professionally crafted videos that CCSD will post to social media with special efforts to pop up in the feeds of people living in Southern California, interim Superintendent Brenda Larsen-Mitchell said at a campaign kickoff at Aggie Roberts Elementary School in Henderson.
The 30-second clips highlight Las Vegas’ abundant natural and urban attractions and relatively reasonable cost of living — especially compared with the target market. The district will also spread the message via radio ads.
“Teaching is more than a job. It’s a calling. Las Vegas is more than the Strip,” the voiceover of one video spot says, layered atop sweeping vistas of Hoover Dam, Red Rock Canyon and tidy suburban streets to promote teaching and living in the valley. “It’s the gateway to Southern Nevada — from day hikes to nightlife, fans to foodies. We are … We are Vegas. We are CCSD.”
Larsen-Mitchell said CCSD had not been fully staffed since her first year working with the district, which was in 1994.
She appointed a new chief human resources officer in March. She said the human resources department was now analyzing its structures and acting with a sense of urgency.
“We must strategically implement recruitment and retention efforts to ensure we have the very, very best candidates for our students,” she said. “I look forward to welcoming our new educators to our amazing district, and I look forward to continuing to support all of our educators.”
HR chief RoAnn Triana said the district didn’t have a specific hiring goal, other than to bring in a lot of teachers before the next school year starts in August.
CCSD currently has 1,400 open teaching positions, Larsen-Mitchell said. Triana pointed out that CCSD would have to hire, on average, 14 teachers a day to have every position filled with a fully certified teacher by the first day of the fall term, Aug. 12.
Roberts, which is off Windmill Parkway and Pecos Road, is currently hiring a kindergarten teacher and two special education teachers to specialize in teaching children with autism. Other schools, especially larger secondary schools in the inner cities, have significantly higher vacancies. According to district job postings, Cheyenne High School needs 26 teachers. Swainston Middle School needs 20. Tartan Elementary needs 17. All of these schools are in North Las Vegas. Elsewhere, Eldorado High School in the east valley has 21 openings. Cashman Middle, in midtown, has 15.
Irene Bustamante Adams, vice president of CCSD’s school board, said recruitment was a community commitment. People not with the district can help by making a welcoming and accepting environment for educators.
“I know that in the past, maybe Clark County School District may have not been a welcoming environment to participate in this strategy, but today is a different day,” Bustamante Adams said.
At least one Southern California region that could see the new ads is set to have painful staff cuts: the San Diego Unified School District school board voted in March to cut close to 500 teaching and support staff positions this spring as it faces a $94 million budget gap going into the next school year, according to local media reports. About half of those jobs are already vacant. The others would be layoffs or through attrition.
Wherever new hires come from, they will be placed on a just-instituted pay scale that is separate from the pay scale for teachers CCSD hired before February. The new-hire scale is superior to the CCSD veteran scale by thousands of dollars, even if the established local teachers have comparable education and experience, leaving some veteran CCSD teachers feeling undervalued and wounded.
The “We are Vegas. We are CCSD” spots go live today.