School Board continues Teach for America partnership

Up to 150 new Teach for America teachers will be hired by Clark County School District for a period of two years at a cost of $600,000 in addition to the teachers’ salaries.

Although the fledgling teachers will earn the same salary as all new teachers with their equivalent education, the Clark County School Board unanimously agreed Thursday to pay $2,000 annually per teacher to the nonprofit group, which trained them for schools in high poverty areas or for hard-to-fill positions in math, science and special education.

This annual payment to Teach for America covers 10 percent of the nonprofit’s cost for training the teachers, meaning the organization annually spends $20,000 per teacher, Teach for America’s Las Vegas Executive Director, Victor Wakefield, said.

Each teacher goes through a five-week training period and additional professional development throughout the school year provided by Teach for America, Wakefield said.

Teach for America must rely on private donations to cover the majority of costs, which means “we’re only going to grow to the size that the community wants,” Wakefield said.

Several community members said Thursday at the School Board meeting that the teachers are worth the cost.

Principals also want them and make more requests than Chief Human Resources Officer Staci Vesneske can fill, she said.

On top of that, 50 percent of the teachers stay beyond two years, Vesneske said .

After two years, these teachers don’t cost the district a dime beyond their normal salary and benefits — no more payments to Teach for America.

Of the 300 teachers hired from Teach for America between 2004 and 2010, about 100 still work in the district, Vesneske said.

The district could learn something from Teach for America on not only finding effective teachers but finding effective teachers who will stick around, board member Chris Garvey said .

“It’s a good relationship,” she said before voting to hire 150 more teachers.