Electronic dealers are no panacea

To the editor:

In response to your Thursday story, “Chips may fall digitally”:

About two years ago many of the casinos terminated the boxmen (craps supervisors) to save payroll. It did save money, but it resulted in even greater lost revenue for the stockholders because now “color” (changing up for bigger chips) had to be done by the dealers and the game came to a complete stop.

Now some of the casinos want to implement electronic dealers (why not play online?), which will put more people out of work. Combine this with self-checkout at various businesses and who will even have a job to be able to gamble anymore?

Kipp Altemara

LAS VEGAS

Burned out

To the editor:

According to the “teaching and learning conditions” survey completed by Clark County School District teachers, 40 percent of teachers must work a second or third job to financially afford to live in Las Vegas. The consequences of having to make such a sacrifice are immense and rarely pointed out.

This is also much of the reason why 50 percent of teachers hired by the district leave by the end of their fifth year — they are burned out.

There is a common and blatantly false assumption that teachers do not work outside of the seven hours we are contracted for. The time invested in writing an effective lesson plan is at least one hour per course taught, oftentimes more. This does not include the additional time spent reflecting and revising the lesson plan, generating the assessments and analyzing their results. None of this can be done while teaching, it is nearly all completed outside of the contracted hours.

Connect the dots. If 40 percent of teachers are working a second or third job, then there is little to no time to complete the tasks necessary to become an effective educator. The students of these teachers suffer the most by having an under-prepared and exhausted teacher financially struggling to make ends meet.

Consider the alternative: a teacher who is paid well enough not to have to work another job. Their students will have a rested, well-prepared and jovial educator. Fewer teachers will leave because they are burned out, decreasing the number of new hires required every year. Who knows, we may even be able to have a highly qualified educator in every classroom.

The parents, students, and taxpayers of the district deserve better.

TRAVIS BOWKER

LAS VEGAS

Money matters

To the editor:

Every time we turn around, our lawmakers are telling us, “We cannot afford that.”

We hear it about sports in schools, after-school programs, road construction projects, raises for teachers, the protection of our borders and anything else that does not benefit the legislator’s particular district.

All the while, we learn of the pay raises for our elected officials, multimillion-dollar pork projects and outright theft by many of those same elected men and women.

What gives? Do they think we are stupid? We can see spending on useless bridges, office buildings, fish farms and projects that do not benefit anyone except the elected officials and their cronies. Both Republicans and Democrats are equally guilty, as are independents.

The money is — or should I say, was — there. Why should we raise congressional salaries while pork spending exists? Why should we settle for useless hearings and investigations into acts purportedly committed by one political party or another?

Millions are wasted while countless investigations are held that result in no action. Hours upon hours are wasted in an attempt to justify theft by a congressman.

All this must be stopped, and stopped now. We, the voters, have to take a stand. Vote them out! Now.

Lee S. Gliddon Jr.

NORTH LAS VEGAS

Big city

To the editor:

Let’s see. Las Vegas does not have enough schools, teachers and water. The number of homes on the market is at a record high, our roads seem be torn up constantly trying to keep up with growth, crime and gang violence has increased along with air pollution, and our civic leaders have been paid to push through building and zoning issues at the behest of builders and/or investors.

It may be time to reconsider a building moratorium for the Las Vegas Valley. The school district would get relief from floating yet another bond issue, the water district would be better able to plan for the drought we are experiencing, property values would stabilize, our police would be better able to get an upper hand on crime, and our civic leaders would be able to address voter concerns in their districts — where their loyalty should lie — instead of catering to builders and big businesses.

It is a question of quality of life, people. Las Vegas is no longer a sparkle in the desert. Just add us to the list of big cities in America.

REBECCA WOODSON

LAS VEGAS