Survey: 6 in 10 teachers plan to return in March
A Clark County School District survey sent to families in late January found that 56.4 percent of young students will come back when the district opens its doors for hybrid learning on March 1, while a separate survey found that 59.7 percent of teachers intend to do so.
A district official indicated that a response had been submitted for three-quarters of the district’s 85,000 pre-k to third-grade students. But the district did not have the number of respon
dents on the teacher survey.
Among respondents, 40.3 percent of teachers and 43.6 percent of students indicated that they wouldn’t return to school buildings when in-person instruction resumes after nearly a year of distance learning.
The survey data was not available by school, according to the district representative. Such a breakdown could indicate whether there’s a campus-level disparity in the numbers of students and teachers wishing to return.
Individual schools are ultimately responsible for determining which teachers will come back based on the numbers of students who wish to return, according to the district’s memorandum of agreement with its teachers union.
If more students than teachers opt for in-person learning, the latter would be required to return, per the agreement, which also specifies that telecommuting requests for employees in high-risk groups would be prioritized.
The district did not have more information available Monday on whether any instructors beyond pre-k to third grade classroom teachers would be required to return.
The district’s hybrid reopening plan released Feb. 3 had outlined a master schedule in which elementary school specialists — like art, music, library and physical education teachers — would be asked to return to campus to supervise classrooms during classroom teachers’ prep periods.
But the plan had been pulled from the district website as of Monday evening, replaced with a note that an “updated version” was coming soon.
The proposal caused a stir last week among elementary school specialists, who said they were being asked to assume exponentially more risk by rotating through several classrooms per week.
Art teacher Ashley Bell said the proposal diminished specialists’ training and individual curricula, while also breaching students’ safety.
A choice needs to be offered to all teachers, she said.
“We’re being used as babysitters,” Bell said. “As a K-5 specialist, you’re seeing kids from the time they’re in kindergarten to fifth grade, helping them find their niche. All of that is lost in this plan.”
Hybrid instruction has been more popular in smaller, rural districts throughout Nevada.
At a meeting of the State Senate Education Committee on Monday afternoon, Pershing County School District Superintendent Russell Fecht shared that just 1 percent of the district’s 650 students were opting for distance learning during the spring semester, and that other rural districts throughout the state had found less than 5 percent of students chose virtual over in-person learning.