CCSD new recruitment campaign targets out-of-state educators

School officials say they have 103 days to try to get the district fully staffed for the first time since 1994.

The Clark County School District’s efforts to fill its 1,400 teacher vacancies are extending to social media outlets and radio stations in Southern California and surrounding states to attract educators to move to Southern Nevada. 

The school district announced Tuesday that the new teacher recruiting campaign starts May 1 and will last through summer break. The campaign targets educators from areas with a higher cost of living and/or inclement weather to highlight the perks of living in Clark County. 

While the school district would not commit to a goal for the campaign on Tuesday, CCSD Chief Human Resources Officer RoAnn Triana said the district would need to hire 14 new teachers a day to fill the 1,400 vacancies before the start of the 2024-2025 school year.   

“While the whole community is counting down to summer — Kids, are you counting down to summer? I am counting down to opening a school — 103 days,” Triana said, adding that she has been in the position for about six weeks. “We are very, very much aware that we are on a short timeline of 103 days. And we are super excited, once this campaign launches, to see all the applicants that come through.”

The campaign comes after the teachers union and CCSD agreed on a historic new contract that gave educators an 18% pay raise over the next two years. The starting pay for teachers is now $54,000, CCSD officials said.

But teacher shortages have only worsened over the last 30 years — the last time the district was fully staffed was 1994.

Many of the schools with the most teacher vacancies are in North Las Vegas and East Valley, including Cheyenne High School, which has the most openings in the district, with 26 vacancies. 

CCSD Interim Superintendent Brenda Larsen-Mitchell said that in her visit to Cheyenne High School two weeks ago, that the principal is “very confident” the campaign will help fill all the open positions.   

“This is like pie in the sky time. And should the candidates not come through, they have plans on condensing and cutting back a little bit,” Larsen-Mitchell said. “But I will tell you that principal Anthony Nunez is very, very confident that he will be able to hit the ground running come the fall.”

In other efforts, four years ago, CCSD established a fast-track program with UNLV for school aids, bus drivers, and other teacher support staff to become teachers. The Paraprofessional Pathways Program has seen 160 graduates, all but six of whom have stayed in Nevada.