By DR. LARRY MOSES

No one asked me but… Clark County School teachers are back to work. And they are back without a contract.

Each year the teachers are required to sign a letter of intent before contracts are completed. This is because state law requires teacher contracts to be signed by a date that falls prior to the state required completion of the district budget. The courts of Nevada have ruled that this blind contract is binding.

Now before I state the stupidity of signing a blank contract, let me tell you I did that for most of the thirty years I worked for the Clark County School District. My father taught me to know what was in a contract before I signed it. However, when the district indicated that if I did not sign the blank agreement I would not be employed the next year, I folded like a cheap suit.

Was it not Nancy Pelosi who said, “You have to pass the bill to know what is in it.” She would surely make a great School Board President or teacher union boss.

While the teachers union has asked to go to arbitration to settle the contract, I am not sure why the district has agreed. At this point, they can offer whatever they want and the teachers will be bound to the agreement.

If Superintendent Jones is interested in reform, he might also include a reform in the respect, or lack thereof, the Board has for the employees of the district. Rather than merely mouthing the words that the most important element in a student’s education is the classroom teacher, he and the Board might act in a manner that would indicate that belief. They are hoping to save $37 million by cutting teacher’s salaries and privatizing teacher insurance.

When a $400 million shortfall seemed to be looming six months ago, the Board stated it would be easy to cut $150 million without touching teachers salaries, but now they are no longer interested in making all the cuts outside teacher salaries and insurance. I would recommend they go back to their surveys and find the money somewhere else.

The district leadership always bemoans the contentious relationship between the Board and the teachers; this would be a good time to mend that relationship. The teachers have already made a step in that direction by not demanding a settlement before they go to work.

It is interesting that the superintendent has indicated that if salary reductions are not made, they may have to fire 500 teachers. The district hired 300 new teachers this year but the board will worked hard to make sure that those 300 will not be affected. It would seem those would be the first 300 out. The district’s argument that “last in and first out” hurts good teachers is not relevant because no one knows how good these new hires are. What the board really hopes is the most expensive will be the first out no matter the skill level.

No one asked me but… I see where my neighbor, David Wilson, has volunteered to enter the lion’s den. One can only hope he emerges unscathed.

David has accepted the position of principal of Chaparral High School in Las Vegas. It is one of the five “turnaround” schools in Clark County. The once proud school has fallen on bad times and major reforms are necessary. I have no doubt that David is the right man for the job. He is a charismatic leader who can make things happen. If anyone can do it, David can.

The news articles and television coverage of David’s appointment reminds me of the scene in the movie Patton. In the opening scene, General Patton arrives, taking over II Corps after two devastating defeats at the hands of the German General Irwin Rommel. Patton took over demoralized, undisciplined, and defeated troops; melded them into a fight force to be reckoned with. Patton arrived with sirens blasting and a no nonsense approach. David has done the same and I wish him the same success.

I was glad to see the district is also supporting the effort with $3.5 million above the funding for other high schools in the district. $2.5 million is in repairs to a school that apparently was allowed to deteriorate to a point that one might wonder why the entire custodial crew, maintenance staff, the principal, and those at the district level responsible were not fired. Where was the Board Representative of these children? If the building was in the shape indicated in the Las Vegas Review Journal and Channel 3 newscasts, one might wonder why heads didn’t roll.

The district was sitting, conservatively, on $400 million in bond money, some of which apparently should have been expended to maintain Chaparral High School. The mere fact that the campus has been cleaned up, bathrooms repaired, rooms painted, and carpets replaced will give some bounce.

This is known as the Hawthorne effect. The study was a research project involving the Hawthorne plant of the Western Electric Company in Cicero, Illinois. The study found that improvement in the workers environment improved the workers productivity. This effect alone will not solve the problem but it will help.

David is not the “Music Man,” who showed up in River City to con the people out of their money with an imaginary band. Like Harold Hill’s program, David’s will deal with the mindset of the students.

However, David also has an extra $1 million in instructional funding to implement his educational reform programs. If the Chaparral community will buy into David’s reform efforts, there will truly be a turnaround.

David has put himself out there and we can only hope the Cowboys of Chaparral will respond. Taking a “turnaround” school is a great career move if the turnaround happens; if not, it can be a career killer. It remains to be seen if even he has enough magic in his bag of tricks to complete the job. I’m betting that he does.

Thought of the week… The time to take counsel of your fears is before you make an important battle decision. That’s the time to listen to every fear you can imagine! When you have collected all the facts and fears and made your decision, turn off all your fears and go ahead!

– Gen. George S. Patton