Two teachers’ tutoring business is booming

By Emily Richmond

Saturday, April 25, 2009 | 2 a.m.

The No Child Left Behind law requires local school districts to set aside federal money for tutoring at-risk students at low-achieving campuses. The Clark County Education Association Community Foundation, a partner of the teachers union, is the district’s largest tutoring provider, with contracts totaling nearly $1.4 million so far this year.

But the runner-up on the money list isn’t one of the well-known franchises, or even a company that’s been in business with the district for more than a year. It’s Amigo Learning Center, created in 2008 by two district teachers specifically to get a share of the tutoring business, which so far amounts to $589,676.

Martha Valadez and Rosa Contreras both teach second grade at C.C. Ronnow-Edison Elementary School, which accounts for more than half of the 493 students signed up for tutoring with Amigo.

District teachers are allowed to work as tutors, provided the students are not in their classrooms. And there are no policies or regulations preventing teachers from starting an outside company of any kind, provided there is no effect on their district employment.

Amigo’s focus is on reaching out to the bilingual community, said Valadez, who is in her seventh year with the district. The company employs 93 district teachers and four instructional aides as tutors, and has a small office staff. Valadez said she and Contreras also have family members pitching in, which keeps the workload manageable.

Valadez, who has been in education for 20 years and was a vice principal in Mexico, said she has no intention of quitting her day job.

Because Amigo is in its first year of operation, the company wasn’t included in the state’s recent evaluation of tutoring providers in Clark County. But Patsy Saas, who oversees the program for the district, said so far Amigo has been in full compliance with all expectations.

“They have amazed us, what those two teachers have accomplished,” Saas said. “They’re working incredibly hard.”

•••

The Legislature is considering a requirement that teacher pay be cut 6 percent. Clark County School District officials say they believe the negotiated agreement with the teachers union precludes salary reductions without consent, and the teachers’ union isn’t planning to give an inch in negotiations.

That leaves the district with some tough choices for the next round of budget cuts, given that personnel costs account for 89 percent of the annual $2.1 billion operating budget.

The state requires public school districts to provide a minimum 180-day school year, up to five days of which can be used for professional development. Currently the district sets aside four days for professional development at the elementary and middle schools; the high schools use an extra day for proficiency testing.

Each day eliminated from the professional development calendar would equal a half-percent toward trimming the equivalent cost of a 6 percent reduction in teacher salaries, said Clark County Schools Superintendent Walt Rulffes.

And reducing professional development isn’t the only “next step” being considered.

The May 1 economic forum is expected to give a clearer picture of the state’s financial status, but that doesn’t mean the outlook will improve, said Joyce Haldeman, associate superintendent of community and government relations for the Clark County School District.

That’s why the district is preparing for the likelihood that “significant additional reductions will be demanded by the Legislature. That means “looking at things we never would have considered a year ago,” Haldeman said, such as increasing class sizes in the lower grades.

She has also asked staff to prepare a presentation for the Bond Oversight Committee, which keeps tabs on the district’s capital construction program, outlining scenarios for delaying the opening of six schools that are supposed to launch in August. Canceling the four remaining elementary schools funded by the 1998 bond measure, which have not yet gone out to bid, is also a possibility, Haldeman said.

•••

Two Clark County students have been named Gates Millennium Scholars by one of the nation’s most competitive — and generous — minority scholarship programs.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation funds the scholarship program, which is now in its 10th year. Recipients are guaranteed tuition to the four-year college or university of their choice, as well as financial support to pursue graduate degrees.

This year’s Silver State winners are Jordan Dowell of Rancho High School, Merhawit Girmay of Southeast Career and Technical Academy and Carlos Garay of Galena High School in Reno.