Hillary Davis
John Vellardita, executive director of the Clark County Education Association, leads a rally Monday, Feb. 6, 2023, outside the Grant Sawyer State Office Building in Las Vegas. Members of the state’s largest teachers union rallied for increased funding for Nevada public schools on what was the first day of the Nevada Legislature’s 2023 session.
Thursday, Sept. 7, 2023 | 2 a.m.
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We are at a time when record gains can be achieved for public school teachers as both political and public determination to improve education and teacher pay are sky high. All of that appears at risk because of reckless behavior by the leadership of the largest teachers union and their apparent determination to turn the public against teachers.
It’s a tragedy unfolding before our eyes and the teachers of Clark County should take notice.
The Clark County Education Association’s (CCEA) leadership, Executive Director John Vellardita and the CCEA executive board, aren’t fighting for the teachers they’re supposed to represent. They’re gambling with their members’ livelihoods, playing a high-stakes game of poker with their members’ money and futures.
It’s understandable that many teachers haven’t noticed or accepted this reality yet. After all, most teachers are too busy getting the school year started and doing everything they can to serve our children to notice that their own union leadership has gone off the rails.
Teachers already have one of the most difficult jobs in our society.
They assume short-term responsibility for the safety and well-being of our children five days a week while simultaneously assuming long-term responsibility for our children’s education and future opportunities. And unlike so many private schools, public schools serve any child, regardless of their physical or mental status, identity or family income.
It’s not like society has made it any easier for them either. Our teachers are overworked, underpaid, underappreciated and too often disrespected by the parents of the very children to whom they devote their lives. In recent years, the extremist fringe of the nation’s political right wing has even launched coordinated attacks accusing teachers of being pedophiles and groomers for nothing more than being respectful of a child’s identity.
If all that weren’t enough, now they must deal with union bosses who are more interested in serving their own interests than those of the teachers they’re supposed to represent.
Vellardita and the CCEA have left thousands of public schoolteachers, who want simply to be fairly compensated for their hard work, isolated from their allies and pressured to engage in illegal tactics.
Consider that CCEA’s failed leadership has already alienated their members from two of the largest education-oriented unions in the county: the Clark County Association of School Administrators and Professional-Technical Employees, and the Education Support Employees Association.
Both unions issued statements recently accusing CCEA leadership of making “false, misleading and disparaging public statements meant to divide educators, support professionals and administrators instead of working toward our common goal of educating students.” Instead of issuing a statement of support for their fellow workers, both unions were forced to “respectfully request that the CCEA rhetoric, intended to denigrate colleagues from other CCSD bargaining groups, immediately come to an end.”
This is nothing new for Vellardita, who in past leadership posts in California was credibly accused of rendering an entire union as “unmanageable.” This editorial board is pro-union, but we draw the line at chaos agents like Vellardita and the executive board supporting him. Our teachers and our community deserve better than this.
And now, with recent “work actions” by teachers at Southeast Career & Technical Academy and Gibson Elementary School in Green Valley, CCEA’s failed leadership is risking alienating parents and imposing penalties on teachers.
On Friday, Southeast Career & Technical Academy was forced to relocate students to larger areas of the campus to receive large-group instruction after “an unexpected number” of teachers were absent.
Then, on Tuesday, classes were canceled at Gibson Elementary School because there weren’t enough teachers to fill all the classrooms.
For Vellardita, these are negotiating tactics that he describes as “work actions.” But for the teachers who intentionally called out of work, they are strikes, and they are illegal.
Under Nevada law, strikes include work stoppages, slowdowns, sickouts and any other substantial interference with operations.
Vellardita and the CCEA board are toying with the lives of already underpaid and underappreciated teachers who may now face fines, dismissal or even jail time.
The courts have already warned CCEA against striking. After denying the Clark County School District’s request for an injunction against strike-organizing activities by CCEA, Judge Jessica Peterson warned both parties that “if something were to happen, the court would entertain on a one-day notice, on an order-shortening time, to get back into court very quickly.”
That’s not an idle threat from a court with a months-long backlog. It’s a promise that Peterson is not playing around and will not waste time taking action against a strike.
But it’s also the sad culmination of bad-faith negotiating tactics by Vellardita and other CCEA leaders.
CCSD appears to want a pay formula that more heavily rewards education, training and experience while CCEA just wants a blanket percentage pay increase irrespective of the accomplishments and dedication of the teacher.
The vast majority of teachers dedicate their lives to their students and are the backbones of building strong communities. They deserve to be rewarded for this dedication and effort.
But for a parent who is forced to watch their child miss out on educational opportunities and instructional days, or even worse, forced to leave their child at home alone due to a lack of immediate child care, the “work actions” appear selfish and greedy. They appear as if teachers are willing to sacrifice students for their own personal financial gain.
For most teachers, nothing could be further from the truth. But appearances matter, as do the impacts of “work actions” on the lives of parents and children. Teachers should demand an end to the strikes and the ouster of those in CCEA’s leadership who organized them.
