An exterior view of the Clark County School District administrative offices Tuesday, March 29, 2022.
Tuesday, Sept. 5, 2023 | 5:32 p.m.
The Clark County School District canceled classes Tuesday at a Henderson elementary school because there weren’t enough teachers to fill all of the classrooms.
Officials at Gibson Elementary School, located in Green Valley, alerted parents of the cancellation in the morning before school was scheduled to begin.
“Please do not send your children to campus today,” wrote Principal Jill Keith. “There are an unexpected number of licensed staff/teachers absent from school today and we have made the difficult decision to not have school today. We appreciate your understanding and apologize for the inconvenience.”
The district did not immediately say how many teachers called out, or how many are employed at Gibson Elementary, or when the district had last canceled a day of school for lack of teachers. Gibson had an enrollment of about 470 students in prekindergarten through fifth grade as of late last school year.
The city of Henderson opened the Silver Springs Recreation Center, which is across the street from the school, for child care. As of about 10:30 a.m., a center staff member said no Gibson students had dropped in.
The rest of CCSD’s roughly 360 schools appeared to be open as expected Tuesday, the first day of classes after the three-day Labor Day holiday weekend.
On Friday, Southeast Career & Technical Academy — which is about 3 miles from Gibson Elementary — sent out a notice to parents that “an unexpected number” of teachers were absent that day and “in an effort to ensure student safety and adult supervision, students in the impacted classes are being relocated to larger areas of the campus to continue instructional activities.”
The top-ranked magnet high school, which sits on the Henderson-Las Vegas line, enrolls about 2,000 students from around Clark County.
The Clark County Education Association, which has been locked in battle with CCSD for a new contract that the union wants to include substantial across-the-board and specialized raises for teachers, has not responded to the Sun’s repeated requests for comment on behalf of its members. Its social media postings Tuesday afternoon included promotions of multiple planned rallies this week pushing for CCSD to settle a contract, without referencing the Gibson cancellation.
The School District sued the teachers union last month, citing comments made by union members and leadership the district interpreted as credible threats to strike. Union leaders and members had said “work actions,” as its executive director has phrased them, were possible if the union did not have a new contract by Aug. 26.
Strikes by government employees, including public school teachers, are illegal in Nevada. The law defines “strike” broadly to include work stoppages, slowdowns, sickouts and interference with operations. Employers may also request courts to prevent threatened strikes.
In a Aug. 22 hearing,a Clark County District judge said she found the union executive director’s comments “concerning” but stopped short of issuing the injunction CCSD had sought against CCEA, saying she didn’t have enough information to do so.
Judge Jessica Peterson, in issuing her ruling, did offer this warning: “I will … make it known to both sides 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.”
CCSD alluded to the union in a statement Tuesday.
“We are concerned about the licensed personnel attendance rate and the disruption to students’ education at Gibson Elementary School today. We reiterate that CCSD students should not be used as bargaining leverage by CCEA or its members,” the district said. “CCSD thanks the City of Henderson for showing up for kids and opening the Silver Springs Recreation Center for our Gibson Elementary School families.”
The district also said Tuesday that it was open to continuing negotiations with the union.
“CCSD remains eager to get back to the bargaining table and has been waiting since the last session on Aug. 18 for CCEA to respond with dates,” it added.
As for Gibson Elementary, Keith sent out this follow-up message later Tuesday:
“I want to thank our families for their patience and support through this morning’s sudden changes. At this time, we are planning to resume classes tomorrow, Wednesday, September 6th, 2023, as scheduled. If there are any changes to our plans we will communicate information with families as soon as possible.”
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