Wednesday, Sept. 13, 2023 | 8:58 a.m.
Another Clark County School District campus closed today because of a high number of teachers calling out sick.
Newton Elementary in Henderson did not have enough staff to open today, the district said. A CCSD spokesman said 71% of the school’s teachers had called out sick as of 8 a.m.
The cancelation was announced hours before CCSD and the Clark County Education Association were set for an emergency court hearing over the district’s motion to stop what it says is an illegal, rolling strike.
Since Sept. 1, eight schools have closed for a single day because of a lack of staffing. At least two have stayed open with reduced staffing.
CCSD argued in court papers that the absences are coordinated sickouts, and whether CCEA directly organized them, the union must be held responsible for them.
CCEA said there was no evidence tying them to the disruptions.
The district, however, revised its motion Tuesday to include an anonymous whistleblower complaint tying the union to one of the closures.
An email included with the revised motion, came from someone who identified themselves as a teacher at Southwest Career and Technical Academy high school. The teacher accused another SWCTA teacherwho is a CCEA member of organizing a mass absence.
The accusing teacher included screenshots of messages sent to teachers’ nondistrict email accounts as evidence that their colleague orchestrated the incident.
State law considers sickouts to be strikes, which are illegal for government employees in Nevada.
CCSD and CCEA have been stuck for months in bitter negotiations for a new two-year teacher contract.
The district declared an impasse on Tuesday after 11 bargaining sessions failed to produce a compromise. The contract matter will now go to arbitration.
CCSD said its most recent offer included across-the-board pay raises of 11% over two years, while CCEA held firm on its demand for 18% raises.
Both sides have also suggested differentiated pay increases for special education and “hard to fill” positions, among other compensation adjustments. CCSD has also offered to reclassify some teachers on a new pay scale based on revised education and experience metrics.
Today’s strike injunction hearing is set to begin at 11 a.m. at the Regional Justice Center in downtown Las Vegas.
