Question:
Any Las Vegas residents out there? How do you like living there. I am trying to relocate and from what I understand Vegas is quite affordable. Hows the retail Market out there?
Can you give me your opinions or advice?
Answer:
You must not have kids to make that statement. Unless you can afford $8k-12k a year per child for preschool-8th grade, and $12k-20k per child per year for high school, you'll be stuck sending your kids to some of the worst schools in the country.
Interesting point on the teaching front... I had been a college professor for 9 years, and have run adult education centers for California Public Schools. I was requested and then submitted my resume to the Clark County School District. I got an email saying to go ahead and fill out the applications, and then was told since I wasn't credentialed in Nevada, I'd have to go back to college! Same woman emailed me twice saying in one letter, they needed people with my background and in the second letter that they weren't taking unsolicited resumes...This was after they had asked for my resume.
THEN I got an email saying that since I had two advanced degrees and a total of 12 years of teaching experience, I could just apply for the credentials. You have to submit a $100 application fee JUST to apply and then pay an additional $700 for the annual credential, if your application is approved. You aren't allowed to interview for a position without credentials, and unlike most states, Nevada does not have an emergency credentialling program.
Some of us want to teach because we want to teach, not for the rent money. The pay for the teachers is incredibly low, and the administrative staffs are still some of the higher paid out west. Go figure.
The system makes it so difficult for people who really want to teach to even get INTO the system. That's a big part of why the schools are lacking so many good folks. I've taught in California and New Mexico without this much back and forth contradictory information. Even after the credential process is started, it could take up to seven months to be approved, and that does not guarantee a position. There is a call for nearly 1000 new teaching positions for September, but if the process stays the way it is, there won't be time for anyone coming in from anywhere out of state after February to even get a Nevada credential, to even apply for the teaching jobs. It's really sad. The kids are the ones who lose out.
