Thank you for being one of the first 100 individuals to sign onto this petition!

After speaking with several people at the NVDOE, it’s become apparent that they do not care.

They do not care that an arbitrary provision could prevent good teachers from continuing to teach here.

Our next step is to spread the word. I’m a full time teacher and part time organizer, I cannot do it alone. I need your help. The public will empathize with our cause, once they’ve been exposed to the reality. Let’s increase these petition numbers together. 

I want to share my story with you, in hopes that you will use your own story to spread this petition to your social, personal, and professional circles:

They do not care that medical bills and student loans don’t seem to match up with a stagnated salary.

And after asking for an extension and offering to show bank statement I heard nothing.

Until an email showed up weeks later. The automated response from NVDOE read:

“Dear Jeffrey Jones, your license will expire in 150 days unless all provisions are removed...”

The provision? A 500+ dollar course on parental involvement that I already took in undergrad. It has to be taken again, because it’s the law that it be retaken in Nevada.

I’ve got stellar survey results from both parents and students. Three years worth of them here and several prior from NM, AZ, and PA. I want to see proof that this course will further me professionally. I want to invest in my national board certification, not this class I already took. They do not care.

I was chosen as part of the school turnaround pilot program here in Las Vegas, accepting longer hours at a hard to staff middle school for a modest bonus. I made them aware that my budget would allow me to take the course this fall due to that bonus. That five surgeries and several months of lost income after getting into a motorcycle accident on my way to work last year made it impossible for me to afford the course until then. That growing up working class meant that I had to take out loans to become a teacher. Loans that a teachers salary doesn't seem to put a dent in.

They do not care.

If you’re a teacher who has struggled to budget for this course, or know one, please share your story. 

Until we demand better from our legislators and bureaucracies, they won’t care. 

With Love,
Jeffrey Jones