Before Thursday’s CCSD School Board Meeting even started, a rally took place outside of the building from teachers demanding health insurance funding reform.

“In the last week, I’ve gotten several claims in the mail that have not been paid,” Rebecca Krshul, a teacher at Spring Valley High School, said during the rally. “They basically told me, ‘There are thousands of teacher claims that have been denied. You’re just going to have to be patient.’ Don’t tell me just to be patient. I need more than that.”

The increase in medical claims since the pandemic started has surpassed the funding Teachers Health Trust, the health insurance provided to CCSD teachers and dependents, is able to pay. 

“We are in the classroom with children who may be sick because they need to be in school; they need to be fed,” Sunrise Mountain High School foreign language teacher Elizabeth Adler said. “They need a safe environment, if only for seven hours a day. We are risking our health and now we have to consider if we even have coverage to see a doctor.”

Many teachers are blaming CCSD Superintendent Dr. Jesus Jara for the problems occurring with the trust. 

“[Jara] doesn’t want to fund our health insurance, pay our step increases, pay our column advances and treat us fairly,” Dan Price, a C.T.E teacher at Sunrise Mountain High School, said. “These issues need to be resolved before you begin losing more teachers at a time you can’t afford to. CCSD has to come back to the table and bargain fairly and equitably.”

Clack County Education Association’s, the largest educators’ union in Nevada, Executive Director John Vellardita criticized the issue and shared a presentation on the funding deficit. 

“I do strongly believe the board in the past did not have strong oversight over how to trust was being managed by the previous CEO,” Vellardita said. “I think I shared earlier with you, the board’s expertise is teaching, right? And that’s why we’re going to make a strong structural change to bring health care experts and people with financial acumen on the board. Otherwise, that board is vulnerable and dependent, just as you are, to administration as to what is being presented to them.”

Friday morning CCSD released a statement saying the burden of health care payment shouldn’t fall on employees. An official statement has not been made by CCEA.

“CCSD teachers deserve an effective, functioning health plan that provides for them and their families. If teachers are worried about their health coverage and whether their health needs will be covered, then they are unfairly burdened by the inadequate coverage purportedly provided under the THT plan. Teachers should not be rejected by health providers because the provider has no confidence that payment will occur for services rendered.”