The Washoe County School Board of Trustees on Tuesday approved two associate chief of teaching positions and an assistant to the superintendent.
Superintendent Susan Enfield said the assistant position replaced a more expensive chief of staff position, which she has refrained from hiring.
“We are simply not providing the level of service that our students, family and staff deserve,” she said.
Trustees Jeff Church, Colleen Westlake and Diane Nicolet voted against the new positions. Nicolet said she would have preferred support staff and public safety positions.
“I do not argue with the need at all. The timing is not right,” Nicolet said.
Calen Evans, president of the Washoe Education Association, said the WEA approves of the hires and that he supports the superintendent.
“I 100% trust the judgment of our superintendent,” he said. “If our superintendent is telling us this is what she needs, then I’m going to trust in her, and she’s given me no other reason to think otherwise.”
Church questioned teacher shortages and the cost of the positions – about $450,000 a year, which include benefits, according to the meeting agenda.
Enflield said she sent 46 administrative positions – teachers on special assignment, or TOSAs – to the classroom last year.
Some of the TOSAs were critical of how that was handled.
“I am appalled that after years of service the TOSAs were notified via an email sent by a secretary that required opening an attachment titled ‘TOSA Guidance 2023-24 revised FINAL…’ a TOSA wrote in an email. “My issue is not with the ‘house cleaning’ or ‘restructuring’ it is with the way these individuals were treated from when the decision was made in July and purposely withheld until August 5th at 5:16 p.m….”
Enfield said they were sent into classrooms rather than working in administration after facing a teacher shortage. Most of the 56 were reassigned to classrooms.
“We knew that, facing a teacher shortfall, we needed to return them to the classroom,” she said. “The cost savings … was $4.1 million which we used to offset the fiscal hit that we took because of our declining enrollment.
“I just think it’s important to paint the whole picture that we have returned 45 central office positions … to our schools,” she added.
Church voted against the hires. He said he wanted to postpone the decision and that he did not have enough time to review the agenda item.
He spoke at public comment to the Washoe County Commission just before the school board meeting. He commented against Drag Queen Story Hour, calling it “biased.” He also called for a veterans story hour and law enforcement story hour.
Trustee Adam Mayberry said he did read the meeting materials and had enough information to make a decision.
The new hires were approved on a four-to-three vote.
