School trustees on Tuesday received an update from consultants at Performance Fact on the ongoing Washoe County School District Strategic Plan, including specific goals and steps for implementation.  

The plan’s advancement was approved in June despite initially lacking strategies or steps for goal achievement. During Tuesday’s meeting, Mutiu Fagbayi, president of Performance Fact, referred to the previously approved plan as the “bone structure” outlining the plan’s focuses. 

Superintendent Susan Enfield said this strategic plan is something other than what staff or the community might be used to. 

“It’s very focused, it’s very bold, but I would argue no bolder than our children deserve,” Enfield said.

Enfield said she also presented the plan to the Sparks City Council the night before and received a favorable response. 

“They said, ‘It’s nothing we’ve ever seen before, but we’re excited, we’re inspired, and we’re looking forward to partnering with you.’” 

While work is ongoing within the plan, the trustees’ discussion focused on the “excellence targets” and how these goals would be met.  The excellence targets, detailing student achievement expectations, are as follows: 

• At least 75% of students are proficient in English language arts and mathematics by the end of grade 3
• 100% of students have opportunities to explore their interests through participation in clubs, activities, athletics and internships
• 100% of students say they are known by name, strength and need in their school
• At least 75% of students in grades 4-8 meet or exceed standards in English language arts, mathematics and science 
• At least 19 out of every 20 students participate in dual credit, Advanced Placement (AP), International Baccalaureate (IB) or career and technical education (CTE) pathways, including the Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (JROTC). 
• Every graduate completes a post-graduation plan

The plan details steps the district will take to reach the excellence targets. For example, to achieve the first goal of English and math proficiency by third grade, the plan states the district will implement an aligned P-3 strategy, build a county-wide network of early learning programs, and launch Kindergarten Jumpstart district-wide. 

Before the pandemic, Washoe County students had a 45.3% English proficiency rate by grade 3, or 9 out of every 20 students, consistent with state standards. Post-pandemic, the percentage rebounded to 44% during the 2021-22 school year. 

“We want to go from nine [students] to 15 in three years,” Fagbayi said. “It’s very bold, very aggressive and very aspirational … but we think we can pull it off.” 

Similarly, 48.2% of students meet math standards in Washoe County by grade 3, which also aligns with state standards. 

Enfield emphasized reaching toward bigger goals. 

“I’d rather aim high and fall short than aim low and fall shorter,” she said. “So let’s aim for that 75%, and if we get to 69, 68, yay. Then, we’ll regroup and figure out what we need to do more of. This is just the first three years of an ongoing, multi-year plan.” 

Steps to achieve other goals include developing student advisory councils at every school, increasing parental and community involvement opportunities, and increasing access to advanced coursework and dual-credit and CTE classes. 

These actions were also divided by cost in a secondary budget discussion, approved in a 7-0 vote by trustees. The June 27 meeting recommended allocating $10 million for the strategic plan. 

The budget was further broken into categories: 

• Strong Start for Every Child: $1.4 million
• Student Voice & Advocacy: $1.4 million
• Safety & Belonging: $2.3 million
• Academic Growth & Achievement: $1.6 million
• Empowering All Learnings for Their Future: $1.6 million
• Districtwide Supports: $1.6 million 

Enfield noted these preliminary estimates will be refined as the work progresses. 

Fagbayi said that setting goals is essential, but the district must work to complete those goals. 

The plan also includes a Roadmap for Disciplined Implementation, outlining monitoring methods for the plan’s progress, ranging from weekly checks to amending the strategic plan every 3-6 years. 

Trustee Jeff Church said district and state statistics are “dismal,” including chronic absenteeism. He has returned to the issue several times since his election to the board.  

Chronic absenteeism is defined as missing 10% or more of the school year, equaling as few as two absences per month for the nine-month school year. Schools with the highest rates of chronic absenteeism are high schools. 

However, no data is provided on what the absences are caused by, including the district’s mitigation plan for COVID-19, which still has restrictions to keep students at home when exposed or testing positive. 

Church also said the number of “one star” schools increased from nine in 2018 to 34, which he called “extremely troubling.” 

The star rating system is a Nevada Department of Education performance measure that rates schools based on various factors. A count of one-star schools on the DOE’s website reveals WCSD has 35. It has 27 four- and five-star schools. 

Church also said that until the district deals with discipline problems, drugs on campus, parental involvement and chronic absenteeism, the district would “simply be rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic.”

Enfield agreed that the district is not where it should be but that the statistics are consequences of being underfunded for “a very long time.” 

“We are making up for a lot of lost ground,” Enfield said. “I will own the fact that we need to improve, but we also know how we got here, and I think we need to remind ourselves of that, too.”

Trustees recognize Hispanic Heritage Month 

WCSD joined districts nationwide in recognizing Hispanic Heritage Month through Oct. 15. 

To help celebrate, students from the Hug High School Latino Club attended the meeting and presented their efforts to promote cultural appreciation and inclusivity at their school. 

Ivana Tomeyo Rodriguez, the creator of the Hug High club, is a senior at the school. She said their campus lacked cultural appreciation and wanted to change the environment to become “inclusive and vibrant where everyone would feel welcomed in.” 

“I’ve noticed that a lot of us have much in common, but we don’t necessarily notice that because we don’t have much interaction outside of school or between [classes],” Tomeyo said. “We all kind of have the same drive and desire to see the same outcome within our school: appreciation and support.” 

Illiana Ramirez is a junior at Hug, and she said she heard throughout her campus that students felt they needed help finding their group. 

“Being part of the Latino club, I would love to help students feel at home, and I want to be part of the change,” Ramirez said. “I want to make sure that students at my school want to be excited to get to school.” 

Scarlet Castillo Marquez, a senior at Hug, said that Latinos make up the majority of the school, and being part of the Latino club allows her to give voice to other students who fear speaking up. 

Amy Martinez Trujillo is a senior at Hug, and this is her second year at the school after transferring from Wooster. She said that because of the club, she feels more included in school life in a way she never felt at her previous school. 

“There’s a lot of people that share the same story immigration-wise that I get to connect with,” Martinez said. 

Future club events include a Día de los Muertos celebration with UNR and an end-of-the-year fiesta. 

Trustee Joe Rodriguez spoke about his family’s history, watching his parents struggle for his benefit and how excited he was to see where the next generation of Latinos would go. 

“This generation of Hispanics and Latinos are upcoming,” he said. “I want to encourage you guys to continue to grow and educate yourselves and be the future leaders. Nevada has a lot of firsts—our first Latino governor with Brian Sandoval, and the first [Latino] Nevada Secretary of State, Cisco Aguilar. We’re finally starting to be represented, but we can still do better. Our county is growing, and I’d like to see our culture be represented properly.” 

Trustee Alex Woodley also shared his family’s history with immigration, his pursuit of education, and his pride in the students from the club coming before trustees. 

“I’m really happy to see you guys here, to see you come up and speak; it takes a lot of courage, especially when you’re in the minority,” Woodley said. “When you don’t feel you’re in the majority, there’s a lot of intimidation. I sometimes find myself to be the only brown chocolate chip in meetings, and the only thing that I will ask of you is to help me ensure in the future there is more than one chocolate chip at these meetings that make decisions and change people’s lives sitting at the table.”

The proclamation can be found in English and Spanish.

Other items

– Trustees approved a declaration of intent to dispose of surplus property in a public auction. Equipment and vehicle auctions are held twice a year to dispose of surplus property. The list of items and vehicles can be found here. 

– Trustees approved the purchase of 84 replacement school bus camera systems for $250,000 through a TIPS-USA national joinder contract. The cameras will replace technology from 2009. 

– Trustees approved the purchase of 1,321 student laptops using $500,000 in grant funding. 

– High School Basketball Official fees were approved for the 2023-24 school year for $100,000 with the Northern Nevada Basketball Officials Association. Funds will pay for all 11 high school basketball official fees for the year. This is an increase from the $85,000 spent last year but on par with the $99,000 spent in 2021-22. Payment to the association is based on the number of games schools have calendared at the beginning of the basketball season. Officials are paid weekly. 

– The purchase of Promethean classroom Activpanels was approved at six schools for an estimated $635,000 through a joinder contract from the Organization for Education Technology and Curriculum. This will include over 100 individual devices to be wall-mounted throughout each school.