Board of Trustees Meeting Update

Karina Lucero is a senior who has been actively involved in academics, athletics, leadership, and extracurricular activities throughout high school. She has participated in cross country, volleyball, basketball, cheer, and track and is especially proud to have helped start the school’s first girls’ cross-country team.

Karina has participated in FBLA, SkillsUSA, NCRC, and National Honor Society. She currently serves as student body vice president and has served as class president for the past four years.

After graduation, Karina plans to attend college and pursue a career as a veterinarian or in a field working with animals and wildlife. Raised by a single immigrant mother who raised four children, Karina credits her mother’s strength and determination as an inspiration to work hard and pursue her goals.

Shelly Hester and Guadalupe Gonzalez reviewed a cross-curricular unit integrated into the high school English curriculum centered around a student field trip to a gravel mine in Hagerman, Idaho. The teaching team detailed how the site visit served as an anchor for multidisciplinary study, including corresponding coursework developed for the secondary science curriculum.

Principal Stormi McCarthy addressed the Board regarding the operational impact of the initiative. Stormi McCarthy noted that scheduling this hands-on project on a designated elementary early-release day directly contributed to secondary student retention, resulting in only four recorded absences across the junior high and high school grades that afternoon.

Additionally, Jackpot Combined School K–6 students presented an interdisciplinary project based on the The Three Little Pigs. The presentation highlighted how the unit connected reading, writing, mathematics, science, STEM, and art to foster student learning, creativity, and cross-grade collaboration.

The Board approved Brooke Ballard's attendance at the Annual Nevada Association of School Boards Conference in Las Vegas, NV. During previous meetings, the Board has also approved this travel for Jeff Durham, Susan Neal, and Adriana Stanfill.

Director of Buildings and Sites Matthew Stahlke presented an operational report detailing active, completed, and prospective capital facility projects across District sites. He reviewed active and recently completed projects including:

• Ongoing construction progress on the new Owyhee Combined School facility.

• Completion of the gymnasium roofing replacement at Wells Combined School.

• Ongoing boiler system upgrades at Elko High School and Grammar School #2.

• Completed stair restoration projects at Flag View Intermediate School, Mountain View Elementary School, and Spring Creek Elementary School.

• Completion of annual asphalt maintenance and sealing across Spring Creek High School, Spring Creek Middle School, and the Sage Annex

He also reviewed the status of projected projects for this spring. Matthew Stahlke reviewed the status of heating and cooling and roof evaluations occurring across the district.

Superintendent Clayton Anderson presented a monitoring report detailing District progress toward Strategic Plan Pillar Three and related Superintendent Goals. He discussed the formation of Superintendent Advisory Groups for parents and students as well as on the budget. He reviewed steps taken to fulfill other Pillar Three priorities including kindergarten readiness supports, coordination of Back-to-School events, partnerships to support student mental health supports, the development of a district committee to develop math scope and sequence documents, and much more.

Superintendent Clayton Anderson presented proposed revisions to Policy IHA (Academic Achievement: Grading System) for a first reading, noting that the policy will return for further consideration and potential Board action at a future meeting.

The Board discussed the proposed revisions and highlighted Policy IHA as a topic that they receive a lot of feedback about from parents and guardians. There was discussion regarding summative and formative assessments and the split as well as the procedure for grading. Superintendent Anderson stated that changes regarding grading would need to be reviewed by staff to gather feedback and suggested postponing those suggestions until the Spring.

Superintendent Clayton Anderson presented an informational report detailing the Elko County School District’s performance metrics and individual campus star ratings under the Nevada District Performance Framework (NDPF) and the Nevada School Performance Framework (NSPF).

He reviewed the components and indicators that make up the District's rating and provided action steps to address deficit areas. Clayton Anderson reviewed key indicator data from across the district in a three-year comparison and provided NSPF Star Ratings for all District campuses.

Following the presentation the Board had discussion and asked questions regarding the ratings, scoring, and action steps amongst many other topics.