Hot Topics for the Regular Board of Trustees for 9/13/22
We want to help you better understand the upcoming issues the WCSD Board of Trustees will be discussing this week. Take a minute to review these agenda items so that you are prepared to submit a public comment or attend the meeting and make a public comment.
There are 30 Consent Agenda Items.
After 30 Consent Agenda items, we are left with only two items on the agenda to be discussed, while the items attached to the WCSD consent agenda total $6.13 million in spending. We do hope to see some discussion as to if the money is well spent.
Agenda Items to be discussed:
1) What will be the new name for the renovated athletic field at Incline High School?
2) Presentation to update the Board on the Critical Labor Shortage in the Transportation department.
Consent Agenda Items:
2.04 $2.2 million - 1 year contract with Model Dairy
How is the District spending this much money on a contract with Model Diary when the federal government is paying for WCSD students’ lunches for the 2022-2023 School Year?
All this money comes to the District from the federal government with strings attached, “Whoever is awarded the grant money is expected to deliver a sub-grant to a public or private group for equity research”.
Money seems to be flowing everywhere except toward how to provide a solid education, and hire teachers and bus drivers. Maybe even lowering the teacher to student ratio in classrooms? A repeated request of teachers for decades, and rightfully so.
2.05 $121K - Emergency Radios (5 schools)
2.06 $818K - Single Point Entry at 7 schools: Cannan, Corbett, Lemmon Valley, Lincoln Park, Risley, Smithridge, and Veterans Memorial Elementary Schools
2.07 $647K - Single Point Entry at 5 schools: Booth, Duncan, Hunter Lake, Echo Loder and Maxwell Elementary Schools
Regarding both 2.06 and 2.07, these proposals are to “improve” the single point of entry at these locations, all of which were completed just 3 years ago. In 2019, a Kolo 8 reporter met with Chief Facilities Management Officer, Adam Searcy, at Rita Cannan Elementary, one of the last schools to get the single point of entry upgrade. Searcy noted that all elementary schools would be completed by August 2019 for the start of the school year. Safety is absolutely a top concern; however, we once again ask if this is the best use of funds for Goal 4 (continuous improvement)? Have the fences and perimeters been checked at every elementary school? Are the gates locked appropriately? Are there areas to be repaired? With 12 schools getting improvements to the single point entry, it is imperative that we are making sure the entire perimeter is safe.
2.08 $404K - District wide HVAC repairs
2.09 $216K - Spanish Springs HS Football Scoreboard
2.10 $112K - Agreement with Food Bank of Northern Nevada (FBNN) and WCSD for cooks to prepare meals that FBNN provides and delivers to students participating in 21st Century Community Learning Centers/Team Up Programs.*
2.12 $114K - Purchase of Lexia Learning systems for ELL training and licensing.
It would be interesting to see the curriculum used as Lexia's homepage refers to progress toward educational equity in literacy. As well as improving instructional, cultural, and digital equity across the instructional core. https://www.lexialearning.com/resources/white-papers/expanding-educational-equity-in-no-uncertain-terms
2.13 $231K - Purchase of Ellevation Online licensing for teacher and administrative support for English Language Learners program.
Ellevation’s homepage touts efficiency and high quality instruction. We do hope this is exactly what our English Language Learners would receive. However, we do have concerns regarding the strong push for DEI, and hope it does not become the overarching focus. Excellent educational outcomes should always be forefront.
2.14 $2.3 million - Agreement with Paper Education Company for 40,000 online licenses for student tutoring.
CCSD signed an agreement with the same company in August, using federal ESSER funds. WCSD is contracting with Paper Education Company who has developed an online-chat based platform to provide students access to educators in order to obtain tutoring in connection with their course. Their blog discusses looking at learning through an equity lens. They talk about focusing on Black high school students sometimes experiencing microaggressions while working in groups so “schools and educators should recognize that Black students may experience collaboration and the classroom environment differently from non-Black students.” We hope all students have access to tutoring, regardless of race.
2.15 $1.4 million - Laptop Carts with electrical wiring to support the recent purchase of district laptops.
We must ask - Are laptop carts necessary? In the agenda material we are told they are the most efficient way to store and charge laptops. However, we can’t help but ask if this is a time where we could possibly think outside the box, especially with administrators claiming they need more money for per pupil funding? How many teachers and bus drivers could be hired for $1.4 million?
2.16 $128K - SRI International will review and revise WCSD Pre-K Standards Program to align with State Standards.
It seems SRI gives “key formative, summative and cost data-informed insights to support continuous improvement, accountability and decision making for delivering more effective preschool experiences.”
2.18 $286K - Addendum agreement with World Instructional Design and Assessment (WIDA) for academic assessment for English Language Learners (ELL).
Here is an excerpt from the WIDA Director, John Nordmeyer, to give an idea of the backdrop within which the ELL students will be learning. “As international teachers, we project our own preferences and biases onto our classroom. While each human shares the same fundamental traits, choosing whether or not to pay attention to particular dimensions of identity – language, race, sexual orientation, nationality or gender – that we associate with “others” can be a reflection of privilege (Capper and Frattura, 2015). In fact, if we do not recognize how privilege operates, it’s likely we’ve been members of a dominant group and therefore unwitting recipients of privilege. And I acknowledge as I write this – that as a white, cis-gender, able-bodied, English-speaking, heterosexual, male U.S. citizen – I’ve almost certainly received unearned privilege in many situations.”
Total WCSD Spending: $6.13 million
Presentation, Discussion and Action Items:
3.01 Discussion regarding the critical labor shortage in Transportation to be addressed.
The Update in the Agenda Materials nothing notable. Continued efforts are being made to obtain bus drivers.
3.02 Presentation, Discussion, and possible action to consider approval of naming the to be renovated athletic field at Incline High School, “RIDGELINE STADIUM,” and naming the building expansion at Incline High School, “THE DUFFIELD STUDENT CENTER,” in honor of the commitment to the school by the DAVE AND CHERYL DUFFIELD FOUNDATION (for possible action)