School district receives funding for NELC

The Churchill County School District will receive funding to operate the Northside Early Learning Center for 100 4-year-old students, reports Derild Parsons, director of Special Services.

Parsons, who spoke at the June 26 Churchill County School Board meeting, said the funding is offered through the Nevada Ready program. He added the maximum number of fully funded seats for Churchill County comes in at $645,750. The funding is tied to the number of eligible students from Dec. 1, 2018. Funding is offered from Nevada Ready! State Pre-Kindergarten (NR!PK) Education Program.

Based on four proposals, trustees approved the fourth option, which would not add any additional costs to the general budget, and to begin recalling staff.

Dan Slentz of Oasis Online said the school district has asked Oasis to take a $54,060 decrease in its technology service contract due to the loss of a grant funded position at the middle school.

“We want to make it clear; this position has been invaluable due to the 54% increase in workload we have experienced over the past 5 years,” Slentz told trustees.

He reviewed last year’s activity and how it has led to the increase in workload. Trustees approved a contract for $429,012 annually for the period from July 1, 2019, through June 30, 2024.

Lisa Bliss, assessment and data coordinator, reported on the spring MAPS test results. She said the number of students in kindergarten through eighth grade making typical growth in mathematics in 2018-2019 is significant, especially in the primary grades.

She said grades 4-5 are achieving similar to national averages. The gaps widen when comparing middle school achievement with both national averages and SBAC targets. Additionally, Bliss said K-3 is outperforming and/or keeping up with the national averages and Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC) targets.

Based on the results, she said the district can support students and staff by implanting a district-wide partnership between the teacher and the student and move every student through the instructional process to reach mastery of the knowledge and skills that have been identified as pertinent for them to learn.

Again, the increase in percent of students that made typical growth in reading and English as a Second Language in 2018-2019 is significant and, for reading, Bliss said it’s more consistent across grade levels.

She said the goal is for all students to make typical growth. The Learner Centered Framework is designed to support the school district in achieving this goal.

Bliss said six of eight grades are outperforming the national average. Furthermore, the SBAC target exceeds the national average across the grade levels in MAP Reading.

In English language arts, she said SBAC proficiency rates align with what the district sees in the MAP data.

Bliss said students are growing academically, but many students are not achieving to a level of proficient on the state assessments.

Trustees approved an amendment to this contract with Chartwells, which provides food services to the district. Phyllys Dowd, director of Business Services, said the contract includes a per meal rate increase of 7 cents for the next school year. She said in her letter to trustees the per meal increase is estimated at $21,600 for the year. In exchange for the price increase, Dowd said Chartwells has committed to decreasing the guarantee. The guarantee for 2018-2019 was $267,481; for next year it will be $129,919.

“That means if the district suffers a loss greater than that amount, they will reimburse the district the difference,” she wrote. “Chartwells intends to increase the number of meals served to meet its obligation on the guarantee. The increased meals served will generate more revenue for the district.”

Dowd said the contract does not include any changes to the elementary breakfast program.