School board: Trustees act on October agenda items

A regular meeting of the Churchill County Board of School Trustees was held Oct. 11.

• Trustees unanimously approved moving school board meetings to the third Wednesday of each month beginning in January.

• Next month’s meeting also was moved to Nov. 15 in an unrelated vote.

• The board was notified that the Chartwells director of Dining Services has changed from Greg Sanders to Amber Scholl. Scholl has spent 20 years in food service and said she will always put the students first. She also said that supply chain issues are decreasing so more menu variety will be possible.

• Comptroller Christy Fielding said that the district financial audit is well underway and that she felt confident the recent salary increase for the licensed positions will be updated in the system for the next pay period.

• The board approved for the “Principles of Health Science” course through the Emergency Medical Technicians (EMT) Program to be accepted as ½-credit health and ½-credit elective upon approval by the State Board of Education. Some discussion about whether parent permission should be required for the course was set aside as that was not the item on the agenda.

• Assistant Superintendent Stacey Cooper provided an update to discipline law, data reporting requirements and restorative justice since the initial discussion at the July meeting. A first reading of the General Student Conduct and Student Discipline policy draft changes were included. Cooper also said that Infinite Campus program adjustments and user training has been underway and will continue so that collected student data will be useful and accurate.

• Early discussion began on whether to release some of the district’s debt services money back to the Debt Management Commission as a reliable stream of income to fund the Fallon Youth Club (FYC). FYC is currently funded by grants.

Fielding and Board President Tricia Strasdin explained part of the school district’s process by which debt is allocated in the county, including the school district’s portion, and the processes used by the Debt Management Commission. Strasdin asked the trustees to continue learning about the process in preparation for further discussion at the next meeting.

• Acting Clerk Kathryn Whitaker said the Executive Committee interviewed two Public Policy representative candidates and selected one to recommend for hire.

• Board member Gregg Malkovich asked for a future agenda item to detail what the district is doing to encourage newly hired staff to become long-term hires.