The Churchill County School Board met in January to address several topics, including its regular administrative business, the school calendar, and staff shortages in bus drivers and substitute teachers. Videos of the school board meetings can now be accessed on the district website by going to Churchillcsd.com, choosing the Our District tab, and then Board Meetings.
Trustee Greg Malkovich was elected to serve as the Board President, with Tricia Strasdin chosen as Vice-President. Amber Getto will serve as Clerk, and Joe McFadden as Acting Clerk.
Personnel actions approved during the consent agenda included hiring one full-time position, two substitutes, and one bus driver substitute. Two coaches were hired, Tristan Adams for Varsity Volleyball, and after several public comments were made opposing and one in support, Macy Myers was hired as the Varsity Girl's Soccer coach. Resignations included Brooke Hill from Varsity Football, Chase Johnson from CTE as the head of the culinary arts, and bus driver Elaine Harris. Several retirements were listed, including Brenda and Keith Boone, Matt and Michelle Reibsman, Shelley Whitaker, Keith Lund, and Sharon Goudswaard.
During a regular agenda item, Lionel Cramer was hired as the Coordinator of Assessment and Data.
Superintendent Derild Parsons presented to the board regarding staffing the transportation department and a compensation comparison of the bus drivers' wages across the region. There are currently 18 bus routes and only 15 drivers with limited substitutes available, resulting in the route blackouts the district instituted on
January 8. Consequently, three to four routes each week do not run, based on a rolling four-week schedule.
Churchill County School District pays bus drivers $17.42 - $19.09 per hour with employee-paid PERS (Public Employees Retirement System) and benefits after 28 hours. Douglas County pays $16.23 - $18.79, Carson is $19.63 - $21.68, and Lyon is $16.89 - $21.86, all with employee-paid benefits after 25 hours. There are currently seven open positions available, and if they are fully staffed, the district could add routes and decrease the time students spend on the bus daily. The district is currently focused on filling the three vacant routes, conducting interviews, and hoping to fill those three positions within the month.
Trustees discussed the proposed 2024-25 school year calendar at length, considering the survey results presented by the calendar committee and comments submitted by parents, students, and staff. The survey presented three options: Option A - a four-day week; Option B, a modified 4-day week that allows for early out Fridays for students and professionals development on Friday afternoons; and Option C, a 5-day week. Option A and C would require professional development to be completed in a 90-minute block at the end of one of the school days.
Out of 253 staff members voting, 115 chose Option B, and the board approved Option B for the modified 4-day week. According to Parsons, there will still have to be some details worked through, but this option keeps all the hours for classified personnel. He also said none of the alternatives would have increased the length of the school day.
Parsons also addressed the substitute shortage with a proposal to raise the substitute rate by $15 and add a bonus structure to reward substitute teaching a certain number of days with a $10 to $20 per day bonus. Churchill pays $100 per day to subs, with Carson paying $126, Douglas $115, Elko $126, Lyon $110, and White Pine $129.
According to Parsons, when there are not enough subs to cover a position at the high school, other teachers are asked to cover classes during their prep periods, costing the district $50 for each teacher who covers a class. In this scenario, the total substitute teacher cost is $350 to cover the day.
The incentive proposal will be on the agenda for the next meeting when a financial impact analysis will also be presented.
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