School Board Rejects Early Retirement Incentives This Year

There will be no early retirement incentives offered to employees this school year, following the Churchill County School Board of Trustees’ rejection of the issue at its Sept. 17 meeting.

“Buyouts make no sense right now because we’re short employees,” said board president Gregg Malkovich. He said if the early retirements were granted, the board would end up hiring them back in the future due to a staffing shortage. The district has 16 open licensed positions, and nine open classified positions, as reported in the agenda packet.

The personnel policy regarding early retirement incentives outlines the eligibility requirements, incentive options and conditions. Typically, an employee with 20 years of service working for Churchill County School District can petition for early retirement. The incentive options include the district purchasing one year of retirement service credit, the employee purchasing additional retirement credit with unused sick leave, or exchanging either option for one year of health insurance.

Following the introduction of the agenda item, Malkovich said he would entertain comments from other board trustees, but he was looking for a motion not to approve early retirement incentives. Fellow board members agreed, and the motion passed unanimously.

In other business, the board heard a presentation on the LEAD program, a leadership development program for educators. Jennifer Gehant, teacher on special assignment, told the board this is a “grow your own” program intended to nurture teachers and employees wanting to move into administration or become “teacher leaders.” Gehant said the cohort includes teachers from all grade levels who interact weekly, letting them network with educators in different grade levels they normally don’t interact with. The group will meet 17 times during the year, and teachers can earn three professional development credits.

In his quarterly progress report, Parsons reported on the six goals he’s challenged with. His top three goals are to increase the graduation rate to 90 percent, to improve the attendance rate to 95 percent, and to decrease chronic absenteeism to 20 percent all by the end of the 2026-2027 year. He also shared that Churchill County High School rose to a three-star school through the Nevada School Performance Framework ratings, and while the middle school did not increase from a one-star rating, they are within striking distance of an increase.

The board of trustees also took action or heard the following agenda items:

• Enrollment data shows CCSD lost 68 elementary students over the summer but gained 37 middle school and high school students, ultimately down 31 students. Total student population is at 3,106 as of Sept. 2, which is a steady decline in numbers over the past three years.
• Human Resources reported that assignment letters and license contracts are being distributed for signatures. HR is also piloting a new teacher evaluation process.
• Budget updates, and notice of a retiring employee in the administration office
• The consent agenda included approval of the CCHS Track & Field holiday wreath fundraiser, a review of policies, and acceptance of a $10,000 donation from Gemini for STEM/CTE programs.
• A report on the safeTALK suicide prevention training in August. More trainings will continue until 100% of staff have been through the training.

The school board meets on the fourth Wednesday of the month at 5:30 p.m. at the Administration Building, 690 S. Maine Street.