| Washoe County School District | |
|---|---|
| Address | |
425 E. 9th Street Reno NV 89512 Northwest Nevada
Reno, Sparks , Washoe County, Nevada, Nevada, 89512 | |
| District information | |
| Type | Public |
| Motto | Every Child, By Name And Face, To Graduation |
| Grades | Pre-K-12 |
| President | Beth Smith [1] |
| Vice-president | Diane Nicolet[1] |
| Appointed | Susan Enfield |
| Governing agency | Independently Governed |
| Schools | 104 |
| Students and staff | |
| Students | 64,192 (2015)[2] |
| Teachers | 3,542 (2017)[2] |
| Staff | 272 (2015)[2] |
| Student–teacher ratio | 20.82 (2015)[2] |
| Other information | |
| Schedule | Balanced |
| Website | www |
The Washoe County School District (WCSD) is a public school district providing public education to students in all parts of Washoe County, Nevada, including the cities of Reno and Sparks, and the unincorporated communities of Verdi, Incline Village, Sun Valley and Gerlach.[3] The Washoe County School District is the second largest school district in Nevada with approximately 64,000 students enrolled in 96 schools.
A board of seven elected trustees governs the Washoe County School District. The current president of the WCSD Board of Trustees is Katy Simon Holland. The trustees appoint a superintendent to lead the district in day-to-day operations.
Superintendent Dr. Susan Enfield leads the Washoe County School District.[4]
The Superintendent, as Chief Executive Officer, oversees the day-to-day activities of the District. Dr. Enfield provides support to the School Board and the Washoe County School District by managing the Strategic Plan in accordance with established goals.
Dr. Seng-Dao Yang Keo is the district's Deputy Superintendent.
The WCSD currently has 66 elementary schools, a special education school, 16 middle schools, 13 comprehensive high schools, Truckee Meadows Community College High School, Innovations High School (a comprehensive high school of choice), Gerlach K-12, and the Academy of Arts, Careers and Technology.
In the WCSD, elementary schools typically include kindergarten through fifth grade, middle schools include sixth grade through eighth grade, and high schools include ninth grade through twelfth grade. The WCSD is currently working to move sixth grade students to middle school and anticipates doing so as soon as three planned new middle schools are constructed.[5]
Circa 2000 Natchez, in Wadsworth, had about 160 students with 94% being Native American.[6] Enrollment remained at the same level as of 2016. The school is on the Paiute Indian Reservation and is the only school in the district that is on a Native American reservation.[7] Holly O'Driscoll of the Nevada Living Magazine described it as "a small, older" facility.[6] In 2017 Siobhan McAndrew of the Reno Gazette Journal stated that historically Natchez had issues with academic performance but by 2017 had a new principal and newly-hired teachers. The district extensively renovated the school in summer 2017, spending $1.5 million to do so.[7]
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Main article: 2013 Sparks Middle School shooting |
A student opened fire at Sparks Middle School, a Washoe County School District school. Two students were critically injured, and a teacher was fatally shot while trying to intervene with the student. The gunman then committed suicide by shooting himself. Students from the school were evacuated and were placed at Sparks High School, where they held until they were picked up by their guardians.[8][9][10][11][12][13]