The Churchill County School Board decided at its Thursday meeting to move forward and partner with Western Nevada College to provide college courses to Churchill County High School juniors and seniors.
CCHS Principal Kevin Lords and Phyllys Dowd, director of Business Services for the district, presented data to the trustees that support the program.
Lords said research has been conducted to gauge programs within other counties where programs are already set up to see financially what they are covering for the students.
“What we have found is some districts are covering the full cost of tuition for the students,” Lords said. “And other districts’ students are paying $90 for the class and some even cover the cost of the text books.”
He said that all of the districts require the students to provide their own transportation.
Lords said the credits the students acquire from the program will transfer to the University of Nevada, Reno. He said about 70 students qualify for the program but not all of them will want to take part.
Trustee Gregory Koenig stressed to the board that a decision about this program could no longer be delayed.
“We’re running out of time here,” Koenig said. “A decision about this needs to be made now. Parents and students will be having a meeting about this in a week or so and they’ll need to start signing up for classes. In order for them to do that, they need to know what classes are available and what cost the district is going to cover.”
After further deliberation the board approved to enter into a program with WNC and to provide one half of the tuition cost.
Other items approved and/or discussed include the following:
Approved to retain E.H. Hursh as the district’s insurance broker for workers’ compensation and liability.
Approved to offer three scholarships to students at CCHS, one to a boy for $500, a girl for $500 and an at large scholarship to another student for $500.
Approved Resolution 14-01, authorizing the Superintendent or Director of Business Services to arrange for the sale $10 million in bonds and notify the Churchill County Debt Management Commission of the District’s proposal to issue bonds.
Deferred discussion on the minimum balance for the board’s contingency fund.
Deferred discussion requiring written or verbal reports from all employees who travel outside the district for training.
Approved to schedule open meeting training for the board by the state attorney general’s office.