Trustees select Derild Parsons as superintendent

A longtime Fallon educator was unanimously selected Saturday by the Churchill County School Board trustees as their choice for superintendent.

W. Derild Parsons and the school district will now go into contract negotiations. He began his career in the Churchill County School District in 2000 and has served as director of Learning and Innovation since 2020. Before that, he was director of Special Services for four years.

The school district began the search in February. Summer Stephens, who has been superintendent since 2018, announced she was resigning and moving back to her home state of Nebraska. Her resignation is effective June 30. Earlier this year, Stephens was named Nevada’s Superintendent of the Year.

Once the announcement was made and later posted on the Lahontan Valley News website and Facebook page, local reaction and comments were in support of Parsons’ selection.

In addition to talking to Parsons, trustees also interviewed Blake Cooper, principal of Fernley Intermediate School; Brandon Moeller, director of the Equity and Diversity Education Department for Clark County School District in Las Vegas; and Tim Spencer, principal of Churchill County High School. Board trustees also contacted references via telephone.

A district tour Friday allowed each candidate to visit every school and the administrative offices. In the afternoon a forum allowed the public to ask questions will each candidate having an opportunity to answer. Trustees praised the candidates for their demeanor, professionalism and good rapport with staff and students.

Final board interviews were conducted during public meetings with Spencer and Cooper on Friday evening and Moeller and Parsons on Saturday morning.

In this second round, each candidate had 40 minutes to answer the same set of 10 questions. Each candidate decided how he wanted to manage his time.

Cooper had several takeaways from the district tour day.

“I really enjoyed meeting the incredible, hardworking staff you have here,” he said.

Cooper said he felt the separated grades system may need to be re-evaluated. In the meantime, he said the process of transition and communication between the schools needed “cleaning up” to prevent students falling through the cracks.

Cooper addressed the board’s concerns about his lack of experience by saying he would be honored to serve.

“I’m the person for the job,” he said. “There’s no way to learn this position unless you’re in it.”

Spencer said during his interview lessons learned can be applied to future endeavors.

“I don’t think anything is ever 100% a failure,” he said.

Spencer felt he had strong plans for academics and social/emotional support for students and staff but added strategic budgeting and interaction with some groups may pose challenges for him.

In these cases, he said his preferred leadership style is to listen and delegate to others.

“I don’t know anybody who knows everything,” he said. “I’m open to ideas and strategies that are not my own.”

Moeller said building relationships would be the strongest asset he would bring to the role of superintendent. He said networking is important because “you can’t do it alone.”

As for his strengths, Moeller listed his organizational skills and his ability to form community and business partnerships. He also emphasized the importance of helping students to build 21st-century skills including critical thinking, collaboration and problem solving.

He prefers to get input from those affected by a new project and then delegate.

“I’d rather be accurate and precise than quick and wrong,” he said.

After the interviews were completed, the board discussed next steps with Superintendent Search Consultant Greg McKenzie via webchat.

Cooper is currently the principal at FIS where Board President Tricia Strasdin is a teacher. Throughout the hiring process Strasdin abstained from any discussion and voting in which Cooper was directly involved due to possible conflict of interest.

McKenzie led the six remaining trustees through creating a chart and asked each of them to pick their top three candidates in no particular order. Parsons received six votes and each of the other candidates received four votes.

A discussion followed, during which Moeller was eliminated from the running. The board did not feel he was a good fit for the district, in part because of some doubt that he could successfully transition to a budget designed for a rural school district from the larger district budget of Clark County.

Cooper was removed next from the list with comments from the board that while he certainly has the enthusiasm and vision, he lacks experience.

Strasdin was then allowed to participate as the conflict of interest was no longer an issue. She added to her colleagues' comments saying she had worked with Spencer and Parsons on a limited basis and thought that they had each done a good job.

The board’s positive comments about Spencer included praise for his innovation, positive staff feedback, his leadership experience and that he has embraced Fallon as his home since moving from Ohio in 2021.

Ultimately, Parsons' 20-plus years of hard work and dedication in Churchill County won out over the other candidates.

Based on his answers and feedback from the school board, Parsons has cultivated relationships throughout CCSD, the surrounding districts and within the Department of Education. Trustees also learned he holds a proven budgeting track record, successful funding of programs through grant writing and has participated in mentorship opportunities from Stephens.

When asked how he sees the board/superintendent relationship, Parsons said he feels the board sets the policies and regulations while the superintendent oversees the day-to-day operations to implement them.

During the discussion that followed the interviews, Acting Clerk Kathryn Whitaker and Clerk Amber Getto said as Parsons had answered his questions, they felt strongly they were looking at the next superintendent. After the trustees’ announcement, Parsons addressed the board.

“I want to say thank you. I appreciate the opportunity and all of those that are involved in this process, too,” he said. “Lots of great things have happened. I have listened and I have learned throughout this process. I know the information that I have is going to help us move this work forward and get us where we need to be and meet those goals. I’m excited to be moving forward. And now the work begins.”