Lyon school board candidates discuss CTE, parent involvement

Candidates for the Lyon County School Board are hoping to increase parent engagement and options for its Career and Technical Education program, they said during the Dayton Chamber of Commerce’s Candidates Forum on Oct. 8.

Seven candidates at the Dayton Valley Community Center event offered their perspectives on student achievement, security, chronic absenteeism and mental health issues. The panel was moderated by Dayton High School juniors Jacklyn Kikuchi, Blake Palmer and Avaline Reardon.

Issues ranged from mental health services to reducing chronic absenteeism and what the candidates believe are the biggest challenges facing the district.

But many of the most common responses involved CTE classes that would give students alternative choices.

Incumbent Phil Cowee, current board president running in District 3, said the district is experiencing a limited amount of CTE opportunities even as “the jobs are coming” in manufacturing, the health industry, engineering and other vocational areas requiring technical training. Cowee said the state is limited by its proficiency measure, a change that needs to be made at the state level.

“One of the things we hear so much about is our failure of students and the high school proficiency,” Cowee said. “So with ACT (American College Testing) scores, basically the data tests 100% of our graduates in the ACT, and in its most recent year California tested 4 percent of their graduates. So we're supposed to compare apples to apples when one is testing 4% and the other one is testing 100%, so it's not a fair measure for our students.”

Neal McIntyre II, running in District 7, whose family has lived in Fernley for several generations, said CTE programs also need to improve and that Lyon should offer access to auto shop, construction programs and other occupations.

“You want success for students, but it doesn’t mean every kid is going to college to be a lawyer or doctor,” he said. “We need to make these kids successful in our communities, whether that's in the trades or professions like the lawyers.”

In other school issues, the candidates were asked how they might express their differences in helping students achieve different types of diplomas and find postsecondary success. Responses primarily drifted away from offering Lyon students a traditional high school diploma.

Elmer Bull of Yerington, running for District 5, who has a 10-year-old grandson, said he was concerned about teacher morale and retention impacting school performance. He thought there might be other postsecondary options for students.

“I’m very encouraged by the fact that the district is really looking hard at opportunities and at other career tracks and we’re getting away from the notion that everybody ought to go to college,” Bull said.

Shanna Shroeder of Fernley and formerly stationed at the Naval Air Station in Fallon, is running in District 1 against incumbent Sherry Parsons. She said she wasn’t aware of “special diplomas” but said being able to graduate offers the student at least one advantage.

“The one thing about a diploma is it’s a valuable piece of paper for whoever wields it,” she said. “I know we can help every kid. It’s a diploma.”

Candidates expressed concerns about parental involvement and staying engaged with their children at their local schools.

James Whisler, retired from the Navy 23 years ago, said he is not from Nevada originally but has a wife who worked as an educator. Whisler is running against McIntyre in District 7 and said he wants to enhance parent engagement and board transparency.

“The board works for you, and I want to elevate educational standards,” he said. “We need order in the classroom and bring more discipline. If you do that, grades will go up. If that takes looking at other districts to see how they do it, let’s do it. I’m not from here, so I bring a new perspective.”

Dawn Carson, running against Cowee in District 3, is a teacher at Carson High School, has taught in Japan and entered the private sector. She focused on providing resources to administrators and teachers in areas of mental health or in daily academic needs and argued that smaller class sizes are more effective.

“The teachers are having a hard time with morale right now in the classroom and I want to be a voice to those teachers,” Carson said. “I have a great understanding of what happens in the classroom and I would like to voice the teachers’ concerns. We need school administrators (who) will back them when the students become dangerous and need to you to move in the past them … and we need to make our teachers feel valued and appreciated.”

Incumbent Parsons, who will have been in District 1 for eight years at the end of this term, said she has supported parental rights, reasonable staff wages and has sought more bus drivers in the district. Asked about ethics and responsibility to the board, she said when she first began serving, she wanted computers for the students and test scores to increase.

“Computers were what the teachers wanted, so that was our first survey,” Parsons said. “And since then, we have had multiple surveys because that's that is where you give the most information and the best information is so that is what we get.”