First in an occasional series on the Washoe County School District's reform agenda and strategic plan.
The Washoe County School District has hired four area superintendents to replace a chief performance officer to oversee different clusters of the school district.
The change in organization is part of a strategic plan to improve student performance, especially to raise the graduation rate that has stagnated at about 58 percent the last few years.
Realigning leadership also became more urgent as the district faces a $37 million budget shortfall.
"One of the key things we focused on, in addition to cost obviously, was the supervision of schools and support to schools, and I think that's critical to the role these superintendents will be: to support the schools, to assist the schools to achieve results through accountability," Superintendent Heath Morrison said. "The whole concept was to give these superintendents massive responsibility, but a lot of authority to match those responsibilities."
Former senior directors Pati Falk, Lynn Rauh and Nancy Sanger and former Sparks High School principal Doug Parry were hired for the task, after being reviewed by a 14-member panel of employee association members, central office staff and community leaders.
The quartet had to hit the ground running, to fill and recast 29 principal jobs in recent weeks.
"It was like 'Welcome to the world of being an area superintendent. Now go fill these schools,'" Morrison said.
Their task now is to develop an improvement plan for the school clusters.
"Hiring principals was exciting," Rauh said. "Now, we have to dive in to meeting staff at these schools and finding out the kind of support they need."
Parry, who Morrison said has helped improve learning among students affected by poverty, mobility and language, will oversee Zone 1 that includes Hug and North Valley high schools and the middle and elementary schools that feed students to them. He also will be responsible for Gerlach K-12.
Falk has held a variety of posts in the district and will oversee Zone 2, including Sparks and Wooster high schools and their feeder campuses.
Both zones have a high concentration of Title 1 schools, which have a significant population of low-income students.
"The idea is to provide differentiated support for the schools that speaks to their challenges," Falk said.
Rauh will be responsible for Zone 3, including Reed, Reno and Spanish Springs high schools and their feeder campuses, also for magnet campus TMCC High School.
Sanger will oversee Zone 4, including McQueen, Galena, Incline and Damonte Ranch high schools and their feeder schools. The Academy for arts, Career and Technology also will be under her wing.
"We tried to look at their backgrounds, we tried to look at their specific areas of expertise," Morrison said. "We didn't go in and say, 'you're interviewing for this position'. It was about trying to match them where their expertise would reside best."
Although they have their individual responsibilities, they anticipate a collaborative process in developing improvement and have yet to form a complete vision to how they will accomplish it.
"We're really trying to answer that question ourselves, and we'll have to build a lot of understanding of what our schools require," Sanger said.
Superintendent Bios
Doug Parry: Area Superintendent, Zone 1
- Experience: In education since 1983, 13 years in Washoe County, serving as principal of Sparks High School, assistant principal and athletic director at Spanish Springs High School, assistant principal at Proctor Hug, physical education chair and head varsity football coach at Edward Reed High School.
- Education: Undergraduate, 1979-82, University of Utah; master's, University of Utah; and Doctorate, Walden University
Pati Falk: Area Superintendent, Zone 2
- Experience: In education since 1982, 15 years in Washoe County, serving as senior director, K-6 director of Regional Center for Teaching and Learning / co-director Northwest Regional Professional Development Program, principal, dean of students and teacher at Agnes Risley Elementary School.
- Education: Undergraduate, 1977-80, bachelor's, University of Colorado; master's, University of Nevada-Las Vegas
Lynn Rauh: Area Superintendent, Zone 3
- Experience: In education since 1984, 25 years in Washoe County, serving as district senior director, school Improvement and student achievement coordinator, Title 1, principal at Jesse Beck and Veterans Memorial elementary schools, dean of students at Sun Valley and Alice Smith elementary schools, and teacher at Peavine and Glenn Duncan elementary schools
- Education: Undergraduate, 1979-83, University of Nevada, Reno; master's, UNR
Nancy Sanger: Area Superintendent, Zone 4
- Experience: In education since 1974, 16 years in Washoe County, serving as district senior director, principal and assistant principal at Sparks High school, assistant principal, dean of students and teacher at Reed High School.
- Education: Undergraduate, 1970-73; master's, 1976-79, University of Memphis.
