Carson City School District Board Meeting – September 8, 2026
Carson City School District Board Meeting – September 8, 2026
The Carson City School District Board of Trustees met on Tuesday, September 8, 2026, at 6:00 p.m. in the Robert Crowell Board Room. The meeting covered a range of topics including civics test results, adoption of the restorative discipline plan, an enrollment update with budgetary implications, and routine consent agenda items. Several agenda items were tabled for future discussion.
Consent Calendar
- Approved the agenda as submitted (motion by Trustee Varner, second by Trustee Ramirez; unanimous).
- Adopted the consent agenda unanimously, including ratification of purchase orders, employment offers, vaccination exemptions, and approval of August 2026 board meeting minutes.
Public Comments & Testimony
- No public comments were made in person or submitted electronically.
Discussion Items
- Civics Test Results (Class of 2026): Presented by Justin Barlow, Rodney Wade, and Josh Billings. The test, based on the U.S. naturalization exam, requires at least 50 questions; Carson City School District uses a 60% passing threshold and 90% mastery. Of 527 eligible seniors (excluding IEP exemptions), 526 took the test; one incarcerated student received a good cause waiver. The pass rate was 97.7% (510 students passed), and 77.7% achieved mastery. Test results affect 10% of the student's grade. Discussion included incentives for mastery (e.g., scholarships for trade or college) and the challenge of motivating students not targeting college.
- Restorative Discipline Plan (2026-2027): Presenter Christine Perkins reviewed the legally required plan (NRS 392.4644). The plan, updated annually, outlines multi-tiered supports (MTSS), restorative practices, discipline matrix, attendance/truancy procedures, and a bullying flow chart. No substantive changes from the prior year. Trustee Varner expressed concern about optional consequences for battery against employees, preferring mandatory expulsion. Perkins noted state law allows flexibility but requires suspension for certain offenses. The board requested behavioral data three times per year (by semester). The plan was adopted unanimously.
- Enrollment Update (2026-2027): Spencer Winward and Superintendent Feuling reported that as of September 8, total K-12 enrollment is 6,690 students—191 fewer than last year and 73 below the budgeted 6,763. The decline is primarily due to a graduating class of 593 replaced by only 417 kindergartners; birth rates in Carson City have dropped (from 862 in 2007 to 524 in 2022). The enrollment shortfall is projected to reduce revenue by approximately $750,000. The district plans to manage through vacancy savings and careful spending. Discussion included per-pupil expenditure by school (requested by a trustee) and statewide decline trends. The board also requested comparison staffing ratios with other Nevada districts.
- Policy and Regulation Changes (Items 10 & 11): Proposed changes to regulations and policies in Section 200 (Programs) were tabled for a future meeting without discussion.
Key Outcomes
- The board adopted the Restorative Discipline Plan for 2026-2027 as submitted (motion by Trustee Varner, second by Trustee Ramirez; unanimous).
- The board requested a report on per-pupil expenditures by school and available staffing ratio comparisons with other districts.
- The board requested behavioral data reports three times per school year (end of each semester and once in between).
- Items 10 and 11 (discussion on regulation and policy changes) were tabled to a future meeting.
- The consent agenda was approved unanimously, including purchase orders, employment actions, vaccination exemptions, and August 2026 meeting minutes.
- The board acknowledged informational items (staff changes, budget transfers, upcoming events) with no action.
- Adjourned.
Meeting Transcript
We'll start the meeting. Agenda item number one, adoption of the agenda to have a motion. So moved. Do I have a second? I have a motion by Trustee Varner, second by Trustee Ramirez. Public comment. Seeing none, all in favor, please say aye. Aye. Opposed. Hearing none, motion passes unanimously. Moving on to agenda item number two, flag salute. This will be by led by uh trustee Clapham. One of the indivisible and justice call. Thank you. Moving on to agenda item number three. This is superintendent's report. This is for information only. Superintendent Feeling. Thank you, President Wall. School is off and running. I think we're three weeks in. It's pretty incredible how fast that time flies. Um just wanted to make you aware. Um some of you may have participated. I think it was Friday evening in a NASB session learning about the new Nevada district performance framework. I've talked about it a little bit. Um Nevada is the first state from what I understand to um put together a like rating sort of districts. Um we've had school rankings for a long time. So there was a committee that started um last beginning of last school year and came up with a framework for that of ranking districts in in various ways. We've seen um some initial um initial, I don't know, measurements, calculations, whatever they come up with, and we've given some feedback. They're they're looking for, you know, are there mistakes? Are we understanding things correctly? Um so we'll be learning more here over the next month. I think they're gonna release preliminary um rankings here over the next month or two. Uh so we'll be talking about that sometime soon. Um I'm also a part of the Nevada Subcommittee on Accountability Redesign, which is the group that came up with the district performance framework. They are now looking at the NSPF, so the actual um school performance framework. So we had our first meeting today. Um exhilarating stuff talking about accountability metrics. I actually really like it, so it's okay. Um but it's uh it's being led by the center uh center on a set center of assessment. I forget the name of the group now, but they're uh well regarded out of the east coast, and they've they've led all of this work. So um already good conversations and new ideas uh coming up for things to be considered, and there's quite a long way to go, but they're hoping to have a final product, I believe by the end of February is the date. So that's actually a pretty ambitious time frame. Um, but so I'll be um providing you updates as those happen. Um, and hopefully we can get some uh improvements uh within that system. Uh other than that, I don't have anything else. So thank you. Any questions of Superintendent Feeling? All right, thank you very much.
openpublica.com