School board discusses upcoming negotiations, student success, and budget workshops

The Eureka County School Board Jan. 14 meeting began with roll call followed by the Pledge of Allegiance and then approval of the agenda.

Kiley Gutierez, school board representative for the Eureka County High School Student Council, related that the Winter Formal will be Jan. 25 and dress-up days are from the 21st to 23rd. Disney Duo Day is Tuesday the 22nd when pairs of students will dress up as favorite Disney characters like Lilo and Stitch. On Wednesday, students can dress up as any of their favorite characters. Pajama Day is Thursday, with students earning an extra point for wearing Disney jammies. Gutierez reported the student food drive garnered nine milk crates of nonperishable foods for the county’s food drive. She said the student council “did a great job during finals week” although “the kids were wild and sugared up.” 

Gutierez related student morning announcements are switching to video announcements in the next week since “no one pays attention to them anymore because they’re boring,” so they’re transitioning to a podcast-like format. Gutierez then passed out school board appreciation gifts. 

In the matter of reorganization of the board of trustees, Lynn Conley was nominated and approved as president and Hallee Dechambeau as vice president/clerk. Mindy Filippini was nominated to the investment committee and negotiation team. Lynn Conley was appointed as Nevada Association of School Boards (NASB) director with Dillon Pollock as alternate.

In discussing negotiations and collective bargaining with the Eureka County Teachers Association and the Eureka County Schools Classified Association for the 2025-26 school year, Superintendent Tate Else recommended that, with funding issues tied to legislation that hasn’t been considered by the state legislature yet, conversations should be started but not finalized “until we know what’s happening.” He reminded the board that during the last session negotiations had to be reopened because of a bill that was passed. He assured the board he would reach out to the presidents of both associations to begin scheduling and promised to provide updates throughout the session on bills potentially impacting Eureka County schools.

The board voted in favor of opening negotiation meetings with both associations, with the goal of finalizing them after the legislative session.

Else then gave the Eureka High School report, stating, “We’ve had a great rollback since the Christmas break. Since I have been in Eureka County this is our fewest number of ‘F’s.’” 

Lisa Hutchison, Eureka and Crescent Valley Elementary school principal, gave the elementary school report, noting they are finishing up with math testing as there were students absent prior to Christmas break and she will report on those scores at the next board meeting. She was pleased to share that it’s “looking really good in both math and reading.”

Hutchison related Crescent Valley Elementary’s quarter two awards ceremony was held earlier in the day “and we had a ton of awards. We are recognizing students that are meeting their projected growth in both math and reading, so that’s something new because we’re really trying to get students to value that test and understand what it is: setting goals and so forth.” The Eureka Elementary School Awards ceremony will be held Wednesday, Jan. 15 at 1:30 p.m. Hutchison invited the board to attend the ceremony. She also reported parent/teacher conferences took place last Friday and once she knows parent participation percentages, she will let the board know.

Rhonda Wilker, finance director, said budget workshops need to be held between March 24 and April 7. She noted that in the past, sessions have taken about three-fourths of the day “and we provide lunch while we’re working through it. That is when the different budgets will begin. So, I will require the budget sheets from the department heads and school principals on March 15,” and she will compose those requests to be discussed at the luncheon. She said, “By law we have to have the tentative budget hearing between May 21 and 31.”

Superintendent Else was asked by Rick Harris of the Nevada Association of School Boards to let the board know their national conference is April 3-6 in Atlanta, Georgia, and asked anyone interested in attending to let them know so items can be approved on the next agenda.

The superintendent said he would only attend the conference if board members do. 

Monday, Jan. 20 will be board training, and the county lobbyist will be present. The superintendent expected the training would begin at 11:30 a.m. and end by 2 p.m. with a working lunch.

Else shared that the State Board of Education meeting was last week, with talk focusing on the State School Improvement Plan in line with proposed legislation. Else said there are a lot of moving parts, with an emphasis on what accountability looks like for students. He said he had been contacted by Annie Hicks, who praised the district representatives who presented on pedagogy with UNLV educators. 

He reported math assessments from fall to winter were so good that they had to check the accuracy of the scores. He said, “We should be very, very pleased with what we are seeing on our data.” The scores are valid in relation to where students are performing nationally, and Else celebrated the students’ achievements. 

The board set agenda items for the next meeting, which included the budget and the semester schedule proposed for 2026-27, including a two-week spring break that could potentially impact families and school district employees. Graduation for years coincided with Memorial Day Weekend, which became challenging as it was difficult for people to get to Eureka for the holiday weekend. 

It was noted most people aren’t taking two-week Christmas or spring break vacations and children are sitting at home while employees miss an entire pay period. “There’s a lot of factors,” Else explained, so he wants the issue placed on the February agenda.