The Washoe County School District (WCSD) is a public school district providing public education to students in all parts of Washoe County, Nevada, including the cities of Reno and Sparks, and the unincorporated communities of Verdi, Incline Village, Sun Valley and Gerlach.[3] The Washoe County School District is the second largest school district in Nevada with approximately 64,000 students enrolled in 96 schools.
A board of seven elected trustees governs the Washoe County School District. The current president of the WCSD Board of Trustees is Beth Smith. The trustees appoint a superintendent to lead the district in day-to-day operations.
Superintendent
Superintendent Joe Ernst leads the Washoe County School District.[4] Joe Ernst was appointed to replace Dr. Susan Enfield, who resigned in 2023, and has served in the position since July 1, 2024. [5]
The Superintendent, as Chief Executive Officer, oversees the day-to-day activities of the District. Joe Ernst provides support to the School Board and the Washoe County School District by managing the Strategic Plan in accordance with established goals.
Tiffany McMaster is the district's Deputy Superintendent.
Circa 2000 Natchez, in Wadsworth, had about 160 students with 94% being Native American.[6] Enrollment remained at the same level as of 2016. The school is on the Paiute Indian Reservation and is the only school in the district that is on a Native American reservation.[7] Holly O'Driscoll of the Nevada Living Magazine described it as "a small, older" facility.[6] In 2017 Siobhan McAndrew of the Reno Gazette Journal stated that historically Natchez had issues with academic performance but by 2017 had a new principal and newly-hired teachers. The district extensively renovated the school in summer 2017, spending $1.5 million to do so.[7]
The Pine Middle School shooting was a school shooting that occurred in the school district on March 14, 2006.[8] The shooting was perpetrated by then fourteen-year-old student James Scott Newman who shot and injured two 14-year-old eighth grade classmates with a .38-caliber revolver that had belonged to his parents.[8][9] Newman was arrested and charged as an adult on charges of attempted murder, use of a deadly weapon, and use of a firearm by a minor, but later pleaded guilty to different charges of two counts of battery with a deadly weapon, in which he had received sentencing as a juvenile. James Newman was sentenced to house arrest until he completed 200 hours of community service.[10]
On March 25, 2008, athletics teacher Jencie Fagan, who was hailed a hero for her confrontation with the shooter, was selected as one of the three national winners for the Above & Beyond Citizen Honor from the Congressional Medal of Honor Society at a ceremony in Washington, D.C.[11][12]
A student opened fire at Sparks Middle School, a Washoe County School District school. Two students were critically injured, and a teacher was fatally shot while trying to intervene with the student. The gunman then committed suicide by shooting himself. Students from the school were evacuated and were placed at Sparks High School, where they held until they were picked up by their guardians.[13][14][15][16][17][18]