Carson City school board discusses retroactive diplomas, superintendent evaluation

The Carson City School Board discussed Tuesday the requirements for receiving the new retroactive diplomas.

This new system allows current and former students to receive their high school diplomas if they obtained all their necessary credits. Previously, students had to pass their Nevada High School Proficiency Exams, an exit exam, to be eligible for their diploma. Students who had the credits but didn’t pass the exam can now get their high school diploma.

Associate Superintendent Educational Services Sue Keema said this new law impacts Pioneer High School, Carson High School, adult and prison education program students. The students need to contact their school and make a request for their transcripts to be reviewed and upon analysis they will be issued their diploma.

The board also reviewed the process for the superintendent evaluation.

Clerk Stacie Wilke-McCulloch suggested a design change to the evaluation sheets filled out by the board members that would make it more cohesive, transparent and easier to use.

Wilke-McCulloch created a design that had specific spaces for comments, each number grade and averages. The forms will be used in the next couple of weeks in time for the superintendent evaluation meeting in December, but in the coming year the board will look at the forms and find out what are the best changes to make it more efficient for the board members to use.

These new forms will help Board President Laurel Crossman and Executive Administrative Assistant Renae Cortez consolidate the scores easier so they can be presented to the board and Superintendent Richard Stokes in a better way. They also hope that by putting a deadline in effect will make the process easier because Crossman and Cortez will have ample time to collect the scores and anyone who doesn’t have their forms in before the deadline won’t get their vote counted.

They also talked about the possibility of expanding the evaluation to be able to include more than the School Board’s opinions, however that would need to be addressed in the next year.

“We are progressing and getting to be a better process on both sides,” Wilke-McCulloch said.