The Washoe Schools Examiner

By Jeff Church

The former Washoe County District Attorney, Richard Gammick, called WCSD “totally dysfunctional” (September 2014). By now, it’s only gotten worse. Since then, WCSD has seen ACT test scores fall from 21.7 to 17.9, is besieged by lawsuits, on its third Superintendent, and has failed to react to a fiscal tsunami.

In 2012 after the brief tenure of Super Heath Morrison, WCSD hired Pedro Martinez. Of course each time the Board heaps tons of praise and hope for the future only to be bashed against the rocks. In 2014, WCSD (after spending thousands on legal fees)paid half a million dollars to fire Superintendent Pedro Martinez. Then came Superintendent Traci Davis, a resident of Las Vegas who commuted back and forth. Davis earned about $447,753.26 (pay and benefits) in 2018 amid praise only to be fired in 2019. She responded with a lawsuit. More on that later. In 2017, the Board rated her as “accomplished” after a preliminary lower rating. Board Trustee John Mayer was quoted as saying, “We’ve got a superintendent who’s outstanding.” Of community members responding, only 29.9% agreed favorably as to her organizational leadership.

A quick review of lawsuits against the WCSD in the last 10 years will astound you! How many lawsuits do you think there are? Whether it’s failing student performance (of course the safety and education of our children are #1) or dysfunctional hiring, lack of transparency and candor, costly litigation, or a variety of other factors; officials elsewhere in Washoe thank WCSD for taking the heat off them. An excellent “Must Read” article is found at “ThisIsReno.com” that acts as a guardian on local issues. Following the slow motion train wreck in firing Traci Davis, WCSD paid thousands in a search for a new Superintendent. They hired JG Consulting for the nationwide search. The District budgeted up to $100,000 for the search. The search received dozens of inquiries and interest and was narrowed down to nine in March

2020, many seemingly highly qualified; including our Acting Superintendent Kristen McNeill, Traci Davis’s former #2. However, she didn’t make the final cut as put forth by an appointed committee. Not to be deterred and similar to an election in Mira-Loda, Central America; The Board of Trustees added McNeill to the list and promptly appointed her as the new Superintendent. Does anyone believe that the others had a chance or there weren’t back channel discussions on McNeill?

So to recap - the Board spent thousands of taxpayer dollars on a futile nationwide search that found some 20 applicants, narrowed it down and down to a group of highly qualified candidates of which McNeill was not on the short list and then the board appointed her anyway.

Now back to the lawsuit involving Traci Davis. Records seem to indicate that the matter has been

Reno, Nevada Summer / Fall 2020

DYSFUNCTION AT THE WASHOE COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICTWashoe County School District (WCSD) besieged with lawsuits, budget deficits, and failing students

Save Our Washoe County School District

Police ForceSchool Board Candidate Passionately Urges Against Defunding WCSD Police

How Did The Washoe County School District Meltdown?Let’s Count The Ways Reprint From: July 25, 2019 (www.thisIsReno.com)

By Bob Conrad

[Excerpts with permission from original article] Traci Davis is out. The oft-criticized superintendent of schools was ousted by the Washoe County School Board of Trustees in a slo-mo, Terminator-styled detonation that had the Reno community riveted for two weeks. Days of drama ensued in mid-June when school board of trustees President Katy Simon Holland sneakily announced Davis had taken a surprise leave of absence.

Continued on page 2

Save our WCSD Police Department

-Do Not Defund!

Retired Police Sergeant & School Board Candidate Jeff Church vows to fight attempts to defund the School Police.

“Nothing is more important than the safety of our students!” Church expressed. “Those that favor defunding are misguided” he went on to explain.

Many parents do not even know that Washoe County School District has its own hands-on police department with over thirty sworn personnel.

Candidate Church feels that the Board has not paid proper attention to the department and as a retired Reno Sergeant he wouldn’t micro-manage but rather would be “eyes-on”. The Governor’s School Safety Committee report is out and gave many valid suggestions. Church contributed input to the committee and based on his training in Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design, he urges that new buildings be planned around those ideas.

Like other agencies, there may be ideas on better oversight, but student safety is, and must remain the highest priority to all.

set for trial on October 19, 2020, just days before the election where three new candidates are seeking seats against three current or former trustees.

The Davis lawsuit was followed by another filed by former employee Byron Green against the District, CV19-02232 that is making its way through the courts. So how many lawsuits in the last 10 years against WCSD? About 90 legal actions according to records at Washoe District Court. More may be found in Federal court. Win, Lose or Draw, each case requires hours of legal work at the expense of WCSD taxpayers. When WCSD Candidate asked how much money was spent on lawsuits annually, the district declined to provide that saying, “Mr. Church will need to make a public records request through the Office of the General Counsel” even though Church was not necessarily seeking a document so much as a figure. Perhaps if elected, he’ll be privy to such data.

However internal documents show that WCSD had set aside in 2017: $6,134,119 for “outstanding and unresolved lawsuits”. That would hire a lot of teachers! But the 2018 and 2019 posted figures disappeared. In many of these lawsuits, lawyers may be required to individually represent board members and staff such as McNeill at additional expense to the taxpayers. In 2016, WCSD settled just one lawsuit over Special Education for a reported $1.35 million! To many it would appear that the then D.A. got it right in referring to WCSD as “totally dysfunctional”. Perhaps Albert Einstein said it better, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.” As the election nears, ponder Einstein again, “Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I’m not sure about the former.”

“Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.” - Multiple Sources

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The adjacent graph depicts the skyrocketing funds allocated for construction of a new high school per Washoe County School District estimates

See Page 4 For Full Article“Cost of School BuildingSkyrockets”

THE COST OF EDUCATION

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Superintendent Heath Morrison’s short tenure was fol-lowed by Pedro Martinez, whose ouster was, by most accounts, a disaster. The school board violated the open meeting law and cost taxpayers a half-million dollars in settlement fees, including 15 months of sal-ary and benefits, to get rid of Martinez for an alleged resume infraction. Davis was then ushered in, in 2014, as Martinez’ replacement in a way that would leave a residual, fetid skepticism of the school board for years to come. It wouldn’t matter who actually served on the board; in the eyes of the community, the trustees as a whole were repeatedly incompetent.

During Davis’ tenure, despite the district having a number of new board members—some of whom ran on the promise of fixing damage, and, later, getting rid of Davis—the school district could not stop enacting be-haviors that led to latent public mistrust. Part of the reason was an extension of Davis’ incompetence as a superintendent. Other contributing factors, though, were the business-as-usual machinations within the school district.

Let’s recap.

1. Veiled legal threats: Criticize the Washoe County School District, and you may get hit back by the school district’s attorneys with a veiled accusation of defama-tion. Just ask Jeff Church, the retired Reno cop who rails against local governments and often speaks dur-ing public comment at local government meetings. The school district has been a regular object of his criticism. During the 2016 campaign for the WC1 ballot question, and after its passage, Church was, from the perspective of the school district, off-base in how he characterized the voter-approved tax increase to fund new schools.

“[Chief Operating Officer Pete] Etchart and the District are placing Mr. Church on notice that if he continues to perpetuate this misrepresentation, he will be acting intentionally and in disregard to the truth, and thus he will be committing defamation, which may be pur-sued,” according to an ominous, unsigned document posted online by the school district in 2017.

Church, however, said he never was given a copy of the

document, which focused on him and his claims, and only later discovered it online. “I happened to come across it at a much later date, and I stand by what I said, and time has proven me accurate in so many regards,” he told me. Defamation, it turns out, is a repeated school district refrain. When I questioned Holland’s misleading—nay, false—statements to the news media in June after it was revealed just how much she actu-ally knew about Davis taking leave, the school district responded, in part, that “there are laws related to defa-mation and accusing people of lying.” Las Vegas-based First Amendment attorney Marc Randazza called the perceived intent of this comment laughable.

“If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it ain’t malice,” he said. “It would be an exquisite pleasure for any First Amendment lawyer to file [a motion] against a public entity stupid enough to file a defamation suit on those facts.” Even Trina Olsen, the administrator the school district illegally fired a year ago, was basi-cally accused of defamation by Davis and board presi-dent Holland.

Continue at ThisIsReno.com: https://thisisreno.com/2019/07/how-did-the-washoe-county-school-district-melt-down-lets-count-the-ways/

Nevada education is the worst in the nation - Why?

Sorry New Mexico! Is Nevada really the worst in the Na-tion for education? Yes! By any online research you’ll find Nevada (and Washoe County School District) as the worst or near the bottom in education. ACT Scores: The Worst! State ACT scores are a dismal 17.7 and WCSD 17.9 for 2019. The national average is 20.8. Almost humorously, Nevada spars with New Mexico for last place. One report states that only one in ten WCSD students was college ready! The State of Nevada created a 5 Star Rating system for schools. How does Washoe County do? The 2019 State of Nevada “star” NSPF Ratings report that of 109 Washoe Schools rated on the one (poor) to 5 (excellent) star rating system, WCSD leaves plen-ty of room for improvement.

WCSD has 38 schools rated as high as 4 to 5 stars. However 31 were rated as 3 (average) and 40 as below average with (29) 2-stars and (11) 1 star. That reflected a dismal change from 2018 with two schools in 2019 actually falling from 5 to 4 star and two improving to three star with 3 moving up from 1 to 2 star.

Okay, 38 above average (not saying much for Nevada) but 40 below! 31 rated as average. Now ask yourself, is aver-age “Okay”? Are you happy sending your child to an average

school? For the record, WCSD has slightly different figures: 34 rated four to five star, 28 Average and 32 rated one or two star but with 26 of those at two star. Still a dismal picture!

When asked if there were factors outside of WCSD’s control, candidate Jeff Church explained that yes, Washoe has a tran-sient problem and other factors. Church said, “We do have parents, many immigrants, working nights and weekends. We also have homeless children and parents with drug and alcohol issues.” But Church went on to say, “That doesn’t mean you give up, you try harder and come up with innova-tive ideas!”

Church comes from a multi-cultural background and is a Spanish speaker. “We do need to take a hard look at our ESL program,” he said. “Learning to read and write a foreign lan-guage is very hard,” he added.

Mr. Church claims to have an idea that could make WCSD a model for the nation! He proposes research on a live-in acad-emy. “Why do only rich kids get to go to live-in schools?” he pondered. The concept of a live-in academy would look at using existing WC1 funds to build a small scale facility with room to expand if successful. Being 24-7-365 it would keep kids off the streets and away from the temptations of gangs and drugs.

Is Nevada Education the Worst in the Nation?Washoe County School District (WCSD) ACT Scores are among the worst in the State and the Nation

Asked if it would be “military style”, Church (a retired USAF Officer) indicated that it could be an option but not the only option. “I’d like to get rid of the overpaid bloated administra-tion and use the money to hire Field Counselors to meet with and motivate parents to become more involved. Teach them, motivate them, kick them in the rear but get them more hands-on in their children’s education.”

Church suggested that parents be allowed and prodded to sit in on their kids’ classes to see how hard the teachers work and the challenges they face, often from unruly students. Church mentioned that as a retired Police Sergeant - in addition to his military reserve career - he frequently had ride-alongs seeing what cops do. “So why can’t parents sit-along?” he asked.

Finally Church said these are just a few of dozens of great ideas that we all can come up with, but making excuses and doing nothing is not an option - at least not in his opinion.

OK - Maybe this is enough data to act -WCSD Board of Trustees

“State ACT Scores are a dismal 17.7 and WCSD is 17.9 for 2019” (National Average is 20.8)

Continued from page 1 (“How Did the Washoe County...”)

VOTE NEVADA

2020

GENERAL ELECTIONS ARE SCHEDULED FOR

NOVEMENBER 3RD, 2020

MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD

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“A Rising Tide Lifts All Boats”Washoe County Loses $42.8 Million Yearly to Neighboring Counties

Is the WC1 Sales Tax a Failure?

All local government agencies rely heavily on sales tax. Now we all face a crisis. Not only Reno-Sparks and Washoe but did you know the Truckee Meadows Flood Authority survives almost 100% on sales tax? Part of the cause and solution may rest in the 2016 “WC1” misguided, never-ending sales tax strictly for school building. School Board Candidate Jeff Church has studied the issue and offers a life saving solution.

Church stated, “The sales tax went to 8.265% compared to other area counties at 7.1%. Taxpayers voted with their wal-lets and went elsewhere. Now we can bring them back.” As Church pointed out, when a big ticket item is bought in Car-son or Fernley, most of that revenue goes to that county & that school district! Statistics from the Nevada Department of Taxation prove that happened with double digit post WC1 increases in Lyon and Carson. New car dealerships have sprung up in Fernley, Carson and even Yerington. How long until Storey jumps in around the I-80 Industrial area?

Proponents and so-called research predicted WC1 would bring in $86.8 million per year. Reality set in with just about $44 million, barely over half. Imagine the tax revenue loss of the other $42.8 million. Money that could be used for police, libraries, roads, schools and teachers!

However, WCSD has not increased teacher staffing in years - because ther’es no money! The shortsighted WC1 only funded new buildings, that may be not needed. Predicted skyrocketing double digit enrollment fizzled and is expected to decrease with the devastated economy. During the boom, enrollment went up only a fraction (½ percent) perhaps as retirees moved here and parents sent children to private schools. For example, Bishop Manogue High school boasts ACT scores of 29 compared to WCSD 17.9 and a 5% increase in enrollment since WC1 passed compared to the 2% WCSD increase.

So what does the repeal & replace proposal look like? Imag-ine an elected official voting to lower taxes! Area govern-ments lobby the legislature to lower the sales tax in Washoe to the psychological 7.999% and allow the WC1 portion to be used for hiring teachers or any needed purpose. That still al-lows for the extra .274% for WCSD. Hard as it is, sometimes we need to admit mistakes and take corrective actions. As stated, a rising tide lifts all boats; all local governments bene-fit, meaning all residents benefit. Keeping business in Washoe keeps employees here who spend here. A win-win-win!

WCSD SCHOOL BOARD: Get To Know The ChallengersJeff Church: www.WatchDogJeff.com running against incumbent Scott Kelley

Sgt. Jeff Church is retired from the Reno Police Department. His parents previously resided in Hawthorne, NV where his father, LtCol Sheldon Church was a physician.

Jeff served in the US Air Force and Reserve in Intelligence retiring at the rank of Lieutenant Colonel and is a VFW Life Member. His military career took him from Asia to Latin America, the Middle East and across the USA. From a multi-cultural back-ground he is also a Spanish speaker.

Jeff holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Criminal Justice and an Associate’s in Law Enforcement with honors. He was Class Valedictorian from the Reno Police Academy. Jeff previously was the Board President of a Reno 24/7/365, 501C3 Homeless Resource Center. He previously taught law en-forcement classes at Truckee Mead-ows Community College. Since retir-ing, he has taught diversity recruiting nationwide and become a nationally recognized expert on the subject.

Jeff ’s law enforcement and military background make him the ideal “get ‘er done” candidate for School Board. He reminds voters that the Board does not teach, they manage the $1 Billion school budget, including the School Police Force and student safe-ty is #1. Jeff is the only candidate that regularly attends not only Trustee meetings but various sub-commit-tees such as Oversight, SHARE, Capi-tal Projects and Audit.

Matt Montognese www.matthew4schools.net running against Angie Taylor

When you meet Matt you immedi-ately know that he is an up and comer in public service. His passion for our community and our children is im-mediately recognizable. He is a Silver State native and has lived in Reno for 41 years, a WCSD K-12 graduate from McQueen High school in 1996. After attending TMCC in 1997-98 on a gifted two year scholarship earning 30 credits, he is now working on his AA in Applied Science and Com-munication and has earned 38 more credits, 68 combined.

Matthew enjoys spending time with his wife and three children, two of which are a part of the WCSD. His faith directs his path. He enjoys re-search and just about any system. As an example: he loves to know how things work, mechanically, as well as the human cognitive or physical side and function. He enjoys reading all kinds of informational literature and is interested in history as of late. He recommends Robert Greanleaf ’s book Servant Leadership to every-one.

Matthew has volunteered as a Reno American Little League Coach for three years, is going into his fourth season and also has volunteered on the league board for two years. He is someone who cares deeply for the root of every person so that they see their potential and worth. He enjoys serving the community and looks forward to serving on the school Board of Trustees.

Craig Wesner www.CraigWesner.com running against Diane Nicolet

Craig Wesner is the CEO of Lumos & Asso-ciates, a Nevada based consulting firm pro-viding Civil Engineering, Surveying, Land-scape Architecture, Geotechnical Services, Construction Services, and Materials Testing throughout Northern Nevada and California.

Craig graduated from Virginia City HS, and then from the University of Nevada, Reno with an Associates in Architecture in 1984 and a Bachelor’s of Science in Civil Engineering in 1986. Craig spent a portion of his career in public service as an Air Force Officer in the Nevada Air National Guard and with the State of Nevada Public Utilities Commission. He joined Lumos & Associates in 1998 as an En-gineering Manager and is now a partner, cur-rently serving as the company’s CEO

Craig is an active member of his community serving for a number of professional organiza-tions including as president of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), Truckee Meadows Branch (1989-90), and the Nevada Section (2002-03); as well, he has served as president of the American Public Works As-sociation (APWA), Northern Nevada (2009). Craig was recognized by the American Soci-ety of Civil Engineers as the “Engineer of the Year” in 2019. Currently, he serves on the City National Bank Advisory Board, a position he has held since 2016. He is also on the lead-ership council for the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB). Craig is an ac-tive member of the Rotary Club of Reno hav-ing served on its Board of Directors and as the Club’s president in 2016-17. Craig and his wife Debbi have resided in Reno for the past 40 years, and raised two daughters, Trisha and Sasha, who both attended public schools in Washoe County and reside in Reno.

Note: While the last superintendent made over $447,750 in one year, and the Reno City Council brings in about $125,000 yearly; the school board trustees make little, the former board chair in 2019 reported about $9552 in pay and benefits.

Upcoming EventsAugust 12 (Wednesday) 10:15 a.m. to noon at Godfathers Pizza, 645 Booth St, Reno. Hosted by CTL Reno. Invited candidates are the three challengers: Jeff Church, Craig Wesner & Matt Montognese.

August 22 (Saturday) 10 AM South Reno Teriyaki Madness, Summit Mall next to theater. Discount Brunch. All local office candidates invited from State positions, City Council and all School Board candidates.

September 5 (Saturday) Noon on ZOOM. On-line Candidate Forum For School District and Reno City Council. Contact/Register: MeetTheCandidates@earthlink.net 775-379-1324 *Walk-ins welcome but for free food pre-registra-tion required. Quantities limited. No obligation to buy. Sponsor reserves all rights, subject to change due to current issues.

SPONSORS & CONTRIBUTORS JACK JOSEPH COUPONS Thank you for your support! 775-853-4544

CONSERVATIVE TALK LUNCH (CTL): Meets alternating Wednesdays for lively discussion on events and guest speakers. Contact: simi4relo@gmail.com

THISISRENO.COM Quickly becoming the best source of information on local is-sues with varying perspectives

EDDIE LORTON for Reno City Council (At Large) EddieLorton.com “14 years ago, we were not in debt: Now we’re over one billion dollars in debt, not including the inter-est, and have an obligation to pay millions more in unpaid ben-efits. Our beautiful city is on the verge of bankruptcy...Enough is enough, this has to change.”

Your safety matters, as election nears, check Endorsements by the Board of Advisors at www.RenoPublicSafety.org

PUBLISHED BY JEFF CHURCH FOR SCHOOL BOARD

3.

The Washoe County School District, WCSD has been caught improperly using WC1 Sales Tax (Cap-ital Projects) money to fully fund some adminis-trative principals, possibly involving $698,688 or more. That was followed by inaccurate denial by Chief Operating Officer Pete Etchart.

That email stated inaccurately: “From: Etchart, Pete <Petchart@WashoeSchools.net> (since the passage of WC-1), the District had the Principals conduct a desk audit and keep track of their time and ac-tivities to see if it was appropriate to utilize Capital Funds. Based on this desk audit, the following per-centages of the Principal’s time was paid for with Capital Funds: Desert Skies – 13% Capital Fund-ed, Sky Ranch – 19% Capital Funded, Poulakidas – 24% Capital Funded. The remaining funding came from the General Fund.” However, to the contrary, an audit determined that, in fact, 100% of princi-pal time was allocated from our dedicated building funds. WC1 is the 2016 never-ending ballot mea-

sure that raised our sales tax to the highest in the state at 8.265% dedicated to school funding, not salaries.

Previously: “Washoe County School District COO Pete Etchart said, “The money from this tax in-crease could only be used to repair schools and build new ones, it could not go to salaries, legal fees, or anything else.”

Rather than be transparent with the misuse, WCSD hid it in a tiny footnote in the report. As the facts came out, Etchart finally admitted “...I need to provide you with an update on an item I was unaware of. Originally the Principals for the news schools had their time charged 100% to the Capital Fund. Pete - Pete Etchart Chief Operating Officer”. However it stretches the imagination to think that the COO would be unaware of almost $700,000 in principal funding from WC1 funds. Requests for an investigation went unanswered.

As WCSD School Board Candidate Jeff Church dug deeper and prior to this incredible discovery by Church, the school district sought to scare him off with threats, saying at first that his allegations were “baseless” and threatening him with a “defa-mation cause of action.”

So WCSD said: “...This money cannot be used to pay teachers, school administrators, legal fees, and more – it is solely for the school buildings.”

Following this statement, Candidate Church dis-covered the misuse. So it seems that his allegations were not, in fact, baseless or slanderous. But he found more:

Church found that about $3 million additional WC1 taxpayer dollars were used to supplant pre-viously existing non-construction salaries. WCSD claims these salaries are related directly or indi-rectly to school building.

So, contrary to clear promises made, they now claim that administration salaries are legal. Salaries that include WC1 funds for - wait for it - COO Pete Etchart himself! Salaries from IT to purchasing (not one drives a nail or pours cement) and sala-ries that pre-dated WC1 passage. In one year, this topped $3,139,398 intended for school building.

The WCSD Board of Trustees remain strangely silent. Remember this at election time.

Washoe County School District Caught Red Handed Misusing WC1 FundsA pattern of disinformation by WCSD is troubling

The ballot question passed approximately two months ago; the first new schools are still in the planning process, there-fore exact final costs are still to be determined. Since the time these latest cost estimates were developed, no information so far has given WCSD cause to change those estimates.”

NOW: Hug/Wildcreek costs skyrocket to $252.7 million and counting! Source: WCSD Capital Projects Committee

So from 2006 to 2019 (14 years) the cost of a high school jumps 700%. From 2017 to 2019 costs jump by $117 million. Just months ago in June 2019, WCSD reported “Officials es-timate the project will cost up to $216 million.” So up $36 million more in 5 months. Does anyone care?

In 2017 WCSD said Middle School: $55 Million. In 2018: “Desert Skies Middle School, for a guaranteed maximum site development and construction cost of $60.6 million.” (RGJ) WCSD: 2018 Minutes of Trustees: WCSD: “$60,646,292”(kolotv.com ›Aug 12, 2019) “The district said it cost $80 mil-lion dollars to build Desert Skies from the ground up.” How-ever, as reported to Capital Projects Committee, it was actu-ally $89.9 Million (10-3-19).

So why was the media guaranteed $60 million then told $80 million if the true cost is 89.9 million? From $55 million to about 90 million, that’s quite a jump and no concern from the school board!

School Board candidate Jeff Church who runs watchdog website www.WatchdogJeff.com suggests it’s time to stop building.

“In 2009 we saw a drop in enrollment and expect that again with the 2020 fiscal tsunami. With the 5 schools already built or in-progress since WC1 passed, we don’t need new schools.” said Church. He stressed that there was no funding for new teachers to put in them.

Church also cautioned that the massive drop in sales tax could cause WCSD to default on bond payments if it contin-ues borrowing. WCSD has shown no desire to slow the rate of building nor address the high costs.

[WCSD Capital Projects Committee: www.washoeschools.net/cms/lib/NV01912265/Centricity/Domain/630/Capital%20Funding/2019%20CFPC/2019-10-03-CFPC_Agenda.pdf]

COST OF SCHOOL BUILDING SKYROCKETSHug High from $110 Million to $135 Million to $200 Million and now $252.7 Million; Middle School “guaranteed” at $60 Million, Now $89.9 Million!The cost of building our new schools has skyrocketed since the passage of WC1 Sales Tax increase. Perhaps the builders know that the money is there and they’re there to take it!

At first in 2016 they testified it was $110 million to build a high school in Washoe County. Damonte Ranch High School cost only $36 million in 2006 .

When questioned by Jeff Church (now a candidate for WCSD School Board District A) in 2017, the new Washoe County School District (WCSD) figure was $135 million.

“Another baseless statement grounded in misrepresentations. Nothing has changed since WCSD presented the community with cost estimates to build schools during the election.

“The Washoe County School District, WCSD has been caught improperly using WC1 Sales Tax (Capital Projects) money to fully fund some adminis-trative principals, possibly involving $698,688”

4.