NEW SUPERINTENDENT WANTS TO GATHER INFORMATION BEFORE MAKING MAJOR CHANGES

The new Douglas County School District Superintendent, Frankie Alvarado, is working on his 100-day transition plan with a goal of listening and learning from staff, students and the community to see what the schools are doing well and where the opportunities are in order to create a shared vision for the district.

Alvarado joined the Minden Rotary Club this past week and shared that there will be tough decisions that will need to be made since the districts’ declining enrollment means declining revenue.  Whether the declining student numbers have to do with a declining number of families with school age children or an increased number of students being homeschooled, the data is currently unavailable.  Alvarado is already working with the state to suggest better data collection in this area.

Questions from the Rotarians centered around cell phones, teacher hiring and retention with the high cost of living in the area, CTE (Career Technical Education) classes, safety and governance.  

• Regarding student use of cell phones, Alvarado stated that we “need to help kids become respectful citizens” and cell phones “are the biggest distraction to education”.  Students will be asked to not use cell phones during instruction.  

• He recognizes that housing is unaffordable for many teachers and is currently working on possible partnerships to make some new housing available.

• Alvarado stated that “CTE is equally important as college prep courses” and indicated that he is currently working on some dual enrollment options with WNC for fire science classes and in the future may dive into classes in the medical field to supplement an already strong CTE program at the high schools.

• In the area of safety, Alvarado feels that “safety is paramount - if kids aren’t safe, they can’t learn.”  He discussed the value of the four resource officers on campuses as well as current training in radio communications, active assailant and fire.

• Finally, regarding governance, Alvarado proudly shared that the Board voted 7-0 on every action item at the last meeting.

Alvarado is originally from the Victor Valley area of Southern California where he attended school in a district very similar to DCSD with 2 high schools (where he played football), 3 middle schools, 5 elementary schools, and 1 K-8 school.  He completed his undergrad and master's at the University of Laverne.  He, his wife and three kids lived in Mammoth for many years while he held various administrative roles both at the site and district level.  Alvarado spent a year at Ukiah Unified in Mendocino as an Assistant Superintendent before returning to the Eastern Sierras where he looks forward to staying for many years.