Whittell High School Parents Upset With Planned Cuts

Coming on the heels of the announcement by U.S. News & World Report that their school was nationally ranked and placed as the 2nd best high school in Nevada, planned cuts at Whittell High School were unveiled at the May 9th Douglas County School Board Meeting.

Several concerned parents attended the last meeting and many more are planning on making the drive to Minden for this week's meeting. The parents have taken their mission to social media with starting the Facebook page: Concerned citizens and parents for Whittell High School.

The district was looking at cutting a couple of school periods in WHS's already limited schedule. According to the parent's group, the 210 students that attend grades 7-12 at Whittell would be faced with staffing and services cuts.

"During the past several years, Douglas County School District has saved a lot of money, courtesy of, and to the detriment of, the Lake Schools," said Stateline resident and parent of two Whittell graduates Roberta Stillwell. "This savings to the district occurred not only when GWHS became a 7 - 12 High School, but also with continued cuts to our staff and school services.
Despite this continued cannibalization by the district, it is significant that George Whittell High School, an under-resourced public school, recently received recognition as a Silver Medal Winner by US News & World Reports and was ranked the 2nd Best High School in the State of Nevada."

According to the meeting agenda, the Douglas County School District Superintendent Lisa Noonan, Ed.D. will unveil her recommendations at Wednesday's board meeting being held at Douglas High School. The meeting starts at 3:30 p.m. and Whittell's portion of the agenda is planned at approximately 4:35 p.m.

The attachment on the agenda outlines the following update from Noonan, outlining her plan for addressing the concerns of Whittell parents:

1) Met with the Principal to discuss the master schedule and planning on 5/13/14.
2) Plans to meet with the parent group with opportunity for follow-up conversation on 5/27/14.
3) School Performance Planning Team: a selection and implementation of continuous school improvement efforts. This will be initiated in Spring 2014 and to continue through the Fall 2014.
4) Establish a Formal Study Group: form a separate committee to research future possibilities and develop recommendations to begin in Fall 2014-15.

The Douglas County School District meeting will be at Douglas High School located at 1670 Highway 88 in Minden, NV.