Carson City School Board Trustees hear update on Carson High, Pioneer Academy merger
Submitted by Kelsey Penrose on Wed, 05/15/2024 - 3:41pm
Carson City School Trustees heard an update regarding the proposed absorption of Pioneer Academy under Carson High School.
On Tuesday, Superintendent Andrew Feuling said a community meeting was held for Pioneer Academy parents and staff, which he said went well, though stakeholders were concerned over the merger.
The merger would effectively turn Pioneer Academy into an off-site alternative campus of Carson High School, but the intention is not to change anything as to how the school is run. There is a vacancy for a principal at Pioneer Academy, and merging the schools would be a cost saving measure for the district as a second principal would no longer be necessary.
Pioneer High School was established in 1999, and became Pioneer Academy in 2021 when it offered an elementary and middle school online program during the pandemic.
Feuling said that one of the reasons they are looking to combine the schools is for long term cost saving measures due to the fact that a low enrollment trend is expected to continue.
During the 2002-03 school year, enrollment was 8,558 district wide. For the 2024-25 school year, enrollment is projected at 6,938, and is only expected to continue a downward slope due to lower birth rates, an increased housing market, and pandemic impacts.
Currently, the entire kindergarten enrollment district wide is 410 students. If this continues, by the 2034-35 school year, there would only be 1700 9-12 grade students, a decrease from the current 2,500 students enrolled in the district.
And with lower enrollment comes lower funding.
“We have to look for options in the long run to reduce structural costs,” Feuling said.
However he said, this brings a number of positive opportunities for Pioneer Academy students. The campus would continue to be an alternative option to the larger CHS main campus, offering smaller class sizes for students who thrive in an alternative atmosphere. All current Pioneer students would continue attending the campus, and there is no intention to change the name. The Vice Principal of the school would report to the CHS Principal, and CHS would become responsible for all students, staff and activities on the Pioneer campus.
One of the issues Pioneer struggles with is the fact that the Nevada Department of Education does not consider them an alternative campus but rather expects them to adhere to the same standards as a comprehensive high school when it comes to ratings, which is often impossible given Pioneer’s small class sizes.
For example, Associate Superintendent of Educational Services Tasha Fuson said, Pioneer has struggled to get a Career and Technical Education (CTE) program off the ground. In order to have a CTE program, which is necessary for NDE ratings, a minimum of 45 students would need to sign up for just one introductory CTE course. However, between freshman and sophomore students, Pioneer only has around 50 students total.
“It is extremely difficult to earn points as a small alternative school,” Feuling said.
Under the umbrella of CHS, Pioneer students would be able to take CTE classes, and could potentially be bused to and from the CHS campus for classes such as culinary, or extracurriculars.
Trustees questioned if students would still have their own graduation, prom, and extracurriculars such as speech and debate, and Fuson said it would be left up to the schools and students.
“We at the district office are not going to make that decision for them,” Fuson said. “It’s, ‘what do the students want? Is it important to them to have a separate celebration at Pioneer Academy?’ We’ll be considering the desires of the stakeholders of those programs.”
Many trustees said they would like to see the students themselves involved in the plans.
“The school has really come into its own, there’s a group of students that feel very at home and comfortable there,” Trustee Mike Walker said. “Including their involvement and say in how it progresses and the identity; if they feel accepted and safe, they’re going to do better in school and set them up for their future. We need to keep that intact as much as possible.”
Fueling said the district will continue working on the merger, and will stay in contact with parents and staff at Pioneer moving forward.
