Nevada charter school overseer allows in-person teaching to continue

Nevada’s public charter schools will be allowed to continue offering in-person classes despite rising COVID-19 case rates statewide.

The Nevada State Public Charter School Authority’s board met virtually Friday to hear coronavirus-related updates for a second week in a row before allowing the current distance learning mandate to remain in effect. It allows for limited in-person classes — with up to 40 percent of students on campus at any given time — in counties with an elevated level of COVID-19 transmission, including Clark County.

Charter authority Executive Director Rebecca Feiden recommended continuing with the current distance learning mandate. But depending on how the pandemic evolves in the coming weeks, charter authority staff may recommend changes at a future board meeting, she wrote in materials posted online.

Nevada has seen a significant increase in coronavirus cases and the test positivity rate, Feiden wrote. And following Gov. Sisolak’s “Stay at Home 2.0” recommendation and three-week statewide pause last month, charter authority staff has “repeatedly urged schools to exercise caution” with in-person learning.

“As a result, some schools have reduced the scale of in-person learning or temporarily returned to full distance learning,” she wrote. “Ultimately, we continue to work toward returning students to in-person learning safely.”

Many schools are looking to ramp back up with in-person classes in January after winter break, Feiden told the board Friday, but noted that’s dependent on the COVID-19 situation.

The board’s next regular meeting is Jan. 22. If something changes with state directives, an emergency board meeting would be needed, Board Chairwoman Melissa Mackedon said.

During their Friday meeting, the board also:

— Heard a presentation about graduation rates, but didn’t take action.

Charter authority-sponsored schools had a 84.2 percent graduation rate for the Class of 2020 — a 6.4 percentage point increase over 2019.

It’s the first time the charter school system has outperformed the state’s graduation rate as a whole. And about half of charter school graduates earned an advanced or college and career ready diploma.

The graduation rate increased this year for all student subgroups compared with 2019. But some subgroups — including Black, Hispanic/Latino and Native American students — had lower rates than the overall charter authority rate.

Of 17 individual charter schools, 14 were at or above their graduation rate from the preceding year.

Charter authority Director of Authorizing Mark Modrcin said the graduation rates are great news, adding, “I think we expect to see this trend continue.”

Board member Sheila Moulton asked about the effect of COVID-19 and whether the graduation rate would have been higher if coronavirus hadn’t occurred. Charter authority staff didn’t have data on that.

The Nevada Department of Education released graduation rates Thursday for the entire Class of 2020 in the state. Statewide, the four-year cohort rate was 82.6 percent – down 1.5 percentage points compared with 2019. Clark County School District also saw its rate drop – from 85.8 percent in 2019 to 83.1 percent this year.

— Heard a presentation about enrollment data, but didn’t take action.

In total, 53,223 students were enrolled in charter authority-sponsored schools as of Oct. 1 — up 7.7 percent compared with 2019. It’s slower than the double-digit growth rates in previous few years.

About 90 percent of schools serve children in Clark and Washoe counties. The Clark County School District has seen enrollment drop for a few years.

Enrollment rates increased for students identifying as Asian, Black and Hispanic/Latino, and decreased for those identifying as white. Numbers have also increased among economically-disadvantaged students, students who have a disability and English language learners.

— Renewed charter school contracts for Equipo Academy in Las Vegas, Silver Sands Montessori in Henderson, Alpine Academy in Sparks — all under a six-year term — and Elko Institute for Academic Achievement under a five-year term. All begin July 1, 2021.

— Rejected a new charter school application for TEACH Las Vegas.

Charter authority staff recommended rejecting the application, saying the applicant failed to satisfy requirements outlined under Nevada law.

Contact Julie Wootton-Greener at jgreener@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2921. Follow @julieswootton on Twitter.