Washoe County School District


The Washoe County School District is a public school district providing public education to students in all parts of Washoe County, Nevada, including the cities of Reno and Sparks, and the unincorporated communities of Verdi, Incline Village, Sun Valley and Gerlach. The Washoe County School District is the second largest school district in Nevada with approximately 64,000 students enrolled in 96 schools.
A board of seven elected trustees governs the Washoe County School District. The current president of the WCSD Board of Trustees is Beth Smith. The trustees appoint a superintendent to lead the district in day-to-day operations.
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Superintendent

Superintendent Joe Ernst leads the Washoe County School District. Joe Ernst was appointed to replace Dr. Susan Enfield, who resigned in 2023, and has served in the position since July 1, 2024.
The Superintendent, as Chief Executive Officer, oversees the day-to-day activities of the District. Joe Ernst provides support to the School Board and the Washoe County School District by managing the Strategic Plan in accordance with established goals.
Tiffany McMaster is the district's Deputy Superintendent.

Schools

The WCSD currently has 66 elementary schools, a special education school, 16 middle schools, 13 comprehensive high schools, Truckee Meadows Community College High School, Innovations High School, Gerlach K-12, and the Academy of Arts, Careers and Technology.
In the WCSD, elementary schools typically include kindergarten through fifth grade, middle schools include sixth grade through eighth grade, and high schools include ninth grade through twelfth grade.

K-12 schools

High schools

K-8 schools

Middle schools

  • B.D. Billinghurst Middle School
  • Coral Academy Middle School
  • Clayton Middle School
  • Cold Springs Middle School
  • Depoali Middle School
  • Dilworth STEM Academy
  • Marce Herz Middle School
  • Incline Middle School
  • Mendive Middle School
  • O'Brien STEM Academy
  • Pine Middle School
  • Yvonne Shaw Middle School
  • Sparks Middle School
  • Darrel C. Swope Middle School
  • Fred W. Traner Middle School
  • Vaughn Middle School
  • Desert Skies Middle School
  • Sky Ranch Middle School

Elementary-schools

  • Lois Allen
  • Anderson
  • Bud Beasley
  • Jesse Beck
  • Esther Bennett
  • John Bohach
  • Libby C. Booth
  • Brown
  • Rita Cannan
  • Caughlin Ranch
  • Roger Corbett
  • Desert Heights
  • Lloyd Diedrichsen
  • Edwin Dodson
  • Donner Springs
  • Double Diamond
  • Florence Drake
  • Glenn Duncan STEM
  • Katherine Dunn
  • Elmcrest
  • Nancy Gomes
  • Roy Gomm
  • Grace Warner
  • Greenbrae
  • Hidden Valley
  • Huffaker
  • Ted Hunsberger
  • Jesse Hall
  • Incline
  • Michael Inskeep
  • Lena Juniper
  • Lemelson STEM
  • Lemmon Valley
  • Elizabeth Lenz
  • Lincoln Park
  • Echo Loder
  • Bernice Mathews
  • Alice Maxwell
  • Rollan Melton
  • Robert Mitchell
  • Marvin Moss
  • Natchez
  • Virginia Palmer
  • Peavine
  • Marvin Picollo Special Education School
  • Pleasant Valley
  • Nick Poulakidas
  • JWood Raw
  • Agnes Risley
  • Miguel Sepulveda
  • Silver Lake
  • Alice Smith
  • Kate Smith
  • Smithridge STEM
  • Spanish Springs
  • Stead
  • Sun Valley
  • Alyce Taylor
  • Mamie Towles
  • Edward Van Gorder
  • Verdi
  • Veterans Memorial STEM
  • Westergard
  • Jerry Whitehead
  • Sarah Winnemucca
Circa 2000 Natchez, in Wadsworth, had about 160 students with 94% being Native American. Enrollment remained at the same level as of 2016. The school is on the Paiute Indian Reservation and is the only school in the district that is on a Native American reservation. Holly O'Driscoll of the Nevada Living Magazine described it as "a small, older" facility. In 2017 Siobhan McAndrew of the Reno Gazette Journal stated that historically Natchez had issues with academic performance but by 2017 had a new principal and newly-hired teachers. The district extensively renovated the school in summer 2017, spending $1.5 million to do so.

Future schools

  • Pine Middle School to be turned into an elementary
  • Traner Middle School to be turned into an elementary
New Elementary School in Spanish Springs
New Elementary School in the Daybreak development
Future High School in South Truckee Meadows.

School shootings

2006 Pine Middle School shooting

The Pine Middle School shooting was a school shooting that occurred in the school district on March 14, 2006. The shooting was perpetrated by then fourteen-year-old student James Scott Newman who shot and injured two 14-year-old eighth grade classmates with a.38-caliber revolver that had belonged to his parents. Newman was arrested and charged as an adult on charges of attempted murder, use of a deadly weapon, and use of a firearm by a minor, but later pleaded guilty to different charges of two counts of battery with a deadly weapon, in which he had received sentencing as a juvenile. James Newman was sentenced to house arrest until he completed 200 hours of community service.
On March 25, 2008, athletics teacher Jencie Fagan, who was hailed a hero for her confrontation with the shooter, was selected as one of the three national winners for the Above & Beyond Citizen Honor from the Congressional Medal of Honor Society at a ceremony in Washington, D.C.

2013 Sparks Middle School shooting

A student opened fire at Sparks Middle School, a Washoe County School District school. Two students were critically injured, and a teacher was fatally shot while trying to intervene with the student. The gunman then committed suicide by shooting himself. Students from the school were evacuated and were placed at Sparks High School, where they held until they were picked up by their guardians.