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Winnemucca Grammar leaders credit PLCs, coaching and attendance work for improved ratings
Summary
School leaders told the Humboldt County School District board they used focused professional learning communities, a Teach Like a Champion–aligned PD plan and coaching to sustain a four‑star rating and cut chronic absenteeism; they also reviewed recent building remediation and ventilation projects.
Winnemucca Grammar School principal Chelsea Brownstein told the Humboldt County School District Board of Trustees on April 8 that the school used focused professional learning communities, coaching and a blended professional development program to maintain a four‑star Nevada Report Card rating.
Brownstein said the school’s strategy centered on narrowing instructional goals and increasing teacher reflection and collaboration. “Our mission…is that we want to empower every student to be their best self academically, socially and emotionally,” she said.
The presentation explained why that adult‑learning focus matters. Lori Sidious, the fourth‑grade teacher and PLC lead, told trustees the school now holds common meeting time on Wednesdays and uses a teacher learning cycle to set narrow, data‑driven goals. Julia Lourdie, the school’s learning strategist, and Heidi Renteria, the multilingual learner coach, described a yearlong professional development sequence that blends Teach Like a Champion strategies with practices for multilingual learners so staff can apply a common set of techniques across classrooms.
Roy Casey, an instructional coach the school contracted through Title I funds, described the school’s coaching cycle: administrators observe, conduct reflective coaching conversations and support iterative teacher improvements. Third‑grade teacher Amy Balam, in her first full year, told the board coaching “has been such an important tool for me” because it provides observation followed by guided reflection.
School counselor Tim Francis said attendance work helped reduce chronic absenteeism by more than 10 percentage points year‑over‑year. He said the school currently counts about 74 students absent from a total enrollment “around 320,” cited regular attendance meetings, family outreach, student appreciation events and practical supports such as bus arrangements as part of the effort.
Brownstein also updated trustees on building projects. Winnemucca Grammar completed mold remediation and returned classes to original rooms; a ventilation upgrade vendor, Snyder Mechanical, was selected March 22 and the district expects the crawl‑space ventilation work to be complete by July 3, though parts backlogs may delay work.
The presentation closed with thanks to maintenance, custodial, transportation and classroom staff for managing a multiroom move and quick classroom re‑set; Brownstein invited the board to visit the completed classroom floors.
The board asked how the school measures whether teachers are “teaching like a champion”; presenters replied that the school is building an instructional “look‑fors” walkthrough form and expects peer observations and reflective conversations to become routine. Trustees praised the team’s work and asked for continued follow‑up on multilingual learner outcomes.
Trustees heard the update as an informational item; no board action was taken.
