Board renews High Desert Montessori charter for three years after discussion of star ratings
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Summary
Trustees approved a three‑year renewal of High Desert Montessori Charter School’s charter. Principal Eric Perez outlined efforts to raise SBAC performance — addressing chronic absenteeism, adding an interventionist, and targeting WIDA and phonemic awareness gains.
The Washoe County School District board approved a three‑year renewal of the charter agreement with High Desert Montessori School (HDMS).
Principal Eric Perez told trustees HDMS is in its second year as a one‑star school but said the school is pursuing targeted interventions: addressing chronic absenteeism, hiring a math interventionist to support word‑problem skills, adopting Heggerty for phonemic awareness, and focusing on WIDA scores for English‑language learners. Perez said Montessori pedagogy sometimes yields strong concrete learning but can be harder to align to SBAC-style assessments, and staff described efforts to merge Montessori curriculum maps with standards‑aligned instruction.
Trustee Westlake said she pulled the item to ensure the public sees the district's plan for supporting the school and noted that HDMS has been a two‑star school in the past. After trustee questions and staff remarks, Westlake moved to renew the charter for three years; Vice President Mayberry seconded and the motion carried.
No additional public commenters were recorded on the item during the meeting.
Trustees urged continued transparency and monitoring as the district and charter leadership work to raise assessment outcomes.