reno cold springs WCSD propane pomegranites 4x4 trails trout (Las Vegas: real estate, home)

[oldyounggun]

I am a teacher in Arizona who is interested in relocating. Nevada is best bet for me to build 2nd retirement and Reno area is attractive. Cold Springs looks like best real estate value. Seems nice yet unpretentious. I will scout the land next week with my wife and 12 year old daughter.

Any suggestions as to other neighborhoods, and schools I should consider? Any attractions we should see while visiting? Anybody work for WCSD want to share some insight?

Is propane only heat option in Cold Springs? How far to prime trout fishing? Are there really endless 4x4 trails to the north? Wiill pomegranate trees grow there?

[.highnlite]

Anybody work for WCSD want to share some insight?

As my wife and many others will tell you, don't work for WCSD period.

From Cold Springs you will find trout fishing within the hour.

And yes, endless 4x4 and road north east south and some west. Do not under estimate the Nevada Desert, it makes Arizona look like an endless suburb. People die every year in the out back of Nevada. Winter and summer.

From Cold Springs you could drive to Idaho on dirt roads.

[oldyounggun]

You don't care to elaborate on that "period" do you? I don't think I could find what I want (on a teaching salary) anywhere else. Is WCSD is the only thorn in the rose?

I have worked in a rural district on the border of Mexico for a long time. About half of our students live in Mexico, but have US guardians so they can legally attend school in the US. There is illegal activity here of which many of their parents are the shot callers. I just teach. If you are in my classroom, I'll teach you, regardless of who you are, where you come from, what you know or don't know. In fact I am insane enough to actually enjoy the experience. I am effective and I have the test scores to prove it. I don't think WCSD will be any more of a challenge for me than where I am now. I've never taught in a "good" district with "good" students and "good" parents. I don't expect anything to be easy inside or outside the classroom or there would be no need for trout, or dirt roads to Idaho.

What about pomegranates though? I drink a lot of pomegrante juice and I want to grow pomegranate trees. Will they grow there?

[.highnlite]

I have no idea about pomegranate trees.

The problem with WCSD is not the students. You do have a choice between schools with very poor students who live in battered trailers on dirt roads, or kids that come to school in limos.

The problem is the Administration and the pressures put on Principals and teachers to meet the requirements of NCLB

Everyone, that is everyone we know who is a teacher in WCSD wants out. From Principals to Teachers. The Administration of the District is composed of teachers who spent a year or two in a classroom, decided they did not like teaching, so they moved to administration.

The stress everyone is under is serious.

Here, an anecdote, lets take 6th grades at our hypothetical school, 3 classes, the administrator makes a walk through the classroooms at 10:45 AM. Prinicipal walks into the room and expects to see Math, page 145 open in the first room, theWhat's an "anchor baby"?
I don't know for sure, but I'm guessing a pregnant illegal alien has the baby in the US and the baby by law becomes a US citizen.Principal spends 5 minutes observing, finds the teacher on page 145. The Principal leaves for the next class where he expects to see the same lesson continued, then off to the third classroom. and expects to find that teacher where the previous left off.

Teachers meet to coordinate lessons so that every teacher is teaching the same page in the same way.

Ok, now, in 6 th grade, the big test covers Language and Math, not science and social studies, so, in the at risk school, you can expect those to subjects taught, but, no science, no social studies, no PE, no recess, no art, no music.

In the language program, anthologies composed of book fragments are used, read, answer questions, the children have no idea if Hatchet or Bridge to Terabithia is a good book, all they know is that they read fragments of them, and answer questions. An entire generation is being raised to know everything about reading, except, why anyone would voluntarily read a book.

Your test scores will be published so that if you are doing great work at a low end school, you will still be compared to the high end schools, and you will look like a bad teacher. You may have a couple of students with MS or CP in your class, you may have 5 or 6 or more English language learners, they will take the same test, and their scores will be part of your results, and you will look like a bad teacher although you have put your heart and soul (which is hard to do, since you are expected to simply read the lessons to your students, exactly the same way as the other teachers in your grade) into your teaching.

If you like trout and wild land, why not teach in Truckee, or Loyalton?

[oldyounggun]

The pressures are the same everywhere with NCLB. It isn't fair but I've grown used to it. Our school is over 50% ELL and they are all counted on the state standards test. We have some of the lowest scores in the state but as an individual I have done well. Arizona has instituted a growth model now much like Nevada's as part of the NCLB waiver process. I don't know if it's more fair than before but it can't be any worse.

I was a technology teacher before NCLB and my students built websites and robots. A few years ago I was asked me to help with the JH ELL program and I did well with it, especially since I was able to use my computer lab. Last year we had a disaster in math so I was asked to do the same thing with math. I know the scores will rise considerably but always at the cost of building robots and websites.


What you describe sounds like Direct Instruction, complete with scripts (and libertarians). We had a Reading First grant in which Direct Instruction was used for grades K-3. I guess it worked for the lower grades. They sounded out some words and test scores rose. I have used the anthologies you speak of in ELL instruction. I got my students to read books by incorporating Accelerated Reader and requiring them to earn so many points per quarter. High Point was the the ELL program/anthology we used. I liked it for what it was, but I agree it's not a real reading experience and needs to be supplemented.

I don't know if I could do Direct Instruction although it must make lesson planning easy. Right now I am only required to bring scores up to the AMO set by the state. I am required to produce a pacing guide with my fellow math instructor but no administrator has ever looked at the pacing guide to see that I am teaching the standard I am supposed to be teaching. I make lesson plans according to the pacing guide but my students are all over the place. I am using mostly computer assisted instruction which allow students to work at their own pace with a lot of peer tutoring as they work in teams and keep data every day on their progress. In a class of 23 6th graders I have 2 that are already into Algebra I, 3 who have finished everything in 6th grade math and are deep into the 7th grade course, ten who are on pace, and 10 still struggling with fractions. They supplement the CAI with some real math by crunching their data in excel spreadsheets and charting their progress. I also give them compasses, protractors and graph paper to draw reflections and translations. They make flow charts too for complex operations. If I were reading scripts I might hit 7 of them where they need it. As it is, I can guarantee at least 60% willl meet the standard and 5% will exceed. I am hopeful for another 5% and pray for the rest.

So, I'll check out Truckee and Loyalton. I have spent the past two summers working on a salmon fishing boat in Prince William Sound, so Alaska was my first choice but vetoed by my wife and daughter. They want something a little less rural and a little more warm.

When I'm in the area next week, I'll drop by the WCSD office and ask a few questions. I'll also drive by a few middle schools andsome neighborhoods. It is a beautiful area. I need to come see.

I greatly appreciate your replies to my post. I let you know what turns up on my journey.

[.highnlite]

Good luck with that, My wife taught for 20 years in Las Vegas and Reno. She finally called it quits. She is a massage therapist now, and much happier. WCSD, is not the greatest district to work for. It may not be the worst, but, it is so large that a teacher is just a cog.

She worked in Special Ed, mentally handicapped, Autistic, that those students were tested along with everyone else drove her crazy.

If you are an outdoors person, Truckee is paradise, from fishing and mountain biking and hiking and or sailing on Lake Tahoe, to down hill and nordic, back country and resort skiing, it is all right there. You can do all that from Reno, Truckeeites, by and large moved to Truckee to do those things, they tend to work to support their non work activities. If we could have kept our home there, and afford a home on the coast we would have done that, but, with our retirements we relocated.

[saa1959]

You may want to check into the Spanish Springs area of Sparks Nevada. It's very close to Reno. It's a very nice community there.

[tiredofraininwa]

We like Spanish Springs. We're near the high school. Feels nice and "out there" but we're still close to all the ammenities we want/need.