In a stunningly short period of time, the environment of Lake Tahoe has changed.  The majority of development here has been created in a time span less than an average person’s life expectancy.

Many years ago development concerns prompted the federal government to consider creating a national park to preserve Tahoe’s unique alpine character.  Obviously it never happened.  By the time the government got really serious about it officials said: “ruthless commercial enterprises have destroyed to a great extent the natural character and charm of the most valuable portion of the proposed national park site.”

The earliest development exploited the area’s natural resources.  As a result two-thirds of the forests were stripped and commercial fishing had to be banned to preserve any remaining fish.  Left unchecked, our society tends to be not very good at moderation.

Things have gotten better for the fish and trees but development conflicts remain.  The biggest issue appears to be how much urbanization can occur before the pristine alpine environment only exists here in old photos.  Unfortunately, managing fish and trees is much easier than managing people.

 

 

Those of us who live at Lake Tahoe are privileged. Our days unfold before a backdrop of snow-capped peaks bathed in light. Broad lake vistas teem with colors set off by the legendary clarity of Tahoe waters. The air is fresh, the forests and meadows expansive. We have year-round recreation along with rich history and culture. For many, visiting here is a dream vacation. And so it is no wonder that tourism is the backbone of the Tahoe Basin economy. With three million visitors coming here annually, however, this raises questions among some as to whether it is possible for restoration efforts at Lake Tahoe to be successful if the economy is to remain vibrant.

 

Many of our natural places have run the risk of being loved to death. Three million visitors a year, for example, pass through Yosemite Valley – so many that a decade ago the exhaust from idling vehicles sitting in traffic there had been known to rival that found in a metropolitan center. By encouraging more visitors to stage in Yosemite gateway towns and use alternative transportation to enter the valley, however, the situation has improved but not without great effort by national park service planners and the communities surrounding Yosemite.

In Lake Tahoe, the situation is different and more complex. Because the basin is not a national park, there is no entry fee and no toll gate. The lake is ringed by state and federal highways connecting communities that pride themselves on the unique character and authentic flavor each brings to the Tahoe experience. At one time, Nevada gaming was a mainstay of the visitor experience at Tahoe, but the proliferation of Indian gaming in California has contributed to declining revenues here. Snow and water sports, being both seasonal and weather sensitive, have not always been enough to keep the basin’s hotel rooms booked, restaurants busy, and shopping areas with adequate foot traffic. When the Red Hawk Casino opened last December in El Dorado County off U.S. Highway 50 at Shingle Springs, South Shore gaming properties in particular were concerned that competition off the hill would take a bigger bite out of business in the basin. With the economy in a state of disarray all around and a dismal start to the snow season, it may take a while to sort out just how much of an impact Red Hawk has had: but business is slow all around. Just ask anybody.

Which brings us once again to the triple bottom line: Without a healthy economy and without adequately addressing the social well being of the Tahoe Basin, the lake will continue to suffer. Our best hope for a successful restoration is for the visitors and the tourism industry to participate collaboratively. This is why resort properties are talking about reinventing themselves so that they are less dependent on gaming and can provide a better rounded visitor experience with the lake as a center attraction. As properties redevelop, the private sector is able to invest in advanced stormwater treatment systems and other infrastructure that will help restore lake clarity and improve the natural environment along with the built environment.

Another important aspect of this will be a bigger focus on sustainable tourism. Two years ago, the National Geographic Center for Sustainable Destinations gave the Lake Tahoe Basin a less than flattering review when analyzing the degree to which environmental, historic and cultural resources are promoted as part of the visitor experience here. Naturally, there was some push back from those of us who couldn’t help but take the jab personally. But since then, business and tourism officials have started taking a more serious look at sustainable tourism and what it can mean to Tahoe. One day we may have to ask our visitors to help foot the bill for taking Lake Tahoe restoration to the next level. This could include a Tahoe day pass for vehicles. Tourists who come to Tahoe for a more complete experience will be more likely to help. It’s part of the recipe for success in Tahoe, and we need to be ready for it when it comes time for the talk to turn to action.

John Singlaub is executive director of the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency. For more information, visit www.trpa.org.

 

 

 

 

The sudden and unexpected death Tuesday of Incline High School music teacher Alan Harvey left students and teachers grappling with discordant chords of shock.

After failing to show up for school, Harvey was found dead in his car in the parking lot of Carson-Tahoe Hospital, apparently trying to seek medical attention.

Students were told at the end of their minimum day Tuesday, and understandably, many music students took his death especially hard.

His tenure at Incline High School was as unfinished as Shubert’s 8^th symphony, a cherished composition that has only two fully orchestrated movements of a traditional four-movement symphony.

Harvey had only been the high school’s music teacher for one semester, yet the few, short months were enough to provide the promise of a better music program.

He only presented one full-scale concert, at Christmas, but he made sure the performance was done well. The parents lauded it as an exceptional concert, amazed at how the students’ musical ability had increased. Typically, Harvey humbly deferred the compliments. The concert was so good, the music students repeated it for the student body in an assembly.

In just one semester, Harvey doubled the small choir’s numbers, and the concert band seemed like it was headed for an upswing. The band played in the Homecoming Parade and made appearances at football games. He was in the midst of adding music to the score for the high school’s annual musical, jumping into the production with a willingness to help.

Harvey came to Incline Village after one fruitful chapter of his life had just been completed. After 21 years of teaching in the San Francisco Bay Area, he was so well-respected that Piedmont High School named its theater after him, the Alan L. Harvey Theatre.

We, here in Incline Village, are left with an incomplete chapter, an unfinished symphony, as Harvey’s potential impact on Incline music is left undone.

 

 

Tanya Canino has a daughter, Erin, who plays French horn in the high school band. Her husband, Tom, was working with Harvey on the high school musical.

 

Washoe County School District Superintendent Paul Dugan delivered an address on the state of the school district on Friday, Jan. 23 during Chancellor Jim Rogers "State of Education" program on KRNV Channel 4. The following is the complete text of Dugan’s address.

 I am Paul Dugan, Superintendent for Washoe County School District.  Since this is the third year for giving this State of Education address, I want to thank Chancellor Rogers for creating this tradition of addressing the community on the State of Education and inviting me to take part.  In my four and a half years as Superintendent, Washoe County School District has enjoyed a growing, positive and meaningful relationship with both Truckee Meadows Community College and the University of Nevada, Reno.  This is due to Chancellor Roger’s leadership as well as the leadership of both TMCC President Maria Sheehan and UNR President Milt Glick.  I thank the three of them for this collaboration.

Let me begin this address with the troubling subject of the budget.

The news could not be any more bleak.

In November, Washoe County voters rejected a measure that would have provided much-needed resources to update, modernize and revitalize the teaching and learning environment in our older schools. It’s failure was a blow to all in this community who value education but more importantly, a blow to our students. Not only would we have been able to improve the condition of our older schools, the average age of which is 40 years, but it would have been a sizeable economic stimulus package for the area’s battered construction industry.

We are now faced with the daunting task of allocating about 300 million in available dollars from the 2002 bond rollover issue to meet an estimated need of $1.3 billion. Our Board of Trustees will have to decide which needs are met and which are not. Shall we spend all of these dollars to protect the taxpayer’s investment in existing schools and put a moratorium on new schools? That is one option facing us in the months ahead.

Our general fund, the budget that runs this district on a day-to-day basis, is faring no better.  We cut our 2007-08 budget by $3.6 million and we cut this year’s budget by another $10.4 million.  Sadly, there is no hope on the horizon either. Over the next biennium it appears that cuts in the range of 14-30% will be ordered. That is truly staggering. Here is what that could mean.

If you take twenty-five percent of our $456 million general fund budget it is twice what we spend on maintenance and operations. Are we to stop repairing broken plumbing and cleaning schools? Twenty-five percent is more than we have to transfer to the special education budget to meet federal mandates. Are we to ignore federal law and stop serving these most challenged students?  Twenty-five percent is more that we spend to operate the entire transportation department. Shall we just park all the 300 buses we operate, fire the entire department and let students get to school the best way they can?

I also need to remind everyone that it is not like we’re starting from a position of financial strength. Were this district funded anywhere near the national average, such a scenario would not be as challenging. But we’re not. Nevada’s per-pupil spending of $6,963 ranks us 47th in the nation; almost $2,600 per pupil less than the national average. The Boston Public Schools, a district about the same size as the Washoe County School District, spends $16,000 per pupil.

Consider this and perhaps, it will put all of this in perspective. I said a minute ago that our general fund budget is….or used to be….$456 million. Divided by our enrollment of 63,000 students and then divided further by the 180 day school year means we are spending about $40 per day per student to do all we are asked and required to do. That’s it. $40 per day, per child. That is comparable to what parents pay for day care.  With that $40 we provide teachers, aides and assistants, clerks, secretaries, bookkeepers, counselors, psychologists, principals, music teachers, attendance officers, speech therapists, nurses, bus drivers, custodians, accountants, groundskeepers, coaches and a superintendent.

We pay the utility bills, provide property and casualty insurance, buy textbooks, computers, paper, copiers and other supplies, wax for the floors and musical instruments for the band. We provide specialized staff to teach recent arrivals the English language, auditors to provide accountability, efficiency and transparency in all those transactions, statisticians to analyze thousands of pages of testing data under No Child Left Behind, testing specialists to comply with that law, grant specialists to seek out funding opportunities, staff to improve parental involvement, communications specialists to ensure that we communicate regularly and that our many stakeholder groups are involved in decision-making.

What is it that we are NOT supposed to do? Where is the lessening of expectations? We cannot, nor should we, turn children away. We cannot close, nor should we, 1/4 of our schools or decide to cap certain services. We cannot legally drop, nor should we, our ESL program or stop providing special education services and, if this community is to maintain its quest to be a “World Class School District,” we surely cannot recommend cuts to music, fine arts, JROTC, debate, the International Baccalaureate program, the Gifted & Talented Program, or countless other programs that so often spark and ignite a student’s passion to come to school. 

Finally, I want to comment just briefly on some of the steps we have already taken to be as efficient as possible with our limited resources. A district-wide rezoning of our elementary schools last year moved about 1,800 students from crowded schools to others with space. Doing so delayed the need for building two schools at a savings of $48 million. Energy conservation measures have resulted in savings of $179,000 in annual utility bills. The realignment of bus routes two years ago has shown savings of $481,000 and initial cuts at the central office has netted a savings of $300,000.

When I sit back and think about all of this, I am reminded of a poignant scene after hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans. Do you recall 9 year-old Charles Evans outside the convention center who said to the camera, “This is pitiful, just pitiful. We just need some help out here.”  As surely as that hurricane leveled the Gulf Coast, the economic winds are wreaking havoc with education in Nevada. And just like Charles, we need some help out here.

Now despite the seriousness of this situation, our core mission remains unchanged---to have every child graduate from high school, college and career ready.  It is not the fault of our students we are in this economic mess and no matter what our budget ends up being, our goal of all students graduating is as important now as ever.

Why must every child graduate?  There is overwhelming evidence that a high school diploma is the gateway to economic opportunity.   The average annual earnings of a high school dropout is $19,900 per year.  For a female, it is $14,300.  A high school graduate earns $29,400, while those with an associate’s degree earn $38,000 and a bachelor’s degree $54,600.  The “more you learn, the more you earn”.   Failure to successfully complete high school is a decision to throw away up to five million dollars in earning power over a life time.  (U.S. Census Bureau Current Population Survey-2005; Alliance For Education Issue Brief, June 2008).

A high school diploma is the key to economic opportunity.  Absent a decent standard of living, what does life promise a child?  Although there are many barriers to education success, the most destructive statistically is poverty.  At an early age the impacts of poverty can be devastating.  Poor children have vision problems at twice the rate of middle class children.  They have untreated cavities at three times the rate and blood lead levels at five times the rate.  The overall health of a child affects attendance, the ability to learn and ultimately academic performance (Rothstein, Class and Schools).  As professional educators we accept these facts as challenges, not excuses.  Acknowledging these challenges and how other risk factors like incarceration rates and drug use are directly correlated with personal education levels, it is crystal clear why every child must graduate from high school.  Those that do graduate live longer and are more likely to vote and be community volunteers (Alliance for Excellent Education, Issue Brief, June 2008).        

How many  of our children graduate from high school in four years?  Nationally and internationally the United States is not keeping pace.  Young people today are less likely than their parents to complete high school.  Low expectations for student performance is a major cause of this problem.  Under the No Child Left Behind Act, most states have set the bar low for expected high school graduation rates.  According to the Education Trust, Nevada’s rate for its high schools is 50%, the lowest in the nation (Education Trust, Counting on Graduation, 2008). 

The Washoe County School District’s expectations are more robust.  Our Board of Trustees, parents, the community, employees and I expect all of our students to graduate college and career ready.  Our strategic plan, the Blueprint For Student Success, explicitly states this.  Reliable data is a necessity for  improving the district’s graduation rates.  An accurate, uniform way of calculating high school graduation rates has not existed in Nevada or nationally.  Eighteen months ago the Data Profile Committee, a University of Nevada Reno/Truckee Community College/Washoe County School District partnership took a look at this issue.  They developed an absolutely accurate model for calculating graduation rates patterned after the National Governor’s Association’s.

When this model was applied to the district’s Class of 2006, this is what we found.  The overall graduation rate for the class was 56%.  Under the old method, which is used by the state of Nevada for No Child Left Behind accountability purposes, the rate was 75%.   Using the new method for calculating rates for individual student categories were:

American Indian and Alaskan Native students    36%

Hispanic students                                37%

African American students                        44%

Caucasian students                            63%

Asian and Pacific Islander students                66%

(Washoe K-16 Data Profile, December 2007)

Although painful to accept, these data give us a bed rock benchmark for understanding the seriousness and scope of the challenge to graduate every child in Washoe County.  What have we done, what are we doing, and what will we do to meet this challenge?  We have implemented numerous researched proven programs and initiatives.  Hug High school was restructured into small learning communities following the successful model pioneered by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.  Student achievement has steadily improved.  All 9th graders are now enrolled in Algebra and Biology (Hug High School Accountability Report, 2007-2008).   We implemented a literacy program in every middle and high school that accelerates the acquisition of skills for children not reading at grade level.  In all of our elementary schools we have research- based reading and math programs.  In the fall of 2007 we initiated a nationally-known and proven initiative that employs the expertise of professional educators and the knowledge and insights of parents to collaboratively identify individual student learning issues and recommend interventions to address these issues.  

Finally the Board of Trustees and I have been working with senior staff to create system-wide planning tools that are being applied to the Blueprint For Student Success, the district’s strategic plan.  These tools will focus the district’s resources on the most pressing challenges such as improving the graduation rate.  One of these tools, the District Continuous Improvement Cycle, will ensure that comprehensive data analyses and evaluations will be annually applied to all educational and operational functions.   The resulting outcomes will drive the allocation of resources.  This entire process will eventually be subject to the process improvement and evaluation efforts of the district’s ISO 9001 initiative.  As an ISO certified organization, the district is continuously expanding this system internally.       

In the final analysis, these efforts alone are insufficient.  49% of the days in the year are school days.  For the most part, children only spend 25% of each school day in school.  Success in school is a measure of the capability to engage students in learning and the students’ ability to retain and apply that learning to academic tests and actual problems.  This success is rarely achieved without the continuous involvement of parents and the community.  Towards this end, we are working tirelessly to more actively involve the community and  parents.  The Parent Involvement Resource Center grant, operated as part of the Education Collaborative, has been instrumental in developing programs and initiatives to actively engage parents.  A Strategic Communications Plan was recently approved by the Board of Trustees.  It features efforts that promote two-way communication with the community.  The Board of Trustee’s Listen to Learn Program, which provides a forum for the community to meet and speak with Board members, will continue to be a component of this effort. 

The district will maintain its partnership with the City of Reno, City of Sparks, Washoe County and numerous other organizations and individuals in the Ready For Life initiative.  This initiative will improve the coordination of services and programs for youth who are school dropouts, pregnant and parenting teens, foster children and those engaged with the juvenile justice system; and it will help create a community that fully embraces these youth. 

Lastly, two wonderful organizations supporting education, the Education Collaborative and the Education Foundation, recently merged into the Education Alliance.  While continuing all current programs, the Alliance will be actively seeking means to strengthen community support for education.

These are very challenging times.  The current fiscal situation is serious and we will leverage this situation to seek new efficiencies.  Yet ultimately we must have a strong and dependable resource base to achieve the critical goals we have set for our children.  We must have warm, safe, dry, and technologically current older schools so that all of our children learn in equivalent physical and educational environments.  We must be able to recruit and retain talented teachers and administrators.  We must have your support in maintaining the physical and human capital infrastructure necessary to effectively and successfully operate a large, complex urban school district that is systematically improving.  And finally we must continue to have active community and parent advocacy for children and youth.  As our collective journey towards becoming a World Class School District continues, this advocacy and support is essential if we are to address the challenges posed by our most needy students; as well as to provide the programs and people that serve all of our students. Our children have dreams, ambitions and aspirations that benefit us all.  As a community, we must give them the education they need and deserve to pursue these dreams, ambitions and aspirations.

Thank you very much.