New trustee to fill Douglas County School Board vacancy after long debate

Following the resignation of Douglas County School Board Trustee Tony Magnotta due to ongoing contentions with the board, a new trustee was appointed Tuesday evening to fill his vacancy.

The choice to fill the vacancy came down between a Master Electrician and a Douglas County School District Paraprofessional.

Yvonne Wagstaff was voted unanimously to fill Magnotta’s vacant seat.

The board majority of Katherine Dickerson, David Burns and Doug Englekirk all spoke in favor of Ricky Lewis, a Master Electrician and long-time Douglas County resident.

Trustees Linda Gilkerson and Carey Kangas at first voted for a UNR educator, but pivoted to their second choice of Yvonne Wagstaff, a district paraprofessional, after their first choice failed to meet an initial vote.

More information about all three candidates and their responses to their application questions can be viewed here.

Discussions went on for some time, and after it was determined that another tie-breaking question would be asked of Wagstaff and Lewis, the board chose the third question from the initial application that none of the candidates answered while applying.

The question was: what are the biggest challenges facing public education in this country and specifically in Douglas County.

Wagstaff answered the following:

“The expectation that it is all up to the teacher. It’s not just the teacher that educates it’s the parents it’s the aide it’s the playground aide it’s the principal it’s the cafeteria lunch lady that says hi to the student everyday; we all have to work together to help to raise and educate our students. (On the national level) parent involvement. Getting parents involved volunteering at the school, coming to a school board meeting, helping their student every day.”

Lewis answered the following:

“We need to get back to basics. Social programs are not what the school system is supposed to be about; it’s about educating the children.”

“So that’s the major (issue) in this country, the district or both?” Jansen asked.

“Worldwide, in my opinion.

Those in favor of Lewis stated they supported his “back to basics” answer.

“I appreciated Mr. Lewis’s answer,” Englekirk said. “He wants to get away from social programming such as DEI, SEL and all that.”

During the initial round of questions, Trustee Burns asked applicants if they knew what CRT (Critical Race Theory), DEI (Diversity Equity Inclusion) or SEL (Social Emotional Learning) were.

However, Mr. Lewis specifically told the board that he did not know what DEI or SEL were, and said CRT is “basically affirmative action” which he did not think was a positive initiative.

Englekirk said that he did have a “quandary,” and eventually chose to vote for Wagstaff.

“Back to basics has been my theme since I ran for school board,” Burns said. “Back to basics is, to me, the key. We have to turn things around and get back to basics.”

During deliberations, Gilkerson pointed out that Lewis did not know many of the questions that he was asked during the initial round of questioning, and pleaded with other board members to look at their applications and the answers provided within them.

“Can we just look over their applications and see what they were writing about? Please? These are two distinct differences,” Gilkerson asked.

Dickerson responded that boards can have individuals from a range of backgrounds, and that “not being educated to the nines” should not disqualify someone.

Those in favor of Lewis were so because he was a master electrician. All trustees who voted for Lewis cited this as the reason for voting for him, especially because they want to “focus on vocational schools” and an electrician would be able to help in that capacity.

However, as Gilkerson pointed out, school board members do not teach vocational school, and the district already has a program in place for vocational education.

President Susan Jansen ended up being the tie-breaker by voting for Wagstaff. Immediately after she chose Wagstaff, Dickerson also said she wanted to change her vote to Wagstaff as well.

When the vote was called, Burns also chose to vote for Wagstaff.

About Yvonne Wagstaff

Wagstaff is a mother of six DCSD students; three of which have graduated and three remain within the schools. She has volunteered extensively within the district, and now is employed as a paraprofessional. Here is her letter indicating her interest in becoming a trustee:

I am interested in applying for the open school board position for District 1. I live within the district and would like the opportunity to represent our community. I haver lived here for almost 10 years and have grown to love this wonderful area.

I was a stay at home mother for 18 years raising 6 children, 3 of which graduated from Douglas High School while the other 3 are still attending DHS and CVMS. I believe that my role as their mother has always been and always will be the most important job I could ever do.

I have volunteered in every school that my children have attended. I believe that taking an active role in their education is the best thing I could do for them as their mother. When my youngest started Kindergarten I became aware of the need for substitutes within our district and so I began working in the kitchen and also as a Paraprofessional while still volunteering.

I enjoyed visiting the schools around the valley and up at the lake. When a position opened up at Pinion Hills Elementary to work within the Special Education department and also as a Playground Aide, I felt blessed to have the opportunity to work where my children attended school.

Six years later I am still working at PHES as a Playground Aide. I love being able to work with the children, inside the classroom and out, and with a variety of teachers and staff that care about each student.

Seeing the diversity of what they need and how best to help each student and teacher is important as support staff within the district. I know that there are many issues that have been addressed here within Douglas County, some have been resolved and many have become heated topics. Keeping an open mind and listening to all sides before making any decisions is vital to the best possible outcome. Every student and teacher deserves a school board who can work together to help facilitate a good working and learning environment, ensuring that our student needs always come first.

I would love the opportunity to serve our amazing students, teachers and community to help our school district grow and improve.

Thank you for your time and consideration.