INCLINE VILLAGE, Nev. — With two months to go before the start of the 2010-11 school year, it's unclear if the school district and local educators are on schedule to implement the controversial International Baccalaureate program at Incline High School.

Incoming high school Principal Stacey Cooper, who will assume responsibility for the vertical alignment of the entire K-12 program combined with the implementation of IB in all three schools, is not on campus yet, meaning concrete answers regarding the immediate future of Incline High School were not available this week.

“I can't speak to how implementation of the IB program is progressing at the high school,” said Serena Robb, IB coordinator for Incline schools. “With John (Clark, the outgoing principal) gone and the new principal yet to be in place, things are still up in the air.”

Cooper is scheduled to arrive in Incline Village in early July. The first day of school is August 23.

In a June 8 North Lake Tahoe Bonanza article, Cooper said she will need time to become acquainted with the various facets of the district before making crucial decisions which will affect the immediate future of Incline schools.

“Some people may believe I am coming to Incline Village in haste with IB implementation in mind, but I am coming there to listen and I want to be informed as possible,” she said in an early June interview. “IB is a good program, but it has to be implemented the correct way.”

According to published Bonanza reports, the Washoe County School District plans to begin implementing International Baccalaureate on a K-12 basis at the start of the 2010-11 school year. Furthermore, the school district will pay $210,000 for 3.5 teacher allocations for the 2010-11 academic year for Incline's schools — with the caveat that the full amount must be reimbursed by International Baccalaureate Incline Village by Dec. 31, 2010. IBIV is a nonprofit dedicated to raising funds for the implementation of IB.

The incoming freshman class is the first group of Incline students who will be eligible for the IB Diploma, which they can begin taking classes for during their junior and senior years, in 2012-13 and 2013-14.

WCSD Assistant Superintendent Pedro Martinez, who has spearheaded IB's implementation from a district standpoint in Reno, is out of town all week and could not answer questions for this story.

Middle, elementary schools

While the high school is in a state of flux, Robb said she has a better handle on how implementation is progressing at Incline Middle and Elementary schools.

Elementary and middle school teachers — many of whom already have been trained in the IB discipline — will be subject to a half-day introduction — prior to the start of the school year — to overarching components of the program.

“It's more of an overview as to how the program works,” Robb said.

Robb will focus on unofficially integrating elements of the program into the elementary and middle school curriculum in 2010-11, in advance of full implementation, which is tentatively scheduled to occur in the fall of 2012.

“IB is much more thematic and general on the elementary and middle school levels, where as on the high school levels you start to get more into the nitty-gritty,” said Robb.

Nevertheless, eight IES employees, 10 IMS employees and 14 IHS employees already have received intensive IB training, according to IHS French teacher Jeni Cross. All teachers, counselors and administrators are required to have full training before implementation at any of the schools will be considered complete.