For at least one night, the implementation of International Baccalaureate at Incline Schools was not the focus of a school district-sponsored community meeting.

“Tonight is about celebrating the kids and expressing eagerness and enthusiasm for the coming school year,” said Stacey Cooper, newly hired Incline High School principal, at the Welcome Back to School Rally hosted by the Washoe County School District at the Parasol building Wednesday night.

Incline Elementary School principal Kathleen Watty, Incline Middle School principal Sharon Kennedy and Cooper all gave speeches during the rally.

While all three administrators mentioned IB in passing, it was not the focal point of any of the three speeches.

Watty mentioned a bevy of other acronyms which will impact teachers and students including AYP — Adequate Yearly Progress; CRT — Criteria Referenced Tests; PBS — Positive Behavior System; MAP — Measures of Academic Progress and AR — Accelerated Reader.

Kennedy told parents a new fixed schedule — which will replace the rotating drop schedule meaning students had subject-specific classes at different times each day — will allow students to see the same teacher at the same time every day, fostering a sense of stability and consistency.

Glossary of terms AYP - Adequate Yearly Progress is a measurement defined by the federal No Child Left Behind Act, which allows the U.S. Department of Education to determine how nationwide public schools are performing academically based on standardized test scores. CRT — Criterion-refrenced Tests is a test given to all third-grade through fifth-grade students and is used to measure how well students know the material. PBS — Positive Behavior System is a method of attempting to understand what factors sustain a child's challenging behavior. AR — Accelerated Reader is software program which monitors the progress of elementary and middle school students. MAP — Measures of Academic Progress is a program which uses computerized adaptive tests to accumulate data and identify how to improve teaching and learning in the classroom.

Cooper's debut

However, the star of the rally was Cooper, who revealed her goals for the upcoming year in her first public appearance in Incline Village as the new principal of the high school.

Cooper said improving attendance for all classes at the high school by 20 percent, vertically aligning the curriculum throughout all three schools, and increasing positive school-awareness by communicating with parents and local media are her priorities going into the year.

Cooper also said the IB controversy is indicative of parents passion regarding the education of their kids.

“IB is not an ugly (acronym),” she said. “Whether you are pro- or anti- IB or simply confused and hungry for more information, the bottom line is we all care about kids and their education.”

Cooper said she is in favor of “expanding the toolbox to help kids.”

“When I was in the office I pulled the mission of AP and the mission of IB, I found a lot of commonalties which match my central mission: to prepare kids for a post-high school career or college,” she said.

Parent reaction

Parents and community-members afterward praised Cooper for her positive and enthusiastic approach to the coming year.

“I'm excited,” said Joanne DeVine, a parent of children in WCSD schools. “It was nice to not necessarily move on, but to take a break from the IB controversy and focus on some positive things.”

Rick Marshall, another parent of school-aged children agreed.

“The rally was fantastic,” he said. “It was nice to hear everyone's vision.”

Marshall expressed weariness with the ongoing IB debate.

“The anti-IB group are driving the issue into the ground,” he said. “They are so focused on being anti-IB they lost sight of the bigger picture.”

Even John Eppolito, a vocal critic of IB implementation, was impressed with Cooper's initial public appearance.

“It was fine for what it was,” he said. “(Stacey Cooper) was very energetic and said all the right things.”