UPDATE (7:50 p.m.):
The Washoe County School District Board of Trustees has unanimously rescinded their decision to appoint Traci Davis, due to a technicality. The board will take up the issue at the next meeting scheduled.
County officials tell KTVN the reversal has nothing to do Davis personally, or the decision itself, but instead is necessary because Davis' name had not been included in the title of Tuesday's agenda.
A corrected title will be on the next agenda and a new vote will take place.
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The Washoe County School District Board of Trustees voted Tuesday 6-1 to appoint Traci Davis as the permanent Superintendent.
Trustees discussed the search for superintendent during its regular meeting on Tuesday afternoon.
In October, Trustees unanimously appointed Deputy Superintendent Davis to file the role on an interim basis. Davis was appointed to the position after Superintendent Pedro Martinez was ousted by Trustees during a non-public meeting, which later was found to be in violation of open meeting laws.
We caught up with Davis right after the vote. "Of course I'm very excited and I'm very happy, but at the end of the day we have work to do. Like, tomorrow I'm gonna wake up with the same schedule but knowing that I'm gonna be the superintendent and can continue to work and do collabs with our community, our schools, our parents, there's work to be done still so it's not like I get to wake up and say 'oh! I got a new job!'"
Davis says her first priority as superintendent is raising graduation rates and not letting any students slip through the cracks.
Along with the strong support from the trustees, Davis had several community leaders speak on her behalf including current and former district employees.
We spoke with Nick Smith-- the one dissenting trustee. He says he's not against Davis, he just wanted a more extensive search process that involved getting more input from parents.
Other trustees said that wasn't necessary.
"Our parents are the ones with the kids in the district, and I would have liked to have given them the opportunity to have a voice,” says Smith.
Lisa Ruggerio adds, "I've seen the work that she's done for the past three years. If you look at our graduation rates, and the work that we're doing here in the school district, Traci Davis has been behind all of that all along."
Davis takes over the office effective immediately.
