About

Sierra Nevada Academy Charter School (SNACS) was granted a charter April 7, 1999 by the Washoe County School District (WCSD) as the first elementary/middle charter school serving grades K-8 in Nevada. For 18+ years, the SNACS community has provided a unique option within the WCSD.  At the heart of the charter school is the motto, which captures the essence of the unique climate and culture in Bringing the Small School Community Back to the Neighborhood. The SNACS small school community fosters personalized learning, technology, choice, parent and student engagement, and STEM all drive student achievement.

SNACS Mission

To be the leading choice in public education, in which educators, parents, and students are partners in fostering a small school community and exemplary academic and social achievement, in a cost-effective way.

SNACS Charter School Goal

Sierra Nevada Academy Charter School (herein referred to as SNACS) adopted to fulfill one federal charter school goals as required by the Nevada Department of Education and outlined in the original application to operate a charter: Providing an Innovative Public Education.

SNACS Guiding Principles

SNACS motto is “bringing the small school community back to the neighborhood”.  This small school community provides multiple stakeholders (students, parents, educators, and the community) with opportunities through an innovative public education system.  Education stakeholders have a voice and a choice in education simply by the nature of the charter school.  Charter schools have instilled a market economy in public education driving the accountability movement towards economic, organizational, and educational outcomes where success is measured through multiple sources of data.

The SNACS Model features specific economic, organizational, and educational guiding principles that foster innovation.  This section delineates the key components of each area.

• Economic:
  • A solid financial foundation is essential to providing a high quality educational experience to children and their families.
  • Investments in educational leaders, professionals in the classroom, and in support services for students are essential to providing a high quality educational experience for children and their families.
  • Investments to leverage technology and provide resources for curriculum, instructional support materials, and assessments are essential to providing a high quality educational experience for children and their families.
• Organizational:
  • The organizational structure ensures the Board of Governance governs in the areas of board, financial, contract, and policies that directly impact the high quality education for children and their families.
  • The SNACS organizational structure supports a Learning Organization where Personal Mastery, Mental Models, Shared Vision, Team Learning, and Systems Thinking are practiced for a high quality educational experience for children and their families.
  • The organizational structure supports the educational goals in providing for a high quality educational experience for children and their families.
  • The organizational structure provides for effective use of personnel, resources, and the school community in providing a high quality educational experience for children and their families.
• Educational:
  • The SNACS educational model provides for innovation in the implementation of specific practices that support a high quality educational experience for children and their families.
  • The SNACS educational model is designed to personalize education and individualize instruction based on students’ needs and family supports for a high quality educational experience for children and their families.
  • The SNACS educational model is designed to leverage and optimize technology use and functions to provide a high quality educational experience for children and their families.
  • The SNACS educational model is designed to foster relationships, collaborations, and partnerships within the school and surrounding communities.
  • The SNACS educational model is designed to instill student responsibility for learning in education and decision making in a high quality educational experience for students and their families.
  • The SNACS educational model is designed to provide a progressive curriculum, conduct multiple measures of summative and formative assessments, maximizes effective use of data to ensure growth in a high quality educational experience for students and their families.
  • The SNACS educational model provides for cultivating leadership at all levels of the organization for a high quality educational experience for students and their families.
• Innovative Public Education Model which:
  • Cultivates Leadership at all Levels of the Organization
  • Ensures a High Quality Education
  • Provides Personalized Learning
  • Supports Growth
  • Leverages Technology
  • Instills Student Responsibility for Learning in Education and Decision Making
  • Provides Progressive Curriculum
  • Conducts Multiple Measures of Summative and Formative Assessments
  • Maximizes Effective Use of Data
  • Supports Families as Essential to Education
  • Includes Community Opportunities
  • Supports Accountability
    

  Strategic Objectives (How do we achieve the big picture? What are the smaller steps to the big picture?)

  Advocates for Charter Schools & School ChoiceIn carrying out the goals of SNACS, board members support and make decisions to pursue specific strategic objectives. These objectives provide a working framework for effective and efficient efforts and resources toward a learning organization. Board Members strive to provide a collective series of work that includes:

  • Board Service with Longevity
  • Board Development
  • Increase Funding Sources
  • Financial Framework for Strong Foundation
  • Strategic Planning
  • Networking
  • Collaboration with other entities/stakeholders in education and the community
  • Partnerships with other entities/stakeholders in education and the community
  • Leverages Technology
  • National and Nevada Public Policy Forum
  • PD Opportunities
  • Provides Educational Opportunities
  • Support Higher Education
  • Support Research
  • Professional Learning Community onsite
  • PD Opportunities via conferences and workshops
  • Data & Research
  • Resource support
  • Family Engagement & Parent Involvement in Education
  • Community Engagement & Involvement
  • Growth of Members

Vision Statements (What do our actions portray? What word-pictures can we use to describe the work of our organization? How do we act to achieve our goals and accomplish our objectives?)

The SNACS Community acts in ways consistent with the vision and mission of SNACS and developed a series of vision statements to guide our work. We work in ways to:

• Promote and provide opportunities that support an early childhood/primary (P-3) environment of strong starts for SNACS young children.
• Promote and provide opportunities that support an elementary/intermediate (4-8) environment of strong starts for SNACS children.
• Support family engagement as key to student achievement.
• Support advocacy and accountability of the professionals that serve our children.
• Facilitate active & diverse leadership, working beyond board meetings and the traditional school day.
• Outreach to all members of the school community to be sure all members’ voices are heard and represented.
• Believe that all children have extraordinary talents, strengths, and can learn.
• Believe all students can make responsible decisions for their learning.
• Maximize efforts to support healthy development of all children.
• Honoring the Code of Ethical Conduct.
• Believe all children need access to quality care and education.
• Strive to ensure professional and educational supports in place for our workforce to provide children a strong start in education.
• Promote SNACS standards of excellence.
• Support community awareness of importance of SNACS and the service to the community.
• Be a partner to facilitate stakeholder collaboration events influencing policy.
• Support strong educational organizational structure between the charter school, the sponsor, and the state.
• Support strong educational organizational structure within the state across agencies/organizations. The SNACS Board of Governance holds core values that guide the principles, which outline the spirit in which they expect all members to conduct work.

Organizational Values (What do we character traits do we value as an organization and how do we expect our board members and staff to act in the capacity of leading others?)

The SNACS Board expects all of our leaders to uphold and instill core values and support the SNACS model in all work surrounding children, their families, and the professionals who serve them. Core values include: