Celebrating Our SNACS Community: Look How Far We've Come!
Dear SNACS Families,
We have so much to celebrate at Sierra Nevada Academy Charter School!
Over the past two years, our students, teachers, staff, and families have worked incredibly hard to strengthen our school. The results are showing—not only in academic achievement, but in the halls, classrooms, playgrounds, and relationships that make SNACS such a special small-school community.
Our Students Are Growing Academically
The Nevada Department of Education released the annual Nevada School Performance Framework (NSPF) and I’m happy to report SNACS has made great gains across multiple measures of performance. This past year, our Elementary School performance score increased approximately 130%, moving SNACS from a one-star to a two-star school and bringing us within just 12 points of three stars. Elementary math growth increased dramatically, and overall proficiency nearly doubled.
Our Middle School made tremendous progress as well. Its performance score increased approximately 70%, reaching two stars and putting our middle school just 5.6 points away from three stars.
Those numbers represent much more than percentages on a report.
They represent students who kept trying when learning was difficult. They represent teachers who planned, taught, assessed, adjusted, and tried again. They represent small groups around classroom tables, personalized learning goals, student choice, exploration, and the daily work happening through our PLAY® model and Interactive Choice Board.
Most importantly, they represent a school community that believes every child can grow and succeed.
Our School Climate and Culture Are Growing Stronger, Too
Some of our most exciting progress cannot be measured by a test.
In 2023–24, SNACS had 83 major discipline incidents and 109 suspensions. In 2024–25, those numbers fell to 32 major incidents and 25 suspensions. Last year, we had just 3 major discipline incidents and 2 suspensions.
That kind of change doesn’t happen by accident.
Our teachers and staff have worked intentionally to create classrooms where students know what is expected of them, feel connected to their school, take greater responsibility for their choices, and understand that they belong here.
This is what positive school culture looks like.
It is students learning to solve problems differently. It is teachers building relationships while maintaining high expectations. It is children feeling known in a small school where adults recognize their names, their strengths, their struggles, and their potential.
It is SNACS.
Families, You Are Part of This Success
We also want to say a very important thank you to our families.
Our chronic absenteeism rate decreased from 27.6% to 15%. That improvement matters tremendously because students cannot benefit fully from great teachers, personalized instruction, intervention, enrichment, and the PLAY® model if they aren’t at school.
Every morning that you get your child up, ready, and through our doors matters.
Every effort you make to schedule appointments outside the school day when possible, communicate with us about absences, and make regular attendance a family priority gives your child another opportunity to learn and grow.
Thank you.
Please continue helping us meet our attendance goals by having students at school, on time, every day they are healthy and able to attend. Reducing chronic absenteeism remains one of the most important things we can accomplish together.
We Are Not Finished Yet
We are incredibly proud of how far our students and staff have come—but we are still climbing.
Two stars is not our destination. Our next goal is three stars and beyond.
The difference today is that we can see the progress. We can see it in our academic growth. We can see it in our attendance. We can see it in the dramatic reduction in discipline and suspensions. And, most importantly, we can feel it in the climate and culture of our school.
SNACS has always been more than a building or a school performance rating. We are a small school community where students are known, families matter, teachers care deeply, and children have opportunities to discover who they are and what they are capable of becoming.
To our students: We see how hard you are working, and we are proud of you.
To our teachers and staff: Thank you for believing in our students and in what SNACS can become.
And to our families: Thank you for trusting us with your children, supporting our teachers, getting your children to school, and standing beside us as we continue this journey.
This progress belongs to all of us.
Together, we are building the SNACS our students deserve—and we are just getting started.
With gratitude and SNACS pride,
Dr. Kimberly Regan
CEO
Sierra Nevada Academy Charter School