The 411

Two new vice principals in the Carson City School District were introduced to the school board last week.

One is Chris Budson, who becomes the assistant principal at Empire Elementary School, taking the place of Lee Conley, who is the new principal at Seeliger Elementary School.

The other is Casey Gilles, who is becoming the assistant principal at Bordewich-Bray Elementary School and taking the place of Pat Beckwith, who was hired by the Storey County School District to become principal of Virginia City High School.

One of the reasons for Budson's hire was that the former teacher at Empire Elementary School is bilingual. Principal Pat Carpenter said being bilingual is a great communication tool for school success.

"It's not so much the students, it's bringing the parents in," she said.

During public comment at the school board meeting, several people spoke about Ruth Aberasturi, for whom they hoped the student support service building would be named. They included Tony DelVechhio, Jan Silvestro, Liz Isaacs, and Judy Lawder.

Silvestro, a speech pathologist for the school district, said there's confusion about what the building is called, even from within the district. She described Aberasturi as her mentor.

"Ruth has impacted so many children in the community that if I impact 10 percent of those children, I've done my job," she said.

The board passed a policy allowing buildings, and portions of them, like libraries, office, and fields, to be named after "educators, pioneers or prominent citizens."

That excludes high schools, which can only be named for the "locality or region" of the school.

For former employees, like Aberasturi, naming cannot occur until three years has passed from the last full-time or part-time paid date of employment by the district. Aberasturi retired in May, so that's just two years and a little more than nine months to go before DelVecchio, Silvestro, Isaacs and Lawder can make formal application on her behalf.

A reminder for freshmen: Orientation is scheduled this week from 8 a.m.-noon at Carson High School, 1111 N. Saliman Road.

Students with last names starting with the letters A-L will meet Wednesday. Students with last names beginning with M-Z will meet Thursday. For more information, call the school at 283-1910.