To put it bluntly: Eureka County is small.
It's estimated fewer than 2,000 people live in the county, and the so-called Loneliest Road in America cuts right through the southern part of the county. The school district, about five hours north of Las Vegas, about 120 miles north to south and about 30 miles wide.
So how do you run a school district with fewer than 250 students who can be spread out over great distances?
Dan Wold would know. He's the district superintendent.
"Because there are so few people, everybody knows each other -- most are somehow related," Wold said of Eureka County.
He said it is not difficult to foster community in his county because it is self-contained. Graduation rates have been at 100 percent for several years, and most of his students also go on to college or the military.
Not everything is rosy, though. Wold says, like all rural counties in the state, transportation is a problem.
"The elementary school is clear across town, so it takes 30 seconds to drive and three minutes to walk," he said. "It's the [school] that's two hours away that presents some challenges."
To accommodate the student-athletes -- or, most of the students in the small district -- the district moved to a four-day school week several years ago.
Unlike other school districts in Nevada, Eureka is funded entirely by taxes on mining companies. Wold said they get a few grants from the state, but as long as mining stays strong, they'll continue to be independent. Wold credited his predecessor for creating a rainy-day fund to help keep the schools funded even if there is a drop in mining revenue.
He said the funding has allowed the district to offer plenty of options for students.
"We still get to have art," he said. "We still get to have choir, band, wood shop, auto shop, [agriculture] shop. We get to offer electives, such as anthropology. A lot of bigger schools can't do that."
Wold also said they're able to pay teachers more. That means they have a highly experienced staff.
"You have to be patient if you want to work in Eureka, because we have a very low turnover [rate]," he said.
And with a staff with a lot of experience and a small community where everyone knows everyone, kids are not left behind.
"When you have a staff that's veteran and skilled and cares -- for lack of a better term -- top to bottom, kids just don't slip through," he said.
Wold said everyone from custodians to the secretary has eyes on students and their achievement. That also means replicating Eureka County's success in graduation rate and college placement is almost impossible in larger counties, like Clark or Washoe counties.
Wold believes improving education in the state means leaving behind the idea of one solution for everyone.
"We need to quit thinking that there's going to be a magic bullet that is going to change and make us more successful," he said.
He advocates a focus on individual student needs rather than a test score.
"Let's do the best we can with getting kids excited about being in school," he said. "Let's make their learning relevant to them and their goals, and where they want to see themselves -- not so much worrying about raising a test score that really does have to do with where that kid sees him or herself being in life 10, 20 years down the road."
Several new policies passed by the Legislature this year will help Wold with that effort. Both allow more leeway with what kind of certification teachers need to teach different subjects.
But getting those new policies and others from the state integrated into Eureka County schools means a lot of work for Wold, who is a one-man show.
"One of the great things about being in Eureka is that I'm the only district administrator," he said. "One of the bad things about being in Eureka is that I'm the only district administrator."
Dan Wold, superintendent, Eureka County School District
