Washoe County School District's newest superintendent is a familiar face for many — and she got a chance to show her leadership style at one of her first school board meetings in the role when she waded into a debate about whether students are too sedentary.

At a meeting this week filled with parents bringing up screen time concerns, Tiffany McMaster said the district has launched a study to learn how much time students are spending on digital devices across different grade levels. That could result in the district following other school districts such as Los Angeles Unified in creating policies that ban or limit screen time depending on students' grade levels. 

"I think the opportunities for screen time were opened up so wide during COVID, and everything became digital," McMaster said during a July 24 interview with The Nevada Independent. "It's sort of one of those pendulum swinging kind of things, and it's our job to find that happy medium."  

Before she was named as the district's new leader in May, she spent 28 years at the district working her way up the ranks from a math teacher to principal to deputy superintendent and finally superintendent. 

McMaster, 53, was born and raised in Reno and graduated from the district and later UNR. Both her kids, who are now fully grown, also went through Washoe County schools. 

McMaster said she initially attended UNR to pursue a college degree in business, but she later changed her major to education after remembering the difference she made when she got to work as a teacher assistant during high school. 

"I got the opportunity to work with a lot of students and help them pass algebra as freshmen when I was a senior, and so it just kind of inspired me," she said. "I really wanted to do something that … felt like my work mattered."

McMaster started in her new role on July 8 after former Superintendent Joe Ernst retired. She's the district's fourth superintendent in six years. 

During the July 24 interview, McMaster said part of the reason she applied for the job was to bring stability to the district after going through significant superintendent turnover. 

"We've made so much growth. We have so much momentum. We have so much further to go and sometimes, when you bring in new leaders from outside of the organization, the organization takes a few steps back before they can take a few steps forward again, and I didn't want that for our organization," McMaster said. 

Teachers and parents have mixed feelings about what McMaster can bring to the district. 

Calen Evans, president of the Washoe Education Association teachers union, said McMaster is well respected among staff and has a good reputation throughout the district and overall, union members are feeling optimistic about having her as the district's superintendent. 

But Brandi Vesco, the founder of the newly formed Washoe Parent Coalition and advocate with the Wait Until 8th movement against cellphones for young kids, was more skeptical on whether McMaster will bring about positive changes on issues such as screen time and access to physical education and art instruction. 

Screen time

During a July 28 school board meeting, dozens of parents raised concerns about the amount of screen time required for Washoe County students during the school day. 

Some parents cited the district's use of digital standardized testing and curriculum, some of which is required by the state and others that the district has elected to use. According to meeting materials, K-5 students receive at least 30-45 minutes of reading and math instruction weekly through an online program known as i-Ready, which has also drawn criticism from the Washoe Education Association. 

Evans said the hyperfocus on assessment and curriculums has moved Washoe and other public school districts away from more holistic learning traditions, such as physical education and recess, which may be in part resulting in students not wanting to come to school. 

"It's just not as engaging," Evans said. 

The board voted during its July 28 meeting to task the district's Safe and Healthy Schools Commission with reviewing best practices around student screen time. 

But McMaster added that state standards require computer science instruction and state testing is done digitally, so the district needs to prepare students for that.

Physical education and recess

Parents are also concerned about the loss of recess time and physical education, particularly in elementary schools. 

The district does not fund dedicated P.E. teachers at the elementary level. McMaster explained that K-8 teachers are certified to teach physical education and are sometimes charged with doing so. However, some schools do hire a teacher assistant or aide to teach it thanks to money raised by their local parent teacher associations. 

Nevada doesn't have a law requiring a certain number of recess minutes, setting a specific recess structure or prohibiting schools from withholding recess for certain students. But the Nevada School Wellness Policy states schools must provide students with at least 30 minutes of physical activity. 

According to a breakdown of the instructional day for K-5 students presented during the school board meeting, the district dedicates 30 minutes of recess for K-5 students. The breakdown doesn't specify a number of minutes for physical education and health, but says "instruction is provided according to state standards."

"We rely on research for instructional minutes, but the reality is it's a push and pull," McMaster said. "We would love to give kids more of everything, but we have limited resources, we have limited time, so what do we do? What can we thoughtfully do in the precious amount of time that we do have?"

Vesco said her daughter's class has had their P.E. or art time taken away for being loud or misbehaving, which the wellness policy discourages. Vesco said she thinks time for art and P.E. should be protected, even if it cuts into math or reading time. 

"I'm OK with that because if you look at our scores for the past decade, they're flatlined," Vesco said, referencing the district's English and math proficiency scores. "It's diminishing returns at a certain point, like having a kid sit longer and longer and longer and longer isn't helping."

Vesco said her coalition is working with Assm. Alexis Hansen (R-Sparks) to introduce a bill during the 2027 legislative session that would require at least 45 minutes of recess. The Nevada Independent was unable to reach Hansen before publication to confirm. 

"We're so excited because we don't really trust local authorities to enforce compliance with the state policy only because history has shown they don't," Vesco said. 

Superintendent turnover

Another concern is how long McMaster will stay in the job. 

During her interview for the position, McMaster said she had no plans to retire. 

But the three superintendents before her all resigned or retired before their contracts ended. 

McMaster said one thing the school board and the state can do to help her and other superintendents is provide them with more support, such as reducing their administrative workloads. 

The Nevada Department of Education announced on Monday it approved a formal petition from the Nevada Association of School Superintendents to suspend 16 obsolete or redundant reports as part of a reporting efficiency project authorized under a 2025 bill, SB460. 

McMaster said redundant reporting "really drags down a system and reduces our operational efficiency."

"When we work at our highest functioning operational efficiency, we are able to dedicate the largest amount of resources to what matters, and that's to our students," McMaster said. 

The department said in a Monday press release it's working with the state's new Education Service Center to further streamline other reports.