A brown bag lunch meeting on Wednesday became a black bag of mixed questions for Washoe County School District Superintendent Paul Dugan.

Hard economic times are motivating Dugan to seek as much community input as possible about limited dollars for the schools at the regular brown bag lunches he hosts. He is also trying to assuage parents' concerns about the quality of education the district has pledged to continue to provide despite such hardships.

Dugan fielded questions from about 20 parents on everything ranging from the district's budget dilemma to graduation rates.

Alicia Hoadley, the PTA treasurer at Caughlin Ranch Elementary School, asked if certain programs would be cut from the regular school day and whether other extracurricular activities would be implemented to enhance students' education.

Dugan replied that the PTA would always be able to raise its own funds and decide how to use it for its own school.

Hoadley also was concerned about class size.

"My kid is in the third grade and there are 32 kids in his class," Hoadley said. "He has an excellent teacher, but there is a point when he's not going to be able to teach everything (with all the student questions he gets)."

Dugan said class size increases would be a necessary cost-savings measure since district funds for capital construction aren't currently available.

"We have to make a decision soon," he said. "We can't wait until (the legislative session ends in) June."

Bus routes for students may also have to be increased, Dugan said. Zoning would take place so that elementary school students who now ride for 1 mile would ride 2 miles and middle schoolers would ride 3 miles instead of 2.

Parents also heard that a four-day work week would not be a viable option, the superintendent said, because it's not legal and the supposed 20 percent savings from reducing the week by one day isn't an accurate number. Also, Dugan said, it would mean slashing teachers' salaries.

David Love, who has several grandchildren attending Washoe County schools, asked questions about technology in the classrooms and student behavior.

"Behavior problems – do school psychologists work with the parents?" Love asked.

Dugan replied that counselors mainly are concerned with testing but that disciplinary problems should be left to the parents and that potential expulsions would only follow after the student has had been in contact with administrators and their parents.

"For a student to be expelled and not have been in contact with their parents (or the school), that would be highly unusual," Dugan said. "We'd find out where the system broke down."

Dugan said he would be happy to answer e-mailed questions from any parent at pdugan@washoe.k12.nv.us.