Robert Alfaro said when he was checked into his hotel by a local young man, he was surprised to hear he was not in college yet, though he was a graduate of Reno’s Hug High School.

“When I asked him about the district, he told me, ‘I can’t complain; they’ve been good to me,’ ” Alfaro said.

Alfaro, who said he likes surrounding himself with people who enjoy learning, is the regional superintendent of Clark County School District and was one of three candidates to wrap up the second round of formal interviews for the Washoe County School District superintendent search on Tuesday.

The district’s Board of Trustees, seeking to find a replacement for outgoing superintendent Paul Dugan, selected six finalists last week to be interviewed and meet community members.

Following are brief responses from Tuesday’s candidates during their interviews.

Robert Alfaro

Current position: Regional superintendent, Clark County School District

Experience: Former middle school teacher, principal, superintendent

Trustee Barbara Clark: Give us examples of how you’ve reached out to the community.

Alfaro: When I got to Clark County, I took the most high-risk, urban, high-poverty, high-minority, high-ELL (English Language Learner) schools. I’m convinced after 30 years in business, educators can’t do it alone. You must have the community and parents be part of this. We had a program called Parents as Academic Leaders. We wanted to see active PTAs, PTOs ... They met with the chair once a week and our charge was to help schools reach student goals. We started with 32 of 50 members by spring, had a Parent Appreciation Day at one of colleges. We had 300 parents, of which 230 were from the region I represented.

Gary Larsen

Current position: superintendent, Nampa School District 131, Idaho

Experience: Superintendent, high school principal, Spanish and English teacher, director of athletic activities

Trustee Dan Carne: What expectations do you have of teachers, administration and staff in terms of raising academic goals?

Larsen: In the first place, I really don’t want to hold them accountable. I want to assist where we hold ourselves accountable. We need to be clear what expectations targets are. We need to have plans and when that happens, they hold themselves accountable. The best way for me to hold people accountable is to see if things are being done.

Dennis Dearden

Current position: Senior vice president for educational advancement, Gary, NC

Experience: Superintendent, assistant superintendent, principal, social studies high school teacher, head basketball coach

Clark: In very practical terms, what needs to occur in our school district (to raise academic achievement)?

Dearden: One of things I learned is to really look at data. You can’t assume every staff member knows how to dissect the data and see where gaps were. Get staff involved and if you see specific gaps, you’ve got to put a plan together with timely support. What I shared with the staff is I got them focused on why we were there. I got people working outside what I called their silos. I would train them to look at that data and create that environment ... and open communication internally with teachers. The one-size-fits-all mentality doesn’t work. You’re not going to save all kids. When it’s a district level down to the teacher level ... you can’t do it without good data.

The Board of Trustees meets Saturday at 9 a.m. to discuss a potential final candidate or to narrow their selections to a few top choices. Consultant Jim Huge, who has been conducting the search with the board, advised the board they may or may not visit the candidates’ district sites and contract issues will also need to be settled.