Washoe County students and staff returned to classes Monday after a 2-week spring vacation, but there was a noticeable change at Damonte Ranch High School.
A major addition to the South Reno school was complete, allowing classes to be moved out of portables. Other classes will move in to the new spaces during the summer in time for next school year.
The school’s east wing expansion had an additional five classrooms and a business lab. Its west wing addition got six regular classrooms, four larger/enhanced classrooms, three general science rooms, one chemistry lab, one computer lab, and one special education room dividable into three rooms.
Damonte Ranch, 10500 Rio Wrangler Parkway, opened in 2003 with a capacity of about 1,500 students and an expansion intended for the future. The current enrollment is closer to 1,800.
Ground broke for the expansion in March 2017. It was the Washoe County School District’s first major project paid for by WC-1. The $10.7 million bid was awarded to Clark/Sullivan Construction and completed on time and on budget, district officials said.
November 2016’s voter-approved question increased the local sales tax by 0.54 percent to 8.265 percent. Such dollars can go only toward construction of and refurbishing of facilities. This money cannot be used for teacher or administrator salaries or other school operations.
