Washoe County school trustees yesterday unanimously approved $5.2 million for pre-construction work to rebuild Vaughn Middle School.
Tami Zimmerman, the district’s chief facilities management officer, said this portion of the funding will take the project from construction documents through permitting.
Trustees previously approved $3.5 million to develop the school’s design, which borrows from the recently completed O’Brien Middle School rebuild and includes adjustments for Vaughn’s property.
Design for the new building will be complete by November, and the district expects to open the project for construction bidding in spring 2024. Construction is planned to begin in June 2024 and be completed in 2026.
Zimmerman showed trustees an image of the new school design to show how the property will look.
The new Vaughn building – which will be constructed while students continue to attend school in the existing building – is an L-shaped structure with a main entrance on Yori Avenue and a wing along Vassar Street. The design includes a three-story classroom wing, a section of larger classrooms for electives such as band, a multipurpose room, administrative offices and a gym.
A community room is planned for the corner near Yori and Vassar, with a separate entrance that may be used as a family resource center. Families would not need to access family resources through the main school entrance.
Once the new building is complete, the old building will be demolished, and softball/soccer fields and a small track will be built and completed in 2027.
“We reconfigured it to work a lot better with the community and the way the property is set up,” Zimmerman said.
She added that the district has worked with the City of Reno to ensure the playing fields are still suitable for community sports. The new property design also includes covered bike parking, more vehicle parking and a large bus dropoff area on the classroom side.
“I absolutely love this moving illustration,” Trustee Beth Smith said. “That was so helpful for understanding the vision and the layout of the building and the way it will nestle in the community.”
Trustee Colleen Westlake, who said she attended Vaughn Middle School, said the community aspect of the school was apparent.
“This does so much justice to that neighborhood, to have a middle school of that quality,” she said. “This is really, really nice to see that we’ve taken into consideration the neighborhood’s comfort.”
