Washoe County School District this week hosts a series of community meetings to discuss potential updates and changes to a handful of local schools. The meetings are part of a multi-step process the district started last fall to update some of its aging schools.
The in-person meetings are at 5:30 p.m. each evening at the following schools:
- Tuesday, Sept. 5, Sun Valley Elementary School, 5490 Leon Dr. to discuss Sun Valley middle and elementary schools
- Wednesday, Sept. 6, Traner Middle School, 1700 Carville Dr., to discuss Traner, Sparks and Dilworth middle schools and nearby elementary schools
- Thursday, Sept. 7, Pine Middle School, 4800 Neil Rd., to discuss Pine Middle School and nearby elementary schools
District officials said they are exploring different options for each middle school because the buildings are among the oldest in the district and have much less crowding than some of the district’s newer schools. School capacity at several of these older middle schools is close to 50%, far lower than the 70%-80% of newer schools — or the over-capacity Sky Ranch Middle School.
WCSD’s Facilities Modernization Plan will guide updates to older schools over the next 10 years, similar to updates already completed at O’Brien Middle School and soon underway at Vaughn Middle School. Those schools were selected to be rebuilt on the same site and the old schools to be demolished.
In community surveys last fall, people largely supported replacing the aging schools with additions or demolishing and rebuilding the schools. They also supported creating magnet programs at the schools to attract more students or having offsite programs for early college and internship opportunities.
Survey results also showed a high demand for improved STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) and career technical education facilities.
This week’s meetings will present options being considered based on community input and district data. Those options include school consolidation, redistricting, building newer schools, and upgrading others.
The district is working with CannonDesign to develop the Facilities Modernization Plan. Details on the process, school and survey data and other materials are online at https://washoeschoolsfmp.net/.
Source: WCSD.
