Thirteen elementary schools in the Washoe County School District have submitted plans to the district to help manage overcrowding in the schools. Now the district will review the suggested actions and present them to the public before moving forward.
Officials say once a school hits 120% capacity it is forced to change it's schedule, either to multi-track/year-round for elementary schools or double sessions in secondary schools. The district is working with schools between 110 and 120 percent to create school overcrowding management plans (SOMPs.)
The process which started three weeks ago, covering 13 elementary schools, three middle schools and seven high schools, comes ahead of a ballot measure that would raise sales tax, to pay for capital projects.
"Because of state law, we cannot oppose or promote the bond," says Swanberg, "We can just inform the community. And that's what these meetings are, inform the community."
We followed Lemmon Valley Elementary School while it created a SOMP. Their top recommendation is to rework existing space, however the first choice for Alice Smith Elementary School, which is just a few miles away, is a multi-track year-round schedule.Â
District staff are looking into fiscal, human resource, educational, and operational impacts of each plan and will eventually prioritize needs.
"If five schools ask for a portable, and one school, a portable would keep them off multi-track/year-round schedule for seven years. They would probably be our top priority," says Swanberg, "If a school only had a portable and it kept them off for one year, it's not cost effective to put it in there because we're going multi-track year-round anyways, whether we have that portable or not."
Superintendent Traci Davis will spend the next week probing suggestions from schools and staff before taking them to the school board. The seven secondary schools have not submitted SOMPs yet because the district says there is no way the schools will change schedules for the 2017-2018 school year, so they have more time to plan. Officials say that will also give the district more time to focus on just elementary school overcrowding.
There will be a SOMP presentation during the October school board meeting, which is open to public comment. The meeting is Tuesday, October 11th at 2 p.m. in the Administration Building on E. 9th street in Reno.
