The Washoe County School District is moving forward with buying a new building along with land to build a new workspace for its administrative services.
Many district staff members spoke out about the poor condition of their current building and said this new workspace, off South Virginia Street, would benefit not only faculty but students and families.
Tami Zimmerman, the Chief Facilities Management Officer, said, “Bringing us all together allows us to collaborate and be more efficient. Bringing us into an efficient building helps us keep costs down for our general fund. But really, it's about valuing the employees and the work that they do and having them in a space that is conducive to their work.”
We got a chance to walk through the current building and saw broken windows, bathrooms being used as storage space, and heard from faculty about the lack of warm and cool temperatures throughout the building.
This new building would allow all administrative services to be under the same roof and would be a one-stop shop for families.
Right now, all services are spread out throughout three different locations, with one being rented at a cost of more than $200,000 a year by the district.
Zimmerman also said, "Instead of going to meet with the superintendent down at this building here at Ninth Street and then going to meet with the counselor at Riggins and then having to come back here to fill out another form. It makes it all in one space for our community and our families, so they're going to be more efficient, and they're going to get the services they need quicker.”
Parents did make public comment during the meeting about how they would rather have the $46 million that would fund this go towards the schools' playgrounds and fixing problems they say many schools have.
Board members stated that this funding would not prevent them from working on those issues and said both can be done.
