Construction is underway on the Washoe County School District's newest school. JWood Raw Elementary School is being built along the wetlands near Rio Wrangler Pkwy.

"This will help relieve that overcrowding," Dr. Kristen McNeill, WCSD Superintendent said. "We've done some rezoning to kind of balance out the numbers."

For years, Brown and Double Diamond Elementary Schools faced overcrowding issues, requiring portable classrooms. Nick Poulakidas Elementary School opened in 2019 to take pressure off those schools. Population growth and development in south Reno led to that school getting overcrowded very quickly.

"This is actually going to help Poulakidas Elementary School reduce their numbers," McNeill said. "We just opened that school just a couple years ago and we already have four portables over there."

The $46.6 million project comes from capital projects funding. Voters approved a sales tax increase during the 2016 election. Since then, WCSD has broke ground on nine schools.

"The fact that we can do this for our elementary schools and we've got Hug High School opening up and O'Brien Middle School and then Swope but then the other important part of that is now we have a sustainable funding source to help with our older schools," McNeill said.

The elementary school will have 28 classrooms and a capacity for 682 students. It has the same design as Poulakidas E.S. It includes one STEAM lab, which includes the arts with science, technology, engineering and math. It will have three hub spaces and have security measures including single-point of entry and secure perimeter. The school is being built with an energy efficient design and drought-tolerant landscaping. It will have the latest technology for education.

"We are keeping up with the jobs of the future, so it's important that we imbed those pieces into our curriculum," Lt. Gov. Lisa Cano Burkhead, D-Nevada said.

School district, local and state leaders attended a groundbreaking ceremony for the school, Friday.

School Groundbreaking

WCSD leaders held a groundbreaking ceremony for JWood Raw Elementary School, Friday.

The school's location takes traffic and walkability into consideration. It will be closer to the wetlands than it is the four-lane Rio Wrangler Pkwy in a residential part of town.

"They'll have opportunities to walk or bike or even for parents to drop their students off just a block away and walk along those paths to the school, rather than driving up to the front doors," Adam Searcy, WCSD Chief of Facilities said.

Construction is already underway. Underground utilities like electrical and plumbing are done. Footings have been excavated. Crews could start pouring concrete, next week. Walls could start going up by the end of April.

"People that are team members that are working on the project, their kids will get to go to school here and that's kind of exciting, makes it special for us," Jeremme McGilvray, Managing Member for Martin-Harris/Group West Construction said.

The school is named after a long-time educator. JWood Raw worked for the Washoe County School District as a teacher, vice principal and principal for 37 years. He was also an aviator in the U.S. Navy during World War II.

"It's unbelievable," Jon Raw, JWood Raw's son said. "He would be so proud and honored and humbled to know that a school is named after him."

The elementary school is scheduled to open in the fall of 2023.