The Washoe County School District has postponed two major agenda items related to Wooster High School and the future of a new administration building.
Both items, which were on the agenda late last week, will not be discussed at the Tuesday, May 12 school board meeting.
“They will be brought back at a later time,” School Board President Adam Mayberry told the Reno Gazette Journal on Monday night. He said the items were removed because they are “complex issues that need more time to be considered.”
The decision comes after theRGJ's story last weekon the district's change in direction from a complete rebuild of Wooster to renovating the existing building. Also being considered was a $108 million administration headquarters with a possible location on the Wooster campus being considered.
Some trustees have publicly expressed surprise at the change in direction proposed by district staff.
“We had originally planned for a rebuild,” Trustee Beth Smith said at an April board meeting.
She said the Wooster community believed a new school was coming and described a new building as “as close to a promise as one could be.”
Members of the district capital funding oversight committee, including Reno City Councilman Devon Reese, accused the district of misleading the public by scaling back plans for a new building at Wooster while continuing to move forward with a new administration building.
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The committee, formed under WC-1, includes elected officials from Washoe County, Reno and Sparks, along with representatives from construction and gaming.
The committee voted against the district’s proposal to reduce the scope of the Wooster project while advancing an administration building.
While the committee can make recommendations, final decisions on capital projects rest with the district’s seven elected trustees.
The district confirmed it is removing the agenda item for the May 12 meeting. The item said staff was planning to ask the board to approve a full, phased reconstruction of Wooster High School at an estimated cost of $354 million. That figure was about $140 million more than an earlier new-build proposal and more than $270 million higher than what staff said in April the district could afford.
Last month, staff recommended $70 million to $80 million for Wooster upgrades rather than the full rebuild, citing reduced enrollment, construction costs and less money than previously projected coming in from tax dollars earmarked for construction.
Also removed from Tuesday’s agenda was an item addressing the administration building. The latest proposal by staff put on the May 12 agenda ended consideration of locating the building on the Wooster campus and instead directed staff to spend six months searching for vacant commercial property.
If no suitable location was found, the district was proposing the board approve keeping the administrative offices at their current site at 425 E. Ninth St., south of the University of Nevada, Reno.
The removal of both items was not mentioned in a press release the district sent Monday previewing the meeting, which will include consideration of hiring a new superintendent.
This article originally appeared on Reno Gazette Journal:WCSD postpones controversial Wooster, admin building proposals
