Four Sparks-area schools will stop serving students by 2030 after a 6-0 board vote on Tuesday, Oct. 27.

The Washoe County School District Board of Trustees approved two separate motions. One temporarily closes Fred W. Traner Middle School at the end of the 2028-29 school year for reconstruction. The other changes the use of Glenn Duncan, Dorothy Lemelson and Rita Cannan elementary schools at the end of the 2029-30 school year, beginning the district's formal repurposing process, according to board meeting minutes.

Trustee Alexander Woodley was not present for either vote. The six trustees who voted yes were Adam Mayberry, Colleen Westlake, Diane Nicolet, Elizabeth Smith, Christine Hull and JJ Phoenix.

Tami Zimmerman, the district's chief facilities management officer, said declining enrollment drove the decision. "We know that we are declining in enrollment, so through the facility modernization plan, we anticipated that," Zimmerman told KOLO.

What happens to Traner

Once Traner closes in June 2029, the district plans to rebuild the site as a pre-K through fifth-grade elementary school. The board's motion says the new facility is anticipated to open for the 2030-31 school year.

Students from Lemelson, Duncan and Cannan are expected to move into that new elementary campus. Zimmerman said the older buildings are not serving students well. "Their buildings aren't great for their curriculum and their instruction, and so we're gonna bring them into a new building," she said, according to MyNews4.

The future uses of the three elementary school buildings have not been specified. The board's vote starts a repurposing framework process under district regulation, but no plans for those campuses have been announced, according to a This Is Reno meeting preview.

Where middle schoolers will go

Traner's middle school students are expected to move to a rebuilt Sparks Middle School, which the district is reconstructing with a planned capacity of about 1,200 students. That project should be completed by 2029, according to KOLO's reporting.

The Capital Funding Protection Committee unanimously approved $7 million in design-phase funding for the Sparks Middle School reconstruction at its Aug. 6 meeting. District project manager Caitlin Davis told the committee a new school will be built on the existing sports fields. Once finished, the old building will be demolished and fields rebuilt in its place, according to committee minutes.

Fiscal savings and class sizes

Zimmerman pointed to savings on utilities and administrative costs, telling KOLO the district would be able to place one principal at consolidated schools instead of multiple.

She said class sizes will not change on a student-per-teacher basis.

Zoning still to come

Parents asking where their children will attend school do not yet have an answer. The district's Zoning Advisory Committee will recommend new enrollment boundaries for the 2029-30 school year, 2 News reported. Zimmerman said zoning work was planned for November, December and January, with a proposal going to the board for approval.

The board's next meeting is Nov. 10.