As we pause this Veterans Day to honor the men and women who have worn the uniform — those who have put themselves in harm’s way and those who paid the ultimate price — we find ourselves reflecting not only on their sacrifice, but on what we, as a community, are doing with the freedoms they fought to protect.

And that brings us, strangely enough, to Veterans Memorial Elementary School in Reno.

While the Washoe County School Board prepares to reassign or “repurpose” the school, one has to wonder: why would a district even consider reassigning a school that honors our veterans — especially this week? There is a meeting to discuss the repurposing on November 12th at least they didn’t schedule the meeting on Veterans Day.

es, yes, we’ve heard it — “Where’s Picon on Beadles and Trackergate?” The comments, the emails, we’re sure we are getting side-eye. Rest assured, we’ve covered it (check the website, it’s there), and we’ll even get around to tossing it up on Facebook once we come up for air.

But while everyone else is busy chasing headlines, we’re more interested in what’s happening right here in the neighborhoods — namely, the repurposing of two local schools. That’s not gossip; that’s kids, their families, teachers, and property lines. The Washoe County School District is holding a community meeting on Wednesday, November 12th, at Libby Booth Elementary, 1450 Stewart Street, to talk about what this might mean for the potentially impacted school communities.

On October 14th, the Washoe County School Board met once again—armed with PowerPoints, buzzwords, and a burning desire to spend your tax dollars like they’re Monopoly money. This time, they voted to move forward with something called the Administrative Facilities Modernization Plan. Translation: “We’ve decided to modernize the things we probably should’ve modernized decades ago.”

But the plot thickens. The board also voted to rebuild Echo Loder Elementary, spruce up Libby Booth Elementary, and—here’s where the coffee spits out of your nose—close and “repurpose” Veterans Memorial and Roger Corbett elementary schools for “future district and community use.”

Apparently, “future use” means you paid for it, we’re closing it anyway.

The Washoe County School Board Strikes Again

At this point, asking the Washoe County School Board to “protect and serve” students might be too ambitious. Most of them seem far more focused on climbing the political ladder than on keeping kids in classrooms that actually mean something to this community.