Tomorrow’s School Board’s Homework Assignment: How to Waste $275,000 and Call It - “Modernization”

The Washoe County School Board Agenda Item 2.06 to waste $275,000 of taxpayer funds the trustees will be voting on tomorrow.

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.

And just when you thought the punchline couldn’t hit harder, the trustees managed to find another way to torch taxpayer funds tomorrow—they are hiring a public relations firm for $275,000. Why? To convince the public this whole plan is a good idea. Because nothing says “fiscal responsibility” quite like spending a quarter of a million dollars to tell people how smart you are.

Rating the finalists for the $275,000 brainwashing. We ponder if the folks from one of the agencies not chosen will go and ‘tell off’ the WCSD Trustees like they did the RSCVA members when their agency was not chosen. It was amusing you can watch the RSCVA video it was a grand performance.

Remember back in 2016 when we were told the Save Our Schools initiative was absolutely necessary to fix our crumbling buildings and build new ones? And oh—there was no sunset clause, so we’ll be paying that tax into the next century. Fast forward to today: fewer students, empty classrooms, and two historic schools getting the axe.

If you’re feeling insulted, you should be.

So here’s a little homework for taxpayers:
📞 Call Beth Smith, School Board Chair, and ask her how stupid she thinks we are.
📞 Call Adam Mayberry, who’s now running for Sparks City Council Ward 4—a ward filled with a whole bunch of politically awake Republicans—and ask if he’s really planning to vote for a $275,000 PR campaign to “re-educate” voters.

Because maybe, just maybe, it’s time we grade them for a change.

Final score for the School Board: F — for Fiscal Foolishness.