Students return to old schools with new looks

As a fifth-grader, Ethan Ramirez, 10, was anticipating a triumphant return to school Monday as king of the campus.

He was wrong.

With construction started on the addition to Empire Elementary School as part of the 2010 bond, the school has been transformed into a maze of twists and turns and blocked-off hallways.

"I'm so used to going to the same places over and over again," Ethan said. "Now, it's like a brand new school. It's confusing."

Before embarking on the new year, Denise McMasters took her fifth-graders on a tour of the school that was once familiar to them.

"We can't get to anywhere we would normally go," she explained. "Everything's blocked off, so we have to learn all new ways of going places."

When construction is complete in a year, the school will have two new wings to house the fourth and fifth grades. The nearly 25,000 additional square feet will eliminate the need for the portable classrooms being used there.

"It's exciting," said Principal Evelyn Allred. "It's going to be well worth the inconveniences we're going to have for the end result."

She said the students adapted quickly to the changing conditions, and enrollment is up from last year's 532 to about 581.

"It's going to be a great year," she said.

Eagle Valley Middle School is also undergoing a remodel during the school year, receiving upgrades such as a new gymnasium large enough to seat the entire student body.

The improvements to both schools will cost about $13 million as part of the 10-year rollover bond passed in last year's election.

Steve Knight, superintendent of Silver State Charter High School and Junior High, had hoped to start out the school year in the new campus on Mallory Way, a move from its current strip-mall site.

"It just didn't work out in time," he said. Closing documents for escrow will be signed next week, and the school should be certified for occupancy by October, he said.

It can't come soon enough.

"We've outgrown this strip mall already," Knight said. "The school just gets bigger and bigger because of its reputation. We're just too cramped here."

The two schools combined are in a 15,000-square-foot space in a strip mall in north Carson City. The main building of the new campus will be 27,000 square feet.

The seven-year-old charter school, sponsored by the Nevada Department of Education, finished last year with 497 students. Knight said he hopes enrollment will hit 600 to 650 this year.

Other changes to the Carson City School District this year included standardized dress codes at Bordewich-Bray and Seeliger elementary schools as well as Eagle Valley Middle School.

"All the kids looked great," said Superintendent Richard Stokes. "They were wearing their red, white and blue shirts. They looked terrific."

He said final numbers are not available, but enrollment seems to have stayed flat. Otherwise, he said, things went well throughout the district.

"There were lots of happy smiles, lots of enthusiastic faces everywhere I looked," he said. "It was a fun day."

The Storey County School District will resume classes Thursday.

Private schools Capital Christian, Bethlehem Lutheran and Sierra Lutheran returned to school Monday. They are still accepting enrollment.

St. Teresa of Avila Catholic School will begin next Monday, as will schools in the Lyon County School District.