Greenbrae stuffed to the gills
Heidi Charpentier, a writing coach, and Krista Gonzales, a literary coach, share a small office with no air conditioning at Greenbrae Elementary.
As the Washoe County School District community identify ways to raise money for new schools and revitalization of existing schools, we take a look at some of the older campuses and their needs.
Greenbrae Elementary School is a Reading First school in Sparks, east of Reno.
Through the Reading First program, the school concentrates on hands-on learning and an intense dedication to consistency and continuity. The program is aimed at students in kindergarten through third grade, but at Greenbrae everyone participates in Reading First.
The costs involved in extending the program have come from grants and other sources the at-risk school qualifies for.
At-risk status is determined by the percentage of students at a given school who receive free or reduced-cost lunches. About 74 percent of Greenbrae’s students qualify for free or reduced-price lunches.
Greenbrae also is a Title One school, which means it has a high percentage of children from low-income homes. Title One schools receive federal funds to ensure that their children meet state academic requirements.
About
- Address: 1840 4th St., off of Pyramid Highway
- Phone: 353-5530
- Year built: 1955
- Enrollment: 438
- Capacity: 396
- Fun fact: Greenbrae’s mascot is the Turtles, and the school’s colors are green and white.
Hot topic
Desperate for space, the school’s music and computer classes are pushed around in carts. The music teacher wheels around a keyboard and some books on one cart for music class. Another cart holds about 30 computers for lessons once a week.
Renovations needed
Above all, Greenbrae needs more space, Principal Rose Kane said.
Books and supplies are piled on top of each other in classroom shelves above cubbyholes.
“Just imagine if we had an earthquake,” Kane said. “Where would this be?”
The school combats the space issue by holding kindergarten classes in the halls, dividing the external portables by four classes and giving lessons in the multi-purpose room, which is also the lunchroom.
Kane said having a small multipurpose room creates problems, too. The school holds events at a local nondenominational church for presentations and/or assemblies.
This creates problems because the space sometimes conflicts with a student’s religion.
“It’s very difficult to have presentations here at the school because there’s no facilities,” Kane said.
The school also needs updated carpeting, doors, plumbing, faculty offices and bathroom facilities, Kane said.
In some cases, up to four teachers share a room for their office in the school. Since those rooms have poor ventilation, most of the time the doors are open to prevent overheating.
The school also has no teachers lounge.
“Our teachers are fine without one, but we don’t have one, and that would be nice,” Kane said.
Since the school focuses on reading, Kane said the library is an important part of the school. In past years, 75 percent of the books have been updated and replaced books that contained racially insensitive words.
Technology
The school technology infrastructure needs to be updated, Kane said.
The school is limited by the number of computers and software it can hold because the technology can not handle it, she said.
Some classrooms have up to seven computers and classes that do not have computers access the computers on the portable cart. The cart contains about 30 portable computers for 45-minute weekly lessons.
The school also has no SMART Board interactive whiteboards. Kane said she hopes to get some in the future.
This article appeared originally in Reno Gazette-Journal.
