Cyndi Loza

Glenn Duncan and Rita Cannan elementary schools are miles apart. But the greatest distance between the two campuses is not just physical.

Cannan was set apart from other older schools this summer after it went through an extreme makeover to its classrooms, facilities and technology.

At Duncan, they’re just waiting for basic maintenance like new carpets.

The 47-year-old Cannan, a year round school, is the model of what the Washoe County School District would like to do with all its older schools if WCSD-1 ballot question, “Warm. Connected. Safe. Dry,” is voted on in November.

“We’re really thrilled to be the school chosen to be the prototype,” Cannan Principal KayAnn Pilling said. “So far, I’ll tell you what, the children were so excited the first day coming back just to see things that work again.”

In April, a panel of school officials and business leaders voted on the ballot question, which would seek an increase in vehicle registration fees and sales tax to sell $393 million in bonds for school repairs and new technology.

“I think our kids all deserve equal or at least similar opportunities,” said Assemblywoman Debbie Smith, D-Sparks and one of the 15 members that unanimously voted for WCSD-1. “We’ll never have an older school be equitable to a newer school, but we can sure do better than what we’re doing now.”

Cannan’s eight-week remodeling in June focused on upgrading technology, classroom facilities and security.

“We’ve never completely gutted a school like we did this one,” said Elizabeth Wright, district accountability and communications manager.

Before the upgrades, Pilling said the school had sinks that dripped, old furniture and toilets that smelled of urine.

Now the school has items new windows, storage areas, sinks, toilet facilities, carpeting, paint, corkboards and furniture. The campus also received fencing along its entire perimeter and new classroom door locks capable of locking from the inside.

Pilling said Cannan students enjoyed finding SMART Board interactive whiteboards in every classroom as part of their upgrades to technology. Other improvements to technology included new air-conditioned room for servers, laptops and a wiring system that could handle a larger number of computers in the classroom.

“The interactive white boards that we have in every class, that is changing the way we instruct students,” Pilling said. “I think it’s going to have some really academic affects on the children.”

Unlike other older schools, the expectations at 51-year-old Duncan are much lower.

“Every little bit that we get for our students, they come in the next day and they think it’s the best thing they’ve ever seen,” said Duncan Principal Mike Paul, who added students often vie for a new table or school supply. “Their so excited to see anything new.”

Even if it is more for safety than luxury, Duncan faculty also appreciates any new upgrade to classroom facilities, Paul said.

Paul said he is currently waiting for the district to replace some carpet that is so torn a student fell and injured his wrist.

Since the district is backlogged with requests, Paul said he’s been waiting since April. He expects the replacement in November.

“That’s how we are getting new carpet, because it’s in such bad shape it just can’t be there anymore,” Paul said. “Room by room is how we’re solving that issue.”

Duncan has three interactive white boards that are used daily in the school that has a student enrollment of about 500.

“The three SMART Boards that we have are used constantly,” Paul said. “But three white boards in the entire school is just a small drop in the bucket compared to what we need.”

Paul added that the servers at Duncan overheat in the summer, shutting down internet access for the year-round school.

Receiving upgrades to the school’s technology and facilities will give Duncan students the basic tools they need to receive and equal education, Paul said.

“When a teacher has to stop teaching the class and stop the lesson in the middle of it because the facility is so bad they have to pick up a table and move off to the side of the room … or they have move a desk out of the way because a piece of wall has fallen on the ground and they have to clean up the mess around the area, it makes a huge impact on what’s going on in the classroom,” Paul said.