RENO - Today, the Washoe County School District Board of Trustees has a change in venue for its regular board meeting. Trustees will meet at the new Depoali Middle School in Reno while considering a full agenda, including transportation monitoring and the expansion of the Challenger Learning Center of Northern Nevada (CLCNN), among other issues.

Trustees will look back on the 2008-2009 school year and assess the operations of the district’s transportation department, including gas consumption and pollution and on-time delivery of children to their campuses.

According to the staff report, WCSD buses drove more than 24,500 students daily and 34 student injuries were reported and documented, though six of those injuries were caused by other students.

Board members will review transportation for the 2009-2010 school year in the hope of reducing the number of student accidents by 10 percent, bus accidents caused by driver error by 10 percent and institute a customer service satisfaction training program. District data show school buses were involved in 85 accidents during 2008-2009; 65 are attributed to driver error and 20 to motorist error.

Looking to offer more project-based programs in science, math and technology for students, trustees will hear a presentation on the WCSD’s partnership with the CLCNN, a learning center based out of Florence Drake Elementary School under WCSD teacher Paul McFarlane. The CLCNN is a non-profit organization created by the families of the astronauts who were killed in the Challenger space shuttle explosion in 1986. It partners with NASA, the Smithsonian Institution, the Jet Propulsion Lab and others to teach students against the backdrop of space exploration.

Sparks High School Principal Doug Parry, according to staff reports, is interested in bringing the CLCNN to Sparks High, which could lead to the housing of a science center or magnet school.

Along similar lines of establishing centers, board members will consider the financial cost of a feasibility study to create a Center for Arts and Technology (CAT) in the county. In the last two years, Washoe County Manager Katy Simon developed a Youth Services Development Group (YSDG) in response to a presentation given by a man from Pittsburgh, Pa. who provided schooling for disenfranchised youth for more than 30 years. The YSDG has supported the Strickland Center for the Arts and Technology in Washoe County, geared toward helping 400 to 600 at-risk students, including those in foster care, in the juvenile justice system, high school dropouts and pregnant and parenting youth.

To complete the feasibility study, $150,000 is needed to conduct the 12 to 18 months of research. The WCSD is being asked to provide half. The Community Services Agency has committed $10,000 and the other $65,000 will be raised. Staff reports indicate that Luther Mack, the owner of Fuddruckers at the Legends of Sparks Marina, has agreed to chair the effort.

The district’s $75,000 will come from the Advanced Planning Fund of the 2002 Rollover Bond program.

The study itself would focus on capital facilities design to dedicate bond monies to and include information about site reviews for the facility, creating a board and identifying possible board members, vendors and suppliers to assist with CAT’s needs. The facility itself would need to be about 15,000 to 30,000 square feet, staff reports state.

The board meeting takes place at 5 p.m. at Kendyl Depoali Middle School at 9300 Wilbur May Pkwy. in Reno.