Some of Sparks’ oldest schools will receive the attention of an architecture firm called Collaborative Design Studio in the coming months as they are assessed for important revitalization needs.

The group will examine 19 Washoe County School District campuses, including Sparks High, Reed High, Dilworth and Sparks middle schools, for non-negotiable needs such as energy conservation, thermal comfort, security and technology upgrades.

“They’re going to be doing a considerable amount of work,” Mark Stanton, assistant superintendent of capital projects and facilities management, said at Tuesday’s school district board meeting.

The district’s Board of Trustees approved the contract for the services of CDS for a fee of nearly $1.6 million, based on industry standards. The contract will be funded by the 2002 rollover bond program.

The assessments will proceed despite voter rejection of ballot measure WCSD-1 in November 2008, which would have provided funding for much-needed revitalization projects in the district.

Collaborative Design Studio, represented Tuesday by Todd Laukenau and Jim Steinmann, presented its plan to classify the schools into one of three groups, based on the age of the school, with group one being the oldest schools, group two representing older schools and the third group being those schools that have been constructed in the last 10 years and are still in good shape.

“We suggested to the district that maybe we eliminate the third group at this point in time ... and require very little work to be done and perhaps it’s a waste of time, so let’s save the district some money,” Steinmann said.

Sparks High, according to district spokesman Steve Mulvenon, is the oldest school among all 19 schools, having been built in 1951. CDS will conduct the most thorough assessment on Sparks and collect a detailed analysis of its deficiencies and determine its life-cycle costs, or what it needs to sustain itself for many more years, Steinmann said.

The benefits of the assessment and the revitalization efforts to follow will benefit the economy by providing jobs and organizing paper copies of school schematics into electronic models to help with future development, Steinmann said.

“You’ll have balance in all 19 schools, be able to prioritize implementation, get reliable cost estimates ... and maximize job creation in Washoe County,” Steinmann said.

Collaborative Design Studio has similar projects with 30 middle schools and 50 high schools in San Jose, San Francisco and other areas.

Mulvenon said the projects will provide an alternative to building new facilities in the district.

“It’s vitally important that we continue to make investments in these older schools for two reasons: one, to make sure they continue to be able to adequately service the needs of the students and secondly, and just as importantly, to extend their useful life,” Mulvenon said. “It’s much more economical to improve and upgrade an existing facility than building new ones. These schools have a lot of years left in them as long as we properly maintain them.”