Classroom crunch
Classroom crunch
Portable possibilities?
By STU MERRY
Purchasing a pair of new buses for $148,500 – a piece of cake. The Garrison School District bought two this summer. But when it came to deciding whether to add a portable classroom; well, that became another matter.
With growing class sizes, juggling classroom space continues at both the elementary and high school campuses. At their meeting Tuesday night, school board members wrestled with how best to address the classroom crunch, deciding to purchase a portable classroom. But some board members wondered why the decision was so hard.
During last week’s Buildings and Grounds Committee meeting, member Bonnie Nygard advanced the idea of purchasing a portable classroom to address overcrowding at the high school. The matter was on Tuesday’s agenda. It sounds simple. It was not.
Debating how to proceed, Nygard urged the board to take action. The cost for a used portable classroom would be about $49,000, board members heard. A new one would be approximately $89,000, but groundwork would add more cost. Timing is everything. School begins in about two months.
A portable would need to be on site sooner than later. Board members were reminded the cost for a new portable cannot exceed $100,000. And if it exceeds that amount, it has to go through a formal bid process, thus delaying the process. A motion to purchase or lease a portable classroom for the high school was made. Discussion drug on.
