DELAY IN PERMITS WON'T AFFECT CLASSES

Classes won't be affected if the city council doesn't act on special-use permits for trailers to house kindergartners until its Sept. 2 meeting, school officials say.

The trailers, which will be used at Clippard and Franklin schools, won't be here anyway.

The city's planning and zoning board recommended issuing the permits at this week's meeting. The permits must be approved by the city council.

Under city ordinances, the earliest the council could act on the application is Sept. 2.

School Superintendent Dr. Dan Tallent said the district is still in the bidding process to determine who will provide trailers. The earliest the trailers could be delivered is mid-September.

"Those trailers haven't been built yet," Tallent said. "We had already anticipated a wait, so we'll just have to find some spaces in the buildings and set up temporary classrooms."

Tallent said all of the special-use permits were not directly class-related. The special-use permit is needed at Jefferson because a renovation project at the school requires that three existing trailers be moved to the opposite side of the school. Another permit is needed to move a trailer owned by the district from Jefferson to Washington to house the Caring Communities program there.

Only one permit -- at Clippard school -- was needed to bring in a new trailer to serve as a temporary classroom for kindergartners.

Tallent said no permit was needed for the Franklin school trailer because a larger trailer is being built to replace an existing one.

The trailers at Clippard and Franklin will be designed to hold up to 30 students. Until their arrival, those students will be distributed into other classes and in temporary classrooms.

School principals will decide where to set up the temporary classrooms.

Although some teachers will have a more difficult time because their classes will be larger, and others will have to cope with not having a regular classroom, Tallent doesn't think there will be lasting effects.

"Of course it'll make it more difficult for the teachers, but teachers are pretty resilient and so are kindergartners, so I think everyone will make the most of it," he said. "We're just going to have to live with the accommodations until a more permanent solution can be found."