Portables purchased for Moses Lake schools

MOSES LAKE — Moses Lake School District purchased four portables to help alleviate overcrowding occurring at the high school and middle schools.

There are going to be two portables at Moses Lake High School and two at Frontier Middle School. Each portable comes with two classrooms, providing four additional classrooms for each school.

“We are continuing to see growth in our school and in our middle schools and need more space,” said Monte Redal, deputy superintendent. “We don’t necessarily like to add portables because it puts pressure on the infrastructure in our schools, but it is a ?necessary evil to solve the overcrowding issue.”

The district is purchasing the one-year-old portables from the Lake Stevens School District. The portables cost about $90,000 each, with other costs for shipping, set-up and permits from the city.

“This is still much cheaper than building costs,” Redal noted. “Our main goal is to provide enough space for growth until we are able to pass a bond issue.”

District employees are waiting until the latest bond issue expires in 2012 to run another bond issue for a new high school.

“The timing had to be right,” Redal said. “We are sensitive to the taxpayer issues and the tough economy we are in.”

By waiting for the latest bond to expire, residents won’t see an increase in tax rate when a new bond is issued.

“People have asked us why we are building a new elementary school when the high school is overcrowded,” Redal said. “Our answer is that we are required to stick to our latest bond agreement, even though we do think growth is more significant in other grades.”