PORTAGE | Portage Township Schools will have to embark on a construction boom to adequately provide classroom space for elementary and middle school students, a panel told the School Board Wednesday night.

"Obviously the board can make any decision they want to make about the future. We wanted to let them know what all the options were," Assistant Superintendent Ric Frataccia said.

Three of the four options recommended leave the district's current three-tiered grade structure intact, while a fourth creates an intermediate level separating grades five and six.

All the plans require construction, with two plans requiring two new buildings.

Frataccia said the district is already facing serious capacity issues that are projected to get worse. While there is slight wiggle room left in the district's two middle schools, room that is projected to disappear, the elementary schools are packed.

"All of the schools, minus Saylor and Jones, are either at 100 percent capacity or in the high 90s. It means, for example, at Aylesworth, all the rooms are used all the time all day," Frataccia said. "If there's a bubble in enrollment and a section needs to be added, there's no way to add a section. There's no room. So, you end up with higher class sizes or you move the kids to another school."

Compounding the district's space crunch is the possibility of full-day kindergarten. Jones Elementary Principal Mitch Miller, a member of the facility needs team, said it would take 11 additional classrooms to accommodate kindergarten classes.

The first option the group recommended to deal with the space crunch, "Option A," requires the district to add classrooms to each of the eight elementary buildings. While it won't add a significant level of new personnel, the plan might not work once all the logistics are examined.

"South Haven is landlocked. There's nowhere to go," Miller said.

The second option, "Option C," converts the elementary schools to kindergarten through fourth grade buildings and the two middle schools would house only seventh- and eighth-graders, requiring the construction of two intermediate schools for fifth- and sixth-graders.

Miller said that plan would cause a major adjustment to the bus system and would require the district to staff two more buildings.

The final two recommended options retain the district's current grade structure, with "Option E" requiring one new elementary school and one new middle school building. The final recommended plan, "Option F" requires building a new elementary school and adding onto Fegely Middle School.