HAMMOND | The charter school slated for downtown Hammond might not be ready to open its new building next fall as promised, school officials said Monday night during a community forum.

Tom Dabertin, spokesman for Hammond Academy of Science and Technology, said the school is looking at using a former Hammond school building for the fall semester, but he did not name the closed school building.

The news came in response to a question from Clifford Watts, of Hammond, who hopes to see his granddaughter enrolled in the new school. He suggested the downtown school being built at Muenich Court and Ann Avenue is unlikely to be finished when school starts in the fall. Dabertin agreed.

More than 100 people with questions about the new charter school attended the informational session Monday. It featured new school leader Scott Fech, a former Bishop Noll Institute principal, and members of the Hammond Urban Academy Board.

The charter school, whose focus will be teaching state standards through project-based learning, is scheduled to open in the fall with 320 students in grades six through nine. It will grow each year until attaining 550 students in grades six through 12.

Applications are being taken now. Should it be necessary, a lottery for enrollment selection will be held Dec. 16.

Questions from parents Monday night ranged from how will the teaching staff be hired to how to prepare students for entrance to the academy.

Fech told parents the school would recruit the best and brightest teachers it can find.

Deanne Shimala, of Hammond, asked about extracurricular activities.

Dabertin and Fech said there would be a variety of extracurriculars for students. Fech said they would determine exactly what those activities would be with student input.

Transportation will not be provided to students. Officials are looking at a longer school day, Monday through Thursday, with a half-day on Friday. That could allow for student activities and professional development time for teachers on Friday afternoons.

"Everything we do will be built with students in mind," Fech said.

Robert Rivers, dean of the School of Education at Purdue University Calumet helped design the curriculum. He said school projects would be based on state and national standards. He also said there was a fully developed special education program.

Shannon Morris, of Hammond, plans to enroll her son, who will be a sixth-grader in the fall.

"I'm very excited about what they're offering to students," she said, adding it will give them the extra push they need to be successful.

While no questions came up regarding the location of the new school -- less than a mile away from the LaSalle Hotel, which until recently housed convicted sex offenders -- academy board President Kris Sakelaris said she believes the issue has been resolved.

Sakelaris said the handful of sex offenders living at the hotel were asked to move about 45 days ago, and she said the charter school and other improvements in the downtown area will help change the landscape.

Two additional informational sessions are scheduled at 7 p.m. Nov. 17 at Purdue University Calumet Conference Center, 2300 173rd St.; and at 7 p.m. Nov. 18 at the Ophelia Steen Center, 5927 S. Columbia Ave.