JUPITER, Fla. -- The Palm Beach County School Board on Wednesday unanimously approved plans to deal with growing attendance Jupiter High School that is already overcapacity.
The project has to move quickly to have 26 modular classrooms ready for students in August at a cost of more than $16 million.
The school is the second most crowded school in the Palm Beach County District, behind Forest Hill High School. Jupiter High School is over capacity by almost 600 students.
Board member Barbara McQuinn says the state has made it clear there's no plans or money on the way to build a new school to alleviate the problem.
"And so being geographically such a large county we go west out to the Glades then we go to the ocean and we're landlocked over there. We don't have any place to go," said McQuinn.
The district is looking to build 26 classrooms on the 40,000-square-foot site currently used for the agriculture lab.
"The town was somewhat concerned about would there be enough landscaping. It's going to be aesthetically pleasing. There were some questions about are they going to face Military Trail. The answer is no; they are not," McQuinn said.
By March, the district is looking to have the foundations poured, and electric, water, sewer and drainage done. In June, the contractor will begin installing the classrooms.
McQuinn says the new classes and space create another concern: boundary jumpers. The district says, there's been a crackdown since the beginning of the year.
Out of the 3,146 students who attend the school, the district says 100 kids have been identified and have had addresses checked. She says it's the best the district can do at the moment.
"It will help the capacity problem but the demand frankly of the Jupiter area, kids and parents love Jupiter," she said.
The price tag for the project includes moving the agriculture laboratory.
