After an extended period of deliberation, the Warren County R-III School Board announced it likely will purchase an existing building to be used for the Alpha Academy alternative school beginning next school year. The district has yet to announce the price or location of the building, since a few minor details need to be worked out, according to board member Scott Costello. “Our hope is to have it tied up this week or early next week,” he said. “It could be at the next board meeting. We’re just working out the final details prior to closing.” The board met in special session during early March to review construction bids for a new facility, but after no motion was made, the issue died. Board members felt the bids were too high to justify spending an excessive amount of money when weighed against the state’s current financial situation. “Our intent is to own the building, as it will be more cost-effective that way,” he said. “That is the whole point. “We had plans for a 4,000-square-foot building with an additional 2,000-square-foot space,” he added. “The bids were substantially above what we felt like we could justify for the space needed so we chose not to pursue the construction route.” Costello said the potential new building would help meet the needs of the students within the academy. “The whole intent of the alternative setting is to help students earn a diploma,” he said. “We want to help prepare them for life after high school.” The academy currently is located in a converted trailer on Vosholl, behind Daniel Boone Elementary. The existing space is able to accommodate 25 students. Costello said the extra space of the potential new building would allow for the district to better serve its students. “We will be able to serve more than double the number of students in this new particular facility than we currently serve,” he said. “Also, if we need to get a few students out of the regular high school, this will help to absorb that growth if we need to make those changes quickly.” Costello said problems with the current location were evident. “There are two issues,” he said. “We don’t have enough physical space to serve all the students fairly and this causes an extensive waiting list. The only way to solve this is with additional space. The second issue is that it’s not ideal when you have students in a mobile classroom. We want to provide students with a place they can call home.” The district plans to have the new building open for classes beginning next school year. Any major delay brings the possibility of using the current location for a short time until the new building is ready. According to Costello, the district also has placed a job posting on its Web site for an on-site administrator for the Academy. “That would allow us to serve a full number of students at the academy,” he said. “It’s just part of the building being a full-scale facility.”