South Fayette school officials are planning to install a fifth classroom trailer to accommodate a growing elementary school population as they remain undecided about starting any new construction.

Four trailers attached to the elementary school will continue to serve as fourth-grade classrooms, Superintendent Linda Hippert said. The fifth trailer will provide space for English as a Second Language classes and instrumental music lessons, she said.

School directors voted 5-0 on Tuesday to pay a maximum of $4,500 to Eckles Architecture & Engineering of New Castle for design work required for installation of the portable classroom. Four school directors were absent.

Maintenance workers will wire the trailer, which already sits on school property, and build a corridor to connect it to the gym/cafeteria.

Board members William Newcomer, Christopher Niemann, Lena Hannah, Todd Petrillo and Jeff Smith discussed options for providing more space for pupils in kindergarten through fifth grade.

The district could build a new school on the Old Oakdale Road campus, construct an addition to the current school or add more trailers as enrollment grows.

Some board members reiterated concerns that taxpayers, hit by a shaky economy made worse by a lack of tax income from local commercial development, would not be able to support new construction.

Mr. Niemann, who also serves on the planning commission, said development in South Fayette has slowed.

Dr. Hippert said if trailers were used as a long-term solution, new ones would need to be purchased, and the current ones would need to be replaced because they leak.

Also, the district would have to deal with their placement and the associated costs of site work, she said. For example, adding numerous trailers would displace a soccer field, which would need to be relocated.

Some board members were concerned that even if they added classroom space in the form of trailers, shared facilities such as the combination gym/cafeteria and the library wouldn't be able to handle the large number of students.

"As enrollment grows, you can keep adding on trailers indefinitely, but the building isn't going to accommodate that," board president Newcomer said.

Mr. Newcomer said the longer the district waited the build, the higher construction costs will climb.

"Making this a long-term delay is a disaster," he said.

Board members asked the superintendent for detailed cost estimates of purchasing and adding trailers.

Mr. Newcomer said he would e-mail board members to see if they are interested in holding a special meeting on the elementary school issue. The topic will be on every regular meeting agenda until they make a decision, he said.