A modular building with 12 classrooms is planned at Dublin Jerome High School, 8300 Hyland-Croy Road, as a short-term solution to prevent locker bays from doubling as classrooms, but a permanent addition to the high school will be constructed in 2023, according to Dublin City Schools Superintendent John Marschhausen.

The modular classrooms are required because “growth in the northwest portion of the district exceeded projections,” said Doug Baker, a district spokesman.

Construction of the modular building has been approved by the city, but the district cannot provide a specific date on the start of construction for the modular classrooms or the permanent addition, Baker said.

The new modular building is expected to open in August 2022 for the start of the 2022-23 academic year, he said.

The Dublin Planning and Zoning Commission on Nov. 16 approved an amended final development plan for the 935-square-foot modular classroom building on the 88-acre Jerome High School campus.

The approval was part of the commission's consent agenda and passed 5-0 with no discussion.

No further approvals are required for construction to proceed other than the issuance of building, electrical and other kinds of permits, said Lindsay Weisenauer, director of communications and public information for Dublin.

One of the reasons modular classrooms are needed is Jerome Village, a large residential development that stretches north of Glacier Ridge Metro Park almost to U.S. Route 42, was anticipated to produce about 150 new homes this year, but it instead is producing about 400 new homes per year, according to Marschhausen and Jeff Stark, director of operations for the district.

"Modular classrooms are always a temporary fix for an overcrowded school," Marschhausen said. "Dublin Jerome is being forced to conduct class in locker bays in some instances this year. The addition of 12 modular classrooms is a Band-Aid on the issue of overcrowding at the school until a permanent addition is ready in the fall of 2023."

But it is too soon to contemplate a fourth high school, but the possibility lies on the horizon, he said.

Marschhausen said he anticipates "a community conversation around the possibility of a fourth high school at some point in time, (but) no timeline for those discussions have been set."

School board President Chris Valentine said the board would continue working with the administrative team and the community "to evaluate future growth and the best options for handling that growth at the high school level."

"Recent growth in the northwest part of our district has happened faster than anticipated," Valentine said. "(But) our operations department and team has put together a short-term plan to deal with increase in students while we expedite the process to add on to Jerome."

The permanent addition to Jerome High School is estimated to cost about $25 million and will be funded through a bond issue that voters approved in 2018, Baker said.

All modular classrooms will be removed, including eight already at Jerome, after the permanent addition opens in fall 2023, according to Baker.

The size of the addition and its number of classrooms have not been determined, he said.