The Westlake Town Council tabled a decision to purchase new portable buildings for Westlake Academy during the regular meeting Dec. 19.
Westlake Academy is a charter school wholly owned and operated by the town of Westlake. The school offers all three programs of the International Baccalaureate curriculum: Primary Years Programme, Middle Years Programme and the Diploma Programme.
In 2011, three used modular buildings—4,200 square feet—with six classrooms were added to the campus. In 2013, three additional modular buildings were added to the campus, totaling six portable buildings with 12 classrooms and 8,400 square feet. Due to the age of the three modular buildings purchased in 2011, the Town Council has requested they be replaced with new modular buildings, according to town documents. The estimated cost to replace the three older buildings is more than $1.2 million.
During deliberations, Council Member Chandrika Dasgupta expressed her concern with buying new portable buildings. “This is a lot of money for a swing space that’s already in place," she said. "There’s a lot of frustration in the community for portables. We are removing one set of portables and bringing in another set of portables by calling them a modular building? It’s the same thing.”
Council Member Anna White pointed out purchasing new portables might be the only option until more permanent structures can be built.
“By spending money on modular buildings, there is going to be a knee-jerk reaction to some people in the public that we are simply replacing portables for portables, that we are kicking the can down the road and that we're spending money we don't want to spend,” White said. “We are going to take, even in the best-case scenario, at least three or four years to build a permanent structure, and it's very unlikely that these three older portables are going to make it that long.”
Mayor Sean Kilbride noted the current portables not only have served beyond their shelf life, but also the new ones could always be sold after the school is done using them. Kilbride noted the buildings purchased in 2011 were built in 1999. He added most buildings like that have a little more than a dozen years before needing to be replaced.
During the Dec. 5 work session, the council heard from staff at Bennett Partners, an architecture and design firm located in Fort Worth, about different options with regard to the Westlake Academy master plan. They presented four options: replacing older modular classrooms with new ones; building an addition to the Arts & Science building; building additions to the Arts & Sciences, Primary Years and Middle Years buildings; or relocating the Diploma Programme to another building off campus. During that meeting, town staff pointed out funding has not been allocated to construct new buildings, and relocating Diploma Programme students and staff to another campus would create security and staffing concerns.
Ultimately, the council decided to table the decision until they could get more feedback from parents of Westlake Academy students and staff members and get more information from town staff as to financing options for more permanent structures.
