After months of debate, the International School of Louisiana’s board of directors voted at its monthly meeting, April 16, to rent six modular classrooms for the Olivier Street campus, but to forgo modulars at the Camp Street campus.

Securing extra space on Olivier Street was necessitated by state law that requires kindergarten and first-grade classrooms to be on a ground floor. The high price led to protracted deliberations. Sustainable Modular Management offered the lowest bid: $323,292 for four years, which includes $141,516 for installation and eventual removal of the units.

The school will have to buy gutters and rainspouts and pay for low-voltage wiring or piped sprinklers, if needed.

The board agreed to allow its president, Andrew Yon, to inspect the contract and sign it on the board’s behalf by the July 30 deadline.

The decision to skip modulars on the school’s East Bank campus, at least temporarily, resulted from a determination that they would alleviate crowding for only two years. Under a longer-term alternative discussed at the last board meeting, ISL’s administration might move to the school’s new Jefferson Parish location at 822 S. Clearview. That would make room on Camp Street for offices of counseling, pathology, and finance data. The move can be made by the school without board action.

Modulars might still be needed on Camp, but if so, Yon said, “We will want to ask for advisory input from the Historic District Landmarks Commission and the neighborhood association, well in advance. They have no purview over public schools, but we want to be good neighbors.”