NEWPORT-"We are literally meeting in closets."

These were the words Newport Board of Education members heard from Director Steve Thompson during their meeting Monday evening at Newport Grammar School.

"We are officially out of space and in desperate, desperate, desperate need of more classrooms."

According to Thompson, the school's primary building was designed for expansions. "If we had six more classrooms here, we could get all of our K-3 classes in this building. We must seriously begin working on a building program."

Thompson pointed out that enrollment at NGS hovers near the 800 mark. "Because of our school's high achievements, more and more parents want their children to enroll here. Our numbers will continue to rise."

Thompson then pointed out that for the past three years, Newport Grammar School students have ranked first out of all of Tennessee's 136 school systems in the state-mandated writing assessments.

Thompson also reported on the plans to incorporate a school-based clinic into NGS.

"We met with Rural Medical today," said Thompson. "Larry Stanifer is to get back with us on Thursday."

"We asked for a full-time nurse practitioner, a mental health component, equipment, and hours of operation to be the same as those of our school," Thompson explained. "We also want to keep our own school nurse."

"We have 51 students registered for Space Camp this summer," Thompson said. "These are students in fifth and sixth grades, who will spend three days here at NGS preparing projects and so forth, before they go to Huntsville, Ala."

"Our Engrading pilot project is also going well," he said. "Parents have a user name and a password which allow them to go online and check their children's grades on a daily basis. It's free, and I want to expand it to the entire school next year."

In other reports, board members heard from Dr. Carlene Jones, NGS Supervisor of Programs, who pointed out that stockpiling days "will give more instructional time for our teachers. By going 30 minutes longer each day, we would have the equivalent of 13 days.

"However, we must submit a plan to the state about how we would use the extra time. For example, we could designate five of the days to be used for snow days and the other eight days for instructional time. We must declare a plan."

We need more instructional time anyway," added Thompson. "If we're going to add foreign language studies in the upper grades, for example, whether we stockpile or not. When we look at the 2011-2012 year, we might want to consider this. The only way to raise our test scores is to have more instructional time."

Jones also told board members that the After School Achievers program is underway. "We are currently serving an average of 182 children per week-about 24 percent of our student body. This doesn't count chorus, clubs, and sports. We also have a waiting list. It's going well and will be expanded next year."

Board members unanimously accepted a bid from Steve's Heating, Air Conditioning, Refrigeration, and Electrical Contractor for $25,800 for the purchase and installation of a 700,000 BTU gas boiler to replace an electric boiler. Of this amount, $7,000 will come from a Tennessee Energy Initiative Grant.

The only other bid submitted for the boiler was $26,750 from Quality Plumbing & Mechanical LLC.

The board's next meeting will be April 19.