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PROSSER -- The Prosser School Board has opted to build a new high school to ease overcrowding instead of renovating and adding onto the existing school.

That was the recommendation of a citizens' committee that's been meeting on the issue since last year.

"I think everybody pretty much agrees that we have a lacking facility. It needs to be improved. It's best for the kids," said Warren Barmore, school board president.

The district owns 41 acres near Art Fiker Stadium, a site with enough room for a new school and future growth, according to a district news release.

A study of possible traffic flow issues there will be completed before the board considers settling on it as the site for the new school, said Superintendent Ray Tolcacher.

The existing Prosser High School has 985 students, although it was designed for only 600 students, the district said.

"We've got portables there. We have to rent extra space," Tolcacher said.

A $43.6 million bond to build a new high school and upgrade three elementary schools and the middle school failed at the polls in 2005.

It hasn't been decided how the existing school would be used once a new one is built, though one option could be setting up administrative offices in part of the facility, the news release said.