Building schools and children clothes have a lot in common: They're quickly outgrown.

The plans for the sixth-grade wing at Mandan Middle School already grew in size, as well as budget, and when the sixth grade starts school there in 2010, it will be near its approximate 300-student capacity.

"It should work for five, ten years," said Ryan Leingang, principal of Great Plains Sixth Grade Academy.

The sixth-grade academy will be a renovated portion of Mandan Junior High until the new sixth-grade wing is opened. Architect Al Fitterer updated the Mandan School Board on the timeline for the sixth-grade wing at the board's meeting monday.

Later this summer, the project should go to bid, and he'd like to start construction this fall. At the earliest, the addition to the new Mandan Middle School would be ready in January 2010, he said.

There will be about 240 students using the new space. It will have 12 classrooms, a common area and a music room that will be reached from a hallway by the family and consumer science and career and technical education classrooms.

The addition will be on the east side of the building between the staff parking lot and the parent drop-off loop. It is expected to take up about 18,400 square feet, up from the 16,500 square feet originally proposed.

Square footage grew with the addition of a commons area and special education classrooms and a music room. The music room will let the sixth grade continue its music classes without leaving the sixth grade wing. The students will leave the wing for physical education, lunch and the library.

Within the classroom space, students will be divided into three teams of students who will share four teachers for the core subjects of language arts, math, science and social studies.

As space increased, the price increased from about $2.25 million to $2.84 million on a high-end estimate by Fitterer. The board will talk about how it plans to pay for the addition at a meeting in August.

The meeting Monday was the first board meeting for Lee Fleischer, who was one of three successful candidates in the school board election in June. Incumbents Donna Fishbeck and LouAnn Nider were successful in re-election.

Board member Kirsten Baesler was elected by the board as board chairman and Donna Fishbeck was elected by the board as vice-chairman.

(Reach reporter Sara Kincaid at 250-8251 or sara.kincaid@;bismarcktribune.com.)