SALEM, N.H. — The school district has determined it will need one less portable classroom and two fewer teachers than originally planned to start a kindergarten program.

The district will need nine portable classrooms instead of 10, and eight kindergarten teachers instead of nine, according to Superintendent Michael Delahanty.

Enrollment figures for the kindergarten program were originally projected at 300 students. But, so far, the district has only about 220 known kindergartners for the 2009-2010 school year.

The district has hired seven teachers for the program, and has narrowed the field to a small group of candidates for the final position. A decision will likely be made in coming weeks, Delahanty said.

"The longer we wait, the more likely it is they will find positions elsewhere," Delahanty said. "But we do have several highly regarded candidates."

Four of the district's five elementary schools will have portable classrooms. Two portable classrooms will be placed at Barron, Haigh, North Salem and Lancaster elementary schools, and one will be put at Soule School. There won't be any installed at the Fisk School because there is enough space in the school to add a kindergarten classroom without needing a portable, Delahanty said.

"Even though the school is very tight with numbers, the location and the fact that there is additional space for upcoming year warrants kindergarten in the building and no need for a portable classroom next year," he said.

Kindergarten classes will be held in the elementary schools and the portable classrooms will be used for older students.

Schiavi Builders of Bethel, Maine, was awarded the bid to construct and install the classrooms. Delahanty said he expected them to be in place sometime in July.

A townwide census distributed in mid-April was designed to give district officials a better sense of intended enrollment. The survey was due back Thursday, but it only added one additional kindergartner, Delahanty said.

The state will fund 75 percent of the cost to start and operate the kindergarten program for the first three years. The program was a $1.6 million line item in the district's operating budget, approved by voters in March.

Salem is one of the last school districts in the state to offer public kindergarten.

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