The Martha's Vineyard Public Charter School has recieved written approval from the Martha's Vineyard Commission (MVC) to add a 36 by 32-foot classroom to its existing facility; a building permit from the town is expected to follow within the next two weeks.

The charter school, which celebrates its one-year anniversary this fall, will increase enrollment by 30 students. Those students have already been chosen through an Island-wide lottery. The emphasis is on admitting younger students in order that the school develop a semi-permanent student body. The school will use the new classroom to house students eight and nine years old.

Options in Education, a nonprofit group that manages fund-raising for the school, prepared the application for the new classroom and submitted it to the MVC land use planning committee in May. The issue was reviewed by the full commission the third week in June; however, the decision was only finalized last week.

"It's a very anxiety filled process," said Seth Mosler, the charter school's business manager.

The town has already given the charter school permission to build the foundation for the new classroom, which will be added to the north end of the building so that it is parallel to the road and faces Island Gymnastics. Once a permit is issued, a local building inspector will conduct routine inspections to ensure that the plumbing and fire alarm systems are up to code and that the classroom in general is safely constructed.

The school is currently in the process of completing a 65-page report describing everything about the past year of operation including educational curriculum, finances and the school's future plans.

"Each year we are required to do an annual accountability study and annual report to justify to the state that we're doing a good job and they should keep us open. We've had wonderful cooperation from the state people so far and great cooperation from the Island educational community -- everone's been extremely suppportive," said Mr. Mosler.

The report will be submitted to the state next week.