CHEYENNE - Students in the new Arapahoe elementary school on the Wind River Indian Reservation will have more room as the result of a decision last week by the Wyoming School Facilities Commission.

Fremont County School District 38 petitioned the commission for an exception to the commission's square footage guidelines for schools, citing the students' unique needs and demographics.

The district originally asked for 5,448 square feet beyond the commission's standards. The commission gave the district 3,500 square feet more than the guidelines.

The district will pick up 3,000 square feet inside the gymnasium "because those were enhancements to the project over and above what is generally alloted," said Superintendent Roger Clark.

In all, the district probably will eventually pick up a total of about 5,000 square feet, he added, including space for pre-kindergarten, for which the state does not pay.

Clark's request to the commission mentioned an error in calculating the number of students. The district should have planned for 320 students rather than 388.

The Arapahoe school is one of only two K-8 schools in the state and one of four serving the Wind River Indian Reservation.

According to Clark's letter to the commission, 90 percent of the students are in poverty, 60 percent have symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, 65 percent cannot read at grade level, 30 percent qualify for special education, and 66 percent qualify for an English language learner program.

The latter program, Clark said Friday, is to help the students improve their vocabulary.

Three weeks ago, Clark said, an independent party assessed the kindergarten students and and found what educators believed all along - that the students lack the same vocabulary that other children their age across the state have.

Fifty-seven percent of the kindergarteners have vocabulary skills similar to those of a 3-year-old.

"So that's why we have the English language learner program," Clark said.

The school also needs extra space to teach the Arapahoe language and culture.

"We really try to be sensitive to those cultural aspects of the education. We're dealing with the indigenous people of this country,'" Clark said.

He said that while the school didn't receive the square footage originally requested, he appreciated the commission's sensitivity to the students' needs.

"It's a real interesting place to come to work every day. It's a wonderful place. The kids are fantastic. We have extremely dedicated teachers. But we certainly have our work cut out for us because of the demographics outlined in the letter," Clark said.

Ken Daraie, director of the School Facilities Commission, said the district was building an unnecessarily large gymnasium.

The commission members felt the district could use some of that space for other uses.

"They might very well keep it as it is and pay the difference," Daraie said.

The commission learned that the Arapahoe language is gender specific and some terms apply only to men or to women, which is"one reason the district"wanted extra space.

"It's not quite the same as teaching Spanish," he said.

Square footage of schools has been a contested issue in the past and is ongoing, Daraie said.

"The whole point is, let's not spend a lot of money nursing spaces we don't use," he said.

Contact capital bureau reporter Joan Barron at (307) 632-1244 or joan.barron@trib.com