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Rebuilding a school is not as simple as it sounds.

The Albuquerque Board of Education plans to tour Georgia O'Keeffe Elementary School and take public input on controversial plans to replace the aging buildings.

The board has scheduled a 5 p.m. meeting Wednesday at the Northeast Heights school before adopting a construction plan. The most likely scenario appears to be rebuilding the school on its current campus after constructing temporary classrooms in an adjacent park.

Neighbors have been at odds since October over competing proposals to construct a permanent school, a job expected to take two years.

Albuquerque Public Schools officials have said the campus, at 11701 San Victorio Ave. N.E., is too small to build new classrooms on while children are attending school there.

It had proposed building the new school on Prospector's Ridge Park, and building a new park at the old school site when classroom construction is complete.

The idea was popular with some neighborhood residents, as well.

But other residents who live on the park's edge have formed a group dedicated to preserving the park at its current location.

City officials, citing opposition to moving the park, have withdrawn the city's offer to swap park land for the campus site.

At a special meeting Monday night, board members received a letter from city Chief Operations Officer Ed Adams reaffirming the city position on Prospector's Ridge Park.

"The city is prepared to work with APS to accommodate temporary use of portions of the park," Adams wrote. But, he added, "we still have serious concerns about Option 1 (the district's original plan), and any other option that would impede the public's use of the park long-term."

School board members said Adams' letter means there are no options now except to use the park temporarily while the school is rebuilt on its current site.

"They are not going to work with us on Option 1," said board President Paula Maes.

She and member Robert Lucero said they saw no reason to go to Georgia O'Keeffe on Wednesday since only one plan remains. But other board members said the panel still needs to face the community and let residents vent.

"Gordon wanted to mash this out in his community," South Valley board member Dolores Griego said of her Northeast Heights counterpart, Gordon Rowe, who was absent from the meeting.

Mary Lee Martin said she felt the board needed to go ahead with its Wednesday meeting at the school, suggesting some board members were "chicken" to face the controversy.

"It sends a bad message" to change plans when the community expects a forum, Martin said.

Lucero saw it differently. "My recommendation is to meet here," he said, referring to the board's Uptown offices. "It's going to make for a very difficult time out there and it's going to divide the community more."

The board decided to tour the campus at 4 p.m. and meet at 5 p.m., but to provide 30 minutes for public testimony - two minutes each for 15 speakers.

Member Berna Facio said a limit was necessary, because "judging from the e-mails I'm getting, it will take all night."

Wednesday's discussion is expected to center on the latest district proposal to house students in temporary classrooms at the park while the old school is torn down and rebuilt. The plan involves the extra cost of restoring the park after the temporary classrooms are moved away.

The cost factor has riled residents who favor rebuilding the park on the current school site.

One of the neighborhood leaders, Silvio Dell'Angela, has challenged the district's cost estimates and claims an extra $2 million will have to be spent to satisfy the Save the Park group. District officials have projected an additional $80,000 cost to restore the park.

The school is a 20-year-old complex of metal classrooms identical to Susie Rayos Marmon Elementary, 6401 Iliff Road N.W.

Both schools were inexpensive to build - $1.5 million each - and quickly met the demand for more classrooms as their neighborhoods grew. Life expectancy of the schools was 10 to 12 years, district officials said.

The cost to maintain the aging schools has grown to more than $600,000 over the past five years.

The district has budgeted $7 million to rebuild each school.