By tapping into surpluses in their school district budget and asking principals to make cuts, Pelham school officials expect they will have the money needed to fund a new fire alarm system at Memorial School and portable classrooms at Pelham High School.

School board members are spending roughly $70,000 for the alarm system and $210,620 to cover this year’s costs for the six classrooms.

They are taking these actions in response to the discovery of fire code violations by fire safety officials.

To come up with the $280,620 they need, school officials are asking principals to suggest how a total of $50,000 can be cut from their budgets and are tapping into these areas in the school district budget: Maintenance reserve fund ($50,000), health insurance ($73,000), dental insurance ($3,500), workers compensation ($20,000), liability insurance ($18,500), Title funding ($20,000) and salary savings ($45,620).

“We know these monies will not be spent,” said Brian Gallagher, business administrator of the Pelham School District, of those surpluses.

It will cost roughly $335,000 to install the portable classrooms and to lease them for two years at a cost of roughly $7,400 per month. School officials expect to spend $88,800 in fiscal year 2007-2008 and $44,400 in 2008- 2009 to cover the costs.

Gallagher said he has met with principals and expects later this week to receive recommendations on what can be cut from their budgets.

The town’s budget committee approved the emergency request for the portable classrooms last week, and the school district is awaiting approval from the state Department of Education.

Last month, the school board voted to upgrade the fire alarm system at Memorial School. Students in some seventh-grade classrooms located in the back of the building can’t hear the alarm sounding if their classroom doors are shut.

The high school was built as an “open concept” school in the 1970s. There were few walls separating classrooms, and students were taught in open areas.

Over time, interior walls were constructed.

As a result, according to local officials, exit areas were compromised. Currently, students working in three areas of the school — home economics classrooms, the area near foreign language classes, and math classrooms — must walk farther than fire officials recommend to escape from the building during emergencies.

Fire officials have other concerns about the high school: Many wall were constructed with combustible materials, the fire alarm system needs to be upgraded, spaces above the ceiling could allow a fire to spread undetected, and windows are too small through which to escape from the building.

A complete fire and life safety survey of the high school will be conducted by a fire protection engineer.

Architects from New Hampton, Paul Marinace and Frank Marinace, will examine the school and recommend corrective actions.