MATTOON - Twenty years ago, it wasn't uncommon to find grade school televisions tuned into news events like a space shuttle launch.

This week, however, the big to-do shown on TVs throughout Williams Elementary School in Mattoon was a little more down to Earth - and under it, for that matter.

The children may not have fully understood the implications for their school and their community when FutureGen Alliance officials in Washington, D.C., announced the selection of Mattoon as the planned site for the prototype coal-fired power plant.

Following Tuesday's site selection, school officials in Mattoon and the surrounding area are bracing for an influx of new students, in anticipation of crews descending on Coles County to build and operate FutureGen.

Mattoon school district administrators are "looking down the road," said Superintendent Larry Lilly, noting some of the groundwork already has been laid. Working with the district's architect, administrators submitted a report to the FutureGen Alliance detailing improvements to local schools and their capacities.

Public hearings over the last year and a half also afforded a chance to show off Mattoon's two new elementary schools, where FutureGen hearings were hosted. Riddle Elementary School on the west edge of Mattoon and the nearly identical Williams school on the southeast side both opened in 2003.

"We originally built those elementary schools with some growth in mind," Lilly said. "We believe we can handle somewhat of a growth in population" because of FutureGen.

In the Charleston school district, interim Superintendent Bill Hill said he thinks FutureGen will have some impact on the district's enrollment, but "it remains to be seen how much."

Hill foresees a potential influx of temporary construction workers, but he said the number of permanent workers at the FutureGen plant will be spread out over the area and won't mean a large enrollment change.

Debby Poindexter, superintendent of the Neoga school district, said FutureGen holds the potential to reverse an enrollment decline there.

When Mattoon and nearby Tuscola were named as finalists for FutureGen, Sullivan Superintendent Terry Pearcy said area superintendents began discussions on accommodating extra students.

Sullivan schools have the facilities to meet this need, Pearcy said.