...Montgomery County Public Schools use more than 430 portable classrooms, per state and district records obtained by the News4 I-Team. A row of nine portables, each of which is approximately the size of a trailer, covers an old blacktop playground at Summit Hall Elementary School in Gaithersburg. Principal Keith R. Jones said he installed security equipment, including surveillance cameras and tall fencing, outside the portable classrooms to protect the small buildings and ensure the safety of the fourth and fifth graders who must walk between the units and the main school. Jones said the cold winter was “very, very difficult for those students,” who must walk outdoors multiple times a day...
http://www.nbcwashington.com/investigations/Crowded-Classrooms-More-Students-Means-More-Portables-254618931.html
Well it is about time! In the fall of 2000, my daughter developed a recurring sinus infection that required antibiotics, because her homeroom was inside the building, but her math class was in a threadbare portable classroom with poor heating. And one time, the teacher was struck by a falling ceiling tile!
ReplyDeleteDon't worry. It's not time. The portables are still in use and will remain in use for the next 25 years as long as MCPS refuses to do any long range planning. The existing portables (and 10,000 students in them) are just trotted out at budget time in a plug for more money for travel, personal SUVs, more administrators and no bid purchases. There is no will on the part of the Board of Education or the Superintendent to actually get rid of classroom trailers.
DeleteThe termites love them.
ReplyDelete