Portable Classrooms in the APS

When school districts are flush with cash,
and they need to build a school,
they build a brick and mortar monument to themselves and their endeavor.

In lean times, when districts need to build a school,
they build a gymnasium, cafeteria, and a library of brick and mortar, and everyone else goes to a portable.

APS portable classrooms are poorly kept, dilapidated and generally regarded as an insult to those students and adults who work in them. They are not considered worthy even, of fire safety inspections.


They needn't be. It is an administrative failure that has caused the dilapidation of portable classrooms in the APS.

Correctly done;

• Portables are attractive and comfortable and safe
• They create community among those who work in them.
• They are efficient to heat and cool.
• They are "easy" to move around, as schools need to accommodate more or fewer students.
• The are repairable; they can be refurbished for ever.

The truth is that if you sit in a portable classroom, you wouldn't know you were in one,

except that the roof is lower, the windows are small,
and dirty, and they are covered with heavy metal grates.
(not unlike the windows in most prisons)

I submit that the APS is a school district in lean times,
and times which are certain to become leaner.

And if we weren't spending a hundred and fifty million dollars on a single high school,

and a million dollars on an unnecessary new boardroom, and who knows how many millions in the unending renovation of the twin towers at 6400 Uptown Blvd;

the portable classrooms in the APS would not be poorly kept,
dilapidated and generally regarded as an insult to those
students and adults who work in them.