Concrete portable classrooms praised by parents, officials

By Scott Travis
South Florida Sun-Sentinel Education Writer
Posted May 12 2006

Parents at Elbridge Gale Elementary School in Wellington were leery when they learned their children would spend the school year in portable classrooms while their permanent building is under construction.

But they quickly changed their mind after touring the campus. These aren't the old decaying wooden and metal portables held up by cinder blocks of the 1960s. These concrete buildings look permanent.

"I was shocked that these were actually portables," parent Star Hallman said. "These are nicer and more spacious than the classrooms I'm used to."

Portable classrooms used to be something that parents hated. Many of them were old, musty, leaky and shaky. A deluge of portables was a sign that a school had more students than it was equipped to handle.

That's not often the case anymore.

The district has about 1,800 portables, but a third of them are the concrete variety, known as "concretables." They're larger than the old portables, and most have bathrooms. Many are used for extra programs and class-size reduction, not overall school crowding, which has eased in recent years.

The district has spent about $35 million on the concrete units since the late 1990s, about $12.7 million more than if they had stayed with the metal variety. They cost about $100,000 each, roughly the same price as a permanent classroom. But they can be put up in days and easily moved, like the old portables. In 2002, a state auditor general's report criticized the Palm Beach County School District for what seemed at the time to be an excessive expense. School district officials argued these would hold up better in the long run.

Four years and four major hurricanes later, county officials say they feel vindicated. While storms damaged dozens of the old portables, all the concrete ones survived.

Elbridge Gale Principal Gail Pasterczyk, former principal at Indian Pines Elementary west of Lake Worth, said she has been impressed with the buildings' durability.

"At Indian Pines, we had the old kinds of portables, and we took a beating from all the hurricanes," she said. "This year with the concretables, we had absolutely no concerns."

Elbridge Gale's permanent campus is scheduled to be complete by August. The school opened last year, a year earlier than planned, when nearby Equestrian Trails Elementary School became too crowded. About 300 Equestrian Trails students became part of Elbridge Gale when they were put on the temporary, allportable campus at Wellington Landings Middle.

Few districts followed Palm Beach County's lead when it started buying concrete portables in the late 1990s. Now, after the hurricanes, at least 10 other counties in the state are piggybacking on the school district's contract with West Palm Beach-based Royal Concrete Concepts, which manufactures the portables. The company says the portables can withstand a Category 5 hurricane.

Officials at other schools say they also have been pleased with the concrete portables.

Sunrise Park Elementary, west of Boca Raton, has 16 portables, with four more coming next year.

"They look like little houses," Principal Alan Goldstein said. "When I take parents on tours, they can't get over how big they are. They're bright and airy."

Four concrete portables were installed at Morikami Park Elementary in Delray Beach this year.

"They're painted the same color as the rest of our building," Principal Elizabeth Kennedy said. "The insides are bright and cheery. ... They're a really nice classroom."