Sixteen classrooms at Spring Grove School scheduled to be replaced
They’re only 30, but they’re showing signs of advanced age. Spring Grove School’s collection of 16 generation-old portable classrooms will be yanked off their pads over summer break, replaced by brand-new classrooms as part of a $3 million renovation project, according to North County School District Superintendent Howard Chase.
Chase talked about the project between fielding phone calls and directing preparation efforts. What distinguishes this project is not its size, but its timeline, and Chase is coordinating the project with the precision of a field marshal.
While preliminary work is continuing now, plans call for actual work to begin the Monday after school lets out. Teachers will have stored classroom contents in the school gym by the time construction crews arrive. Then the old classrooms start coming out. The project is scheduled to be complete by the time students return in the fall – two-and-a-half months later, Chase said. This is the third major school construction project Chase has supervised in his career as an educator, and he’s confident the team can pull it off within the tight time-line.
Thirty years may not seem a long time, but it’s a long, full life, indeed, for a portable classroom. Consider that the classrooms are occupied daily by two dozen active children. Art projects take place, lunches and snacks may be shared on rainy days. The buildings scheduled for removal are starting to look, well, shop-worn.
The renovation is a chance to revise the layout of the entire school as well, and classrooms will be relocated to create a larger area for the kindergarten playground. The old portables will be presented to non-profit organizations, Chase said.
“We’re doing this now because it’s time, and because we qualified for modernization funds (from the state),” Chase said. “The old classrooms are 30 to 35 years old. Some are sinking. We have to file some doors down to get them to open and close.”
The district’s only direct cost is covered in the form of a $400,000 loan from a local bank. The contractor for the project is Cal-Air, a Sacramento firm that works across California. The classrooms themselves are produced by a Manteca company. For those who think they know what portable classrooms look like, these may come as a surprise.
“They don’t look like trailers at all – very nice,” Chase said. The people who come to Spring Grove School every day are very aware of the project. “The students know about it, and they’re all excited,” Chase said. “And the staff, I can’t say enough about how cooperative they’re being.” |
