Schools to get more portable classrooms
District planning several renovations over the next 5 years
Flush with money from a sales tax increase, new schools are being built and renovated all over Palm Beach County.
So parents and School Board members want to know: Why are lots of kids still stuck in portables?
Fewer than 200, out of about 1,600 in the school district, are the decaying wood or metal portables, raised up on cinder blocks, from the last century. Mostly, they’re made of concrete, resemble traditional classrooms and have their own bathrooms. Some have flat roofs, some have pitched roofs; some are two stories high.
Still, parents don’t like them, School Board member Marcia Andrews said during a budget planning session Wednesday. She said they want their children to learn in classrooms that aren’t separated from a school’s main buildings.
“Why do we continue to have our kids in these portables?” Andrews said. “Why do our kids have to stay in these conditions?”
Three Boca Raton schools are set to get the new types of portables, known as “modular classrooms,” over the next five years: Omni Middle, Spanish River High and Olympic Heights High.
They’re the best way to accommodate expanding campuses when the district does not plan to build an entirely new school, said Wanda Paul, the district’s chief of facilities.
And once they’re built, the school district is required by the state to maintain the new ones for 30 years before demolishing them, Paul said.
“The only thing we can do is repair, paint and make sure there’s no water intrusion,” Paul said.
There are 1,608 portables and modular units in the school district, said David Dolan, deputy facilities management chief. Only 182 are the old-style trailers made of wood or metal, he said, and they’re all on their way to being demolished because they are at least 25 years old.
Palm Beach County voters approved a one-cent sales tax increase in 2016 that is being split among schools and municipalities for construction projects. Schools get half of the $2.7 billion the tax is expected to generate over the course of 10 years.
The additions to the Boca Raton schools are among several alterations and renovations the district is planning in the next five years. Other changes include:
■ Addison Mizner Elementary School in Boca Raton will become a K-8 campus for $41 million.
■ Pine Grove Elementary School in Delray Beach will be renovated for about $21 million.
■ The historic Delray Full Service Center, which offers classes for adults who want to improve their literacy, get their high school equivalency diploma or learn to become a home health aide, will be renovated for $10 million. Neighboring Village Academy will get ballfields as part of the project.
■ The former Plumosa Elementary School
the law said tobacco use “has devastating health and economic consequences” and is the “foremost preventable cause of premature death in America.”
Health officials have called vaping an epidemic among young people. The health risks are becoming increasingly more extensive, including not only nicotine addiction, but also a higher chance for lung cancer, asthma, seizures, anxiety and harm to the developing adolescent brain.
The Florida Department of Health’s Bureau of Tobacco Free Florida launched a statewide campaign in April to give parents and educators the latest facts on youth vaping and the highly addictive properties of e-cigarettes.
Tobacco Free Partnership of Broward County endorsed Fort Lauderdale’s new law in a mass email, saying it would “help keep these products out of schools and reduce the chance that a young adult will be able to purchase the products for underage friends.”
In other action Tuesday, Fort Lauderdale commissioners:
Convention center: Gave the first of two votes to change development plans for the Broward County Convention Center, which is proposed for expansion. The new permitted development: hotel rooms reduced from 1,000 to 800, retail reduced from 470,000 square feet to 15,000, office space added at 24,000 square feet, and convention center space increased from 550,000 square feet to 1.2 million.
Burial: Waived the $1,796 burial fee for Noah Sneed, a two-year-old who died July 29 when he was left in a hot van at an Oakland Park daycare. Sneed was buried in Fort Lauderdale’s Sunset Memorial Gardens Cemetery.
Guns: Expressed support for a law prohibiting the carrying of guns in city parks and properties. Commissioner Heather Moraitis said she probably won’t support it; she said if criminals know where people are unarmed, they might consider it a target.
Auditor: Gave City Auditor John Herbst a 3 percent raise on his $239,000 salary. He has been auditor for 13 years. He makes more than the city manager ($225,000) and the city attorney ($214,000) and the city clerk ($126,000).