The Newhall School District governing board is set Tuesday to hear a presentation about the relocatable classrooms at three of the district’s elementary schools.
According to the meeting agenda, Scott Gaudineer, president and CEO of Flewelling and Moody architectural firm, will be presenting the board a relocatable building assessment conducted at Stevenson Ranch Elementary School, Wiley Canyon Elementary School, and Meadows Elementary School.
Relocatable classrooms, also known as portable classrooms, were created to provide short-term space until permanent facilities were built, according to the presentation included on the agenda. “Maintaining relocatable classrooms as ‘permanent’ spaces creates a number of unintended consequences.”
The presentation lists the consequences of the portable classrooms to be a sense of “second-class” space versus permanent spaces, less energy-efficient lighting and mechanical systems than permanent spaces, and security issues as relocatable classrooms are not directly connected to the permanent spaces and may be out of the “line of sight.”
The presentation also includes campus impacts and observations of the state the portable classrooms are in at each of the schools.
The board will be recommended to consider whether all portable classrooms serve a valid ongoing purpose on their campuses. The board is not scheduled to take any action on the item at Tuesday’s meeting.
