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 When the homeroom is parked outside in the schoolyard By Carmen J. Lee, Post-Gazette Education Writer Even the names sound awkward. Trailers. Portables. Modular units. Bungalows, if you're in California. And let's not forget the ever-cumbersome, ''demountables.'' Regardless of the term, these temporary buildings became popular after World War II to accommodate the baby boom generation's school years. Now they're experiencing a resurgence in districts across the country. This time, school construction and enrollment jumps due to a boomlet of births in the past decade have contributed to an increase of what we'll call trailers. But the school trailers of the '90s are not your mother's trailers. Today, they can come air-conditioned, carpeted and sometimes outfitted with bathrooms. They often can comfortably hold two classrooms of about 25 students each. For many school officials, teachers and parents, trailers are a good option when they're well-equipped and used short-term. Some teachers even prefer them to noisy, crowded schools or a classroom-on-a-cart, used when a teacher must move from room to room throughout the day whenever there's a free space. But most educators agree that trailers are most beneficial when they maintain their temporary status. The longer they stay, concerns about isolation, limited space and security from vandalism and unwelcomed intrusions begin to grow. ''There's usually no way to control access and not much security,'' said Jewell Gould, director of research for the American Federation of Teachers. ''Space where kids have adequate light and it's safe and clean is the first priority. Getting them into well-built, permanent buildings designed for educational instruction is next. ... But when trailers wind up on playgrounds, we convey to youngsters that we don't value them as we value other generations or children in other districts.'' Educationally, no research is available that indicates whether students learn better or worse in trailers, said Glenn Earthman, director of the Washington, D.C.-based National Clearinghouse for Educational Facilities. If the trailers are in good condition, then the drawbacks are usually inconveniences, such as travel time to restrooms, cafeterias or gymnasiums in the main building. ''And they look like the devil,'' Earthman said. Trailers can make certain teach-ing techniques more difficult, he added, such as when classes have to share materials or teachers between the main building and trailers. But some teachers find there are advantages that outweigh the disadvantages. Anne Jackson, who teaches an early skills program to pupils needing help moving from kindergarten to first grade, chose to conduct her classes in a trailer at Brookline Elementary School for four years. It was carpeted, air-conditioned and had separate bathrooms for boys and girls. ''I enjoyed it. I felt I had more room. I liked having my own space,'' Jackson said. ''The type of child I was teaching didn't need disturbances from outside noises.'' She contacted parents when she anticipated bad weather so that youngsters would wear proper clothing for getting back to the main building. She also worked out a routine so that pupils walked the shortest routes, closest to the building. But because she became involved in a new reading program that required using computers, Jackson has to move back into the main building this fall. School officials didn't believe the trailer could have been made secure enough to prevent the computers from being stolen. ''If I didn't have to move, I would not choose to,'' Jackson said. ''For me it was a good experience.'' Nationally, tens of thousands of trailers have been bought or leased by schools across the country. Just mention them to educators, and tales from California and Florida spring from their lips. More than 18,000 school trailers have been scattered across Florida for years. The state has been facing a rising student population. At the same time, new construction has been a low priority because the public schools are supported by state allocations and sales taxes, a smaller funding base than would have been likely from property or income taxes. Construction is expected to rise in the next few years, though. The Florida Legislature recently approved a $3 billion bond issue for school building improvements. A similar trailer proliferation is taking place in California, Gould said, though the main reason is a state-mandated class size limit of 20 in kindergarten through third grade. That means rooms are becoming filled sooner. Trailers are the quick, short-term solution. ''The state bought every portable between Indiana and New Mexico and drove them out to California,'' Gould said. ''It was like great wagon trains going west.'' Pennsylvania officials don't keep track of how many are used in schools in this state. And several companies in Pennsylvania and other states lease or sell them to schools in this region, making even estimates difficult to come by. But just to get an idea, Duquesne City School District Superintendent Ronald Mento conducted his own survey last year of the 42 suburban school districts in Allegheny County and found that 30 leased or owned them, though he didn't know the total number. The survey was to help bolster the case for using the trailers to house the district's high school while a new building is constructed. The board agreed to place the district's 200 students in grades nine through 12 in seven trailers that each contain two classrooms until construction is completed, expected later this year. One is used as a lunchroom and for assemblies. ''The kids call it 'Trailer High,''' Mento said with a laugh. The trailers are carpeted and air-conditioned, though students have to use restrooms in the nearby football stadium. Walkie-talkies are used to communicate between trailers in the absence of an intercom. ''They weren't ideal conditions but they certainly were tolerable,'' Mento said. ''The old school wasn't air-conditioned and it certainly wasn't carpeted. Educationally as far as instruction, I haven't seen any deficiencies, and we'll give them back after construction is done.'' Many times parents and communities can put up with trailers when they know it will be for a limited period. But when one or two years stretches into 10 or more, patience becomes short. John Walluk, director of facilities for the Pittsburgh Public Schools, said when classes start in September, there will be 19 trailers at various schools throughout the city district. Most are more than 25 years old. The district had to hold onto some of the older trailers because it faced unanticipated growth in the student population before officials had a chance to develop a comprehensive building plan outlining construction needs. Other trailers became fixtures that schools found convenient to keep for extra space. The board approved such a plan, which also included some controversial redistricting, in June. School officials hope to get rid of the bulk of the trailers within five years. In the meantime, district staff will continue to patch and repair trailers as needed. Some have deteriorating roofs that have to be replaced. ''We're going to do anything we have to to get them in shape,'' he said. ''But they're not worth putting a lot of money into.'' Even when trailers are dazzlingly new and modern, they can receive mixed reactions. In Bethel Park, Superintendent Victor Morrone gave a pitch to elementary parents in February on the advantages of trailers. He was preparing the parents for the possibility that some might be used to alleviate crowding in that district. Some parents remain skeptical. ''I just don't want my children taught in a trailer. They seem tacky to me. They're not my idea of what a school experience should be like,'' said Mary Ann Shiring, who has a daughter at Lincoln Elementary in Bethel Park. ''We pay a lot of money for taxes, especially in Bethel Park, and I want my child taught in the building.'' The two trailers at Roosevelt Elementary in Carrick are the newest in the city district. One arrived in 1996, the other last year. But when Gertrude Fajerski, 70, looks out the front window of her home on The Boulevard, she gets an eyeful of the gray units parked in front of the school -- and she's not happy. ''This is a residential neighborhood, and I'm looking at a Dumpster, a shed and two portables,'' she said. ''The beautiful building is behind them, but I can't see the building anymore. This is just not nice at all. Tell them I would like to look at the building and see the kids, rather than look at these ... well, I call them barns.'' Margaret Lindquist, who has fifth-grade homeroom at Roosevelt and teaches several subjects to fourth-graders as well as fifth-graders, recalls not having a classroom because the small school was so crowded. Her homeroom was in the library. Her teaching materials were on two carts. And her pupils traveled with her to whatever empty room was available. The trailers changed that. ''I was losing a tremendous amount of instructional time moving whole classes around,'' she said. ''Now I have air conditioning, which they don't have in the main building. I have carpeting. It's quieter. The lighting is good. The best thing is to be in the main building and to have adequate-size classrooms. But given the situation I was in, this was an improvement.'' Linda Warble, president of the Roosevelt Parent Teacher Organization, sympathizes with both women. After watching more than 200 children trying to squeeze into a red brick building that holds 145, Warble and other parents lobbied the school board to remedy the crowding. They accepted the two trailers as a temporary solution. Now other issues have arisen that parents aren't too crazy about, Warble said. If a pupil has to go to the school office, he or she has to be escorted by another pupil as a security precaution. That means two pupils miss out on class time. The trailers are open to vandalism, and already they've been dented and some windows broken from youngsters playing street hockey near them, Warble said. And according to the district's building plan, Roosevelt's new addition is not expected to be completed until 2002. ''Truthfully parents are not happy with this, but we'll take it over what we had before,'' she said. ''We're making the best of a bad situation.'' Next: For many, the computer lab is standard
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