Yesterday we talked to Renee Shaw, a tech specialist at Barret Elementary school in Arlington, Virginia. Only a year after her school was renovated in 2004, they already were running out of space. To combat this issue they put in a trailer, a impermanent solution to a permanent problem. They couldn’t afford to renovate the school, and still can’t, so they put in trailers as a substitute to classroom space. Now, Renee’s school is experiencing more budget cuts, and she won’t know if her job is safe for another month. 50 – 60 percent of her class is ELA (English language learners.) We talked to her a lot about the trailers, it was the first time we’ve really heard of them. She says that the trailers can be great, they work just like any other classroom, with smart boards and water fountains. But she also says that there was a time when they didn’t work great. When only one third grade was put into the trailers, and the others were inside, then problems arose. The third graders felt isolated from their peers, and the trailer was too small for a large class like this one. They were cramped and separated. Also, when the school had lock down drills and other drills, they would have to run across into the main building, which would be a huge safety risk if a situation actually arose. The teachers also had to have their lessons materials on carts, and would drive them around from school to trailer. The art teacher was surely not happy by his projects flying everywhere from the wind, not to mention teachers having to pack everything up just to walk a minute in the dead of winter. Later on, the school installed something called a “pod”, it was a grouping of enclosed trailers. Now, the specialty classes inhabit the trailers, and Renee says she doesn’t mind it. These classes are smaller and the trailer is a better environment for them. I read about other stories though, from other schools, where they aren’t so lucky. One article I read talked about a teacher in New York who asked to be moved to a trailer after they split his classroom in two to maximize space. With two classes going on at any time he deicded he was fed up, and moved to a trailer. The trailer was falling apart and and had no air conditioning, meaning it was practically falling apart in the summer. What I’ve learned from these two accounts is that there are two sides to every story, and that these trailers are no exception. It’s a complicated issue, so it’s not going to have a simple solution. Some people like these trailers because they offer them their own space, others are left in falling down tin rectangles, we can’t just solve this problem by abolishing all trailers, but we also can’t just keep building them to solve problems.
