Junk the portables

Once again, Chico residents have agreed to reach into their pockets to pay for better schools. For the third time since 1998, they have approved a ballot measure authorizing the Chico Unified School District to sell millions of dollars’ worth of bonds. The money generated by Measure K will be used to modernize and upgrade Chico’s schools, particularly its elementary schools.

Most of those schools were built in the 1950s, and today they’re falling apart. Also, they don’t enjoy the benefits of the technological revolution that has transformed all aspects of our society. Nothing symbolizes this backwardness more than the dozens of portable classrooms still in use at our elementary schools. Cheaply made with lousy HVAC systems and prone to falling apart over time, they are meant to be temporary structures. In Chico, however, some have been in place for nearly 40 years.

They’re also potential health hazards. In 2004, the California Air Resources Board did a large-scale study of portables and found that, during 40 percent of classroom time, there was inadequate fresh air. It also found higher levels of formaldehyde, a carcinogen, that exceeded the state’s chronic-exposure limits in nearly all portable classrooms. Levels in portables also more frequently exceeded acute-exposure limits designed to protect against respiratory problems.

Heretofore, the CUSD has failed to eliminate the portables, perhaps due to lack of funds to build new classrooms. Whatever the reason, Measure K gives the district the means finally to eliminate dozens of potentially unsafe structures that should have been hauled off and recycled decades ago.

Junking the portables should be the district’s highest priority. Chico voters did their part. Now its up to the CUSD to follow through.