Schools Urged to Find an Alternative for Pricey Portable Buildings

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has asked schools to reconsider using portable classrooms for students affected by floods. The Gazette-Mail reports that FEMA asked Kanawha County Schools last week to consider alternatives to portable classrooms because of how expensive it would be to use the units for such an extended time. Bridge Elementary and Elkview Middle schools had planned to use portable classrooms for students from schools that were destroyed by the floods. Charles Wilson, the Kanawha County school system’s executive director of facilities planning, says the cost of using the portable classrooms would be over $12 million. He says FEMA’s request only relates to where students will go to school until new schools are rebuilt.