Portable classrooms cause concern

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Portable classrooms cause concern

By ROB NELSON

February 26, 1998

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TAMPA -- The portable classrooms that house thousands of Hillsborough County

public school students are sturdy and well made, officials say. Even so,

they might as well be made of rice paper for all the protection they offer

against 200 mph tornado winds.

As the montage of news footage from Central Florida over the past few days

attests, even the strongest buildings offer little resistance to natural

disasters. The tornadoes that descended on four counties early Monday

decimated entire neighborhoods, turning mobile homes into matchsticks and

hurling Cadillacs into homes.

Those images were fresh in the minds of Hillsborough school administrators

and students Wednesday as they observed Florida Hazardous Weather Awareness

Week, a statewide program designed to teach techniques for surviving a

natural disaster. All public schools throughout the state have until next

week to complete at least one tornado drill as part of the program.

The disaster in Central Florida has imbued the drills with a resonance

administrators and students alike couldn't ignore.

" The concern about the weather is always there, " said Mark Hart, spokesman

for Hillsborough County schools. " But we're certainly watching what's going

on over there with great interest. "

County policy requires the evacuation of students in portable classrooms

during severe weather warnings. Hillsborough County has about 1,800 portable

units, roughly one portable per school.

Even the best portables don't stand a chance against a tornado, Hart said.

" They come equipped with hurricane straps, but these aren't made of bricks

and mortar, " Hart explained. " They're not able to withstand that type of

weather. "

Although a tornado damaged an occupied classroom at Belle Witter Elementary

School last month, some students said they did not realize how much damage

weather can cause until they saw pictures of the devastation in Central

Florida.

" I always thought, " Oh, tornadoes aren't that strong,' " said e,

13, a student at Woodrow Middle School in Tampa. e, who won an

annual " Principal for a Day " contest Tuesday, used his time as head of the

school to impress upon his classmates the importance of Hazardous Weather

Awareness Week.

" Even though its a drill, it's still important, " he said.

School officials say they are as prepared as possible to handle a natural

disaster. Each school office is equipped with a National Weather Service

Warning system designed to give administrators enough time to get students

out of harm's way, Hart said, a luxury people didn't have in Central

Florida.

Still, parents and students alike admitted a certain amount of uneasiness at

having tragedy strike so close.

" It's definitely scary, that's for sure, " said Janice Conley, whose

12-year-old son attends . " But I don't want to be so frightened that

it affects my thoughts all the time. "

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