Two portables planned for Queen Elizabeth Elementary School in Queensborough will come with an exterior washcart rather than their own plumbing.
Plans for portables in the district were included in the operations update presented by superintendent Karim Hachlaf at the school board’s operations policy and planning committee meeting.
“It is not an ideal scenario, but it is a short-term solution as we work through the acquisition processes and long-term facility planning,” he said.
The washcart will be the second one on the Queen Elizabeth grounds.
“They will receive a washcart, that’s the terminology for outdoor facilities,” he said, adding it will have four sinks and five toilets and will be installed this summer.
Trustee Mary Lalji voiced concerns that students at Queen Elizabeth, from kindergarten to Grade 4, were too young to be using outdoor facilities, especially in bad weather.
Lalji asked what the cost would be to put plumbing in the new portables.
“I’m thinking that would be about $30,000 per portable, just for the plumbing part, but I think you would lose instructional space,” said Teri Stoneman, secretary-treasurer of the school district.
The school district has a portable with two bathrooms in it, Lalji pointed out.
“Yet portables for our children on elementary school sites, we can’t get a washroom in there for them.”
