Modular Technology's schools ease space crunch
Sites alleviate overcrowding

from The Arizona Republic, October 4, 2004
Monica Mendoza

Last winter, Deer Valley school district officials realized that homes in Anthem were selling faster than anyone predicted. For the already fast-growing district, it meant more kids, and sooner than expected.

Plans were under way for a third elementary school to open in Anthem in 2005. But school officials needed classroom space for the 560 pupils coming this school year.

The answer was a "temporary" school that could be constructed quickly but still look and feel like a real school. School officials did not want to invest in the wooden mobile units that look like double-wide trailers and plop them on campuses. Those buildings wear down after a few years, especially after being moved, said Kent Davis, Deer Valley associate superintendent of administrative services. And with the district enrollment growing at 5 percent a year, school officials needed a school that could move from one fast-growing area to the next.

Using money saved from bond projects, Deer Valley spent $3.5 million on 35 modular buildings, including 900-square-foot classrooms, a cafeteria, offices and a library and created a temporary school campus. Modular buildings have sprinkler systems, are steel-framed and stuccoed. Some districts have used these buildings as permanent schools. But Deer Valley may be the first district in the Valley to use the movable school concept, keeping an entire school available just to handle growth.

"Someone called us a pretend school," said parent Pat Lynch, who has three children at the movable school. "We have a multipurpose room, playground equipment, a flag pole coming. There is nothing pretend about it."

Lynch said parents view the temporary school as a better option than overcrowding campuses. This way, the children who will attend the new permanent school are assembled and are building school spirit and camaraderie.

"The people inside are the school, not the building," she said.

The movable school, Diamond Canyon Elementary School, opened in August on 45th Avenue behind the Outlets at Anthem, off Interstate 17. The buildings are tan, there is a sidewalk, a parking lot, a playground and there will soon be playing fields.

"As you can see, it's a genuine classroom," Paul Stanton, Diamond Canyon principal, said as he toured the campus before school started.

School officials dubbed the set of buildings the "growth school" and plan to move it to other fast-growing areas of the district.

Deer Valley expects to build at least two schools a year through 2010.

With enrollment at 33,290 this school year and expected to be 44,480 by 2010, the Arizona School Facilities Board has given the district approval to build one school to open in 2005 and authorization for a second school is pending. The board has given Deer Valley preliminary approval for a sixth high school to open in 2006 and a K-8 school to open in 2007. Six additional schools, including the district's seventh high school, have been conceptually approved through 2010.

"We are going to be in the high school business for a while," Davis said.

But the plans are based on the houses that have been approved by cities or the county. Deer Valley, a 367-square-mile district, is only 30 percent built out.

Phoenix recently annexed a 26-mile swath of land north of Carefree Highway along I-17. Some predict as many as 80,000 houses will be built there. That would mean more schools than the ones planned, Davis said. And it will keep the "growth school" moving.

"We don't add schools until the developers have approval to build homes," he said.

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