Portables: At ALL Cost

UPDATE: August 15, 2007 - Possible breaking news coming this week!

["I'm not going to make a promise or a compromise" -- Eric Anderson, DISD Chief Operating Officer.]

Portable buildings seem to have become a way of life in DISD [weren't those supposed to go away after the $1.36 billion bond package in 2002?] along with deaf ears, a lack of planning and general disorganization.

Neighborhood resident Jim Napper knows this only too well.

Napper and his neighbors have, for years, endured everything from noise to property destruction from neighboring Robert T. Hill Junior High--complaining to administrators who seem unable to control it.

Hill Junior High, nestled in an East Dallas neighborhood, has had its share of questionable activity--from children being attacked in "gangland style " fashion to guns being smuggled into portable buildings.

Now they're getting more portables to address DISD's decision to move 6th grade from elementary schools to Junior High.

Former principal Esther Contreras, who remarked to a neighboring PTA that she "couldn't guarantee a child's safety [at Hill]," seemed to look the other way during her tenure at the school.

Contreras has left Hill to become Academic Dean at another DISD school, but one of her last acts was to place several new portable buildings next to houses and far away from the watchful eye of administrators and the metal detectors which screen for weapons.

Based on Contreras' wishes, the wheels of progress began grinding slowly and 8 new portable buildings showed up--right next to neighboring houses.

"I can't sell my house," remarked one neighbor, "while there was interest before, people won't even give it a second look now."

Residents received little sympathy from DISD Chief Operating Officer Eric Anderson.

"We're not in a reversible mode," was Anderson's answer to questions from a group of concerned residents as to why the buildings couldn't be moved to a less obtrusive location.

Why not? "Because I said we're not," said Anderson.

"I've heard the wishes of the group," acknowledged Anderson, "I'm not going to make a promise or a compromise."

DISD's Director of Facilities Michael Brown was a little more conciliatory.

"Was everything done brilliantly? ...No," said Brown. "We need to have these 6 buildings located legally where they can be ready to go when school opens."

Brown noted that the buildings were placed where they were to locate them next to a fire hydrant as required by current city fire code.

Brown told the group that his department could put together a proposal to move the buildings and submit it to the School Board later this year.

Anderson, however, indicated his office was the last stop.

"Whether there is or is not a better solution is up to me," Anderson explained.

A better solution, however, may not be entirely up to Anderson.

According to Napper, the City was never consulted, and placement of the portables violated city setback rules.

Further, the buildings were placed on residential property acquired by the District--which the District never re-zoned.

According to city official Bob Weiss, Napper is correct, and some portable buildings must be moved.

"They can't break the setbacks," explained Weiss. "Setbacks are pretty rigorously enforced."

"We've made builders take houses down."

But what other issues such as security and safety?

Hill students and their possessions are screened at two entrances to the main building. The portable buildings, however, are easily accessible without going through the screening process.

According to school records, last year a gun was stashed under a portable building by a student who wanted to show it to his friends.

"During gang recruitment season," remarked one woman, "I watch cars drive up and down the street behind the school 'hollering' at the children.

Anderson replied, "[DISD has] security [and] a police department."

In the end, however, a lack of communication between DISD, the City and residents was blamed for the issues.

"It's called frictional adjacency," remarked one person.

Another city official, who asked his name be withheld, said, "all of these problems could be solved if DISD would just work with the City."

"As far as I know," remarked Napper, "this is the only school that has placed portable buildings in our back yards."

When asked whether DISD would consider moving the new portables to where the existing portables are now located, Anderson replied: "we understand [moving the portables there] is the will of this group, but we can't promise that."

"Some things," said Anderson, "are going to happen that none of us are going to like."

[Ed Note: Eric Anderson was hired by Superintendent Michael Hinojosa in January, 2007. Prior to that, he was CEO of Crescent Machinery. Anderson's company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2002 and emerged in 2003. The company apparently ceased operation a short time later.]