School trailers ready to go in new year

By Daniel Jackovino, Staff Writer
Three classroom trailers should soon be up and running to accommodate Franklin School’s burgeoning student population. And as may happen in any growing experience, the adult is anxious and the child
is excited; while one sees adventure the other hopes to avoid the pitfalls.
But the school’s principal, Marianne Abbasso, is confident the details have been worked out. So although naturally a little anxious right now, Abbasso anticipates a smooth transition in early January of 50 of her students into the trailers alongside the cramped school in what was a staff parking lot.
“They’re pretty excited and can’t wait to get into there,” she said earlier this week about her two sixth-grade classes. “It’s a positive thing and they’re old enough to handle it.”
The third module will be occupied by music and instrument instruction classes.
Communications between the modules and the school will not be a problem, she pointed out. The satellite classrooms will be equipped with intercoms with the ability for direct emergency 9-1-1 dialing. Teachers will also have walkie-talkies.
The doors to the sixth-grade classrooms will also face each other to facilitate an easy exchange when students pass from language arts and to mathematic studies, the principal noted.
But Abbasso offered assurance that the children wouldn’t be alienated from other students. There would still be lunch time and schoolwide presentations.
“They’ll be plenty of opportunity for them to meet with their peers,” she said.
The move into the trailers will free-up some much-needed classroom space inside the building.
One sixth-grade class has been using the library for its classroom. The other sixth-grade classroom, once vacated, will be used by second-graders.
“I will have a third class for second-graders now,” Abbasso explained adding that all grades, except for the sixth-grade, will have three sections.
Currently, 54 second-graders are in two classrooms. Once the trailers are occupied, the second-grade classes will each have 18 students.
Music and music instrument instructions are now being held in the art room and the gym’s stage area, respectively.
Weather permitting, a covered walkway from the trailers into the school should be set soon, according to Jerry Parisi, the school district’s custodial manager. An aide will escort children between the trailers and the school. A ramp, required by law, will be installed for access to the trailers by anyone disabled.
The trailers will be able to circulate air drawn from the outside, have heating, air conditioning, heat and smoke detectors and individual fire alarms, Parisi said. White boards will be used by the sixth-grade teachers but the music trailer will have old-fashioned black boards.
Parisi said the classroom’ unwrapped furniture is in the facilities and student lockers are in place. Each trailer will also have WiFi and internet connections.
But Bloomfield’s student population explosion isn’t going to be solved with trailers in the long run, Abbasso and Paris acknowledge. And it is generally accepted the school district’s solution for Franklin School’s growing roster will remain in place next year. Yet Parisi was positive.
“The community will be pleasantly surprised when it all comes together in early January,” Parisi said. “The trailers are going to look like classrooms.”
Superintendent Jason Bing previously stated each trailer cost $1,000; to set all three up as classrooms was another $12,000.