Campus classes headed to portables
Photo courtesy of Matthew Brummett
Portable classrooms will be set up in the softball and baseball fields for the duration of the two-year construction and renovation period on campus.
April 24, 2018
The structure of life at Diamond Bar High School will undergo considerable change next school year as students and faculty prepare to move into a community of portable classrooms.
Located on the upper field in front of the softball and junior varsity baseball areas, these trailers will serve as temporary classrooms for those affected by major renovation projects inside the 500 and 900 buildings.
The portables will begin dotting the fields after the school’s annual Fourth of July fireworks celebration on the grass.
Around the same time, construction will begin in the parking lot near the tennis courts for a new music building that will include separate indoor spaces for not only band and orchestra, but color guard and drumline as well.
The 900 building will remain intact until this new three-story building is completed in fall of 2020, according to music director Steve Acciani.
Therefore, music classrooms will stay in place while teachers in the 500 building begin their move starting in the fall and continue to relocate two or three at a time each weekend until late spring of 2019, according to DBHS operations manager Mike Bromberg.
As students are to spend a considerable portion of their day in these new accommodations, several new restrooms will also be built on these fields.
“They’re not going to be porta-potties, they’re real restrooms with flushing toilets,” Bromberg said.
Because lengthy distances to and from the portables may affect the time students need to travel between classes, administration is looking into implementing a modified bell schedule which would allow for longer passing periods, but not extend the school day in total.
This, once finalized, will take effect at the beginning of next school year, Bromberg said.
Space availability for soccer, baseball and softball will also be limited by these portables, so practice opportunities for these sports may be impaired.
Although no official plan has been decided upon to remedy the situation, Bromberg said that the school has been discussing temporarily switching over to the fields at Evergreen or Castle Rock Elementary School.
Meanwhile, marching band season will be affected as well, as the Thundering Herd typically holds their practice sessions in the parking lot by the tennis courts.
“They’re going to be using that as a staging area for all the construction stuff, so we’ll have to find a different place but it’s totally worth it,” Acciani said.
According to Bromberg, the 400 building is next in line to be upgraded after this upcoming construction process concludes in about two school years.
