Surplus Portable Classrooms in Broward County, Fla., are Going to Haiti

The first four of 13 surplus portable classrooms donated by the Broward County (Fla.) district to the William J. Clinton Foundation have been shipped to Haiti. The classrooms will be used to replace facilities destroyed in the January 2010 earthquake.

In 2008, after Haiti sustained significant storm damage, the Broward School Board voted to donate 92 portable classrooms to the nation, but neither the district nor the Haitian government could find anybody who would cover the costs of getting the classrooms to Haiti.

After the devastating earthquake, Haitian officials renewed their efforts to get the portables, and former President Bill Clinton’s foundation stepped into to cover the cost of sending some of the classrooms to the Caribbean nation.

The foundation also facilitated the donation of other school-related supplies and equipment to Haiti. Other donations include two truckloads of school furniture donated by Miami-Dade School District to be used in the mobile classrooms; two truckloads of school supplies donated by Newman Office Supplies; pencils, notebooks, erasers, crayons, glue sticks and chalk donated by the New York State United Teachers Union and Staples; and 10 school buses donated by Miami-Dade School District that have been converted into mobile classrooms.