After 29 years of having classes in portables at McNeil, the 2022-2023 school year will be the first year with hardly any portable classes. The change in scenery has caused mixed emotions with teachers who have spent their years teaching in portables.

The completion of the F and E wings’ construction now allows most teachers to be inside the school at all times. The decision to vacate the portables is a major change for the whole campus.

“I like having the other portables gone,” world history teacher and golf coach Matt Hoover said. “The campus looks like a complete school and not a work in progress.”

While most teachers had all the teaching materials they needed in their own portable, some had to adapt to certain ways of gathering needed materials for their lessons. 

“It was a unique situation considering I had to do projects that required water and extra space that I normally wouldn’t have in a portable,” drawing and painting one art teacher Nathan Dinh said. “When doing clay lessons, I would have to fill up two buckets of water, bring them to my classroom and then dump them out at the end of the day and refill them the next day.”

Since portables required some teachers to be outside all day, some took the opportunity to take advantage of the freedom they had of being able to step outside. Whether it was to warm up in the nice hot sun or cool down in the nice chill breeze, weather was a nice factor for portables.

“I miss being able to step outside to get some fresh air,” English teacher Erin Marshall said. “If it was raining, I would have an umbrella for my kids and when it was cold the breeze felt nice.”

Weather wasn’t the only factor nature provided for the portables. Insects and rodents would sometimes pay visits to the portables and give students and teachers a surprise.

“Insects would always get inside the classroom and freak out the students,” Hoover said. “Once during a test, a mouse had gotten inside the classroom and started to run across students’ feet, which sent the whole class into a panic. It was certainly an interesting distraction to happen during a test.”

One thing teachers love about moving into the main building is the feeling of being more included in social events. Teachers in portables didn’t have the same ease of communication as teachers in the main building do. It’s now much more efficient since all teachers are closer together.

“It felt like students and teachers were often disconnected when on different parts of school grounds.” Dinh said. “Being able to see my students and teacher friends more often has been a good experience for me so far.”

While most teachers spent time relaxing and enjoying themselves, some put in hours of work trying to get ready for this school year.

“Teachers have mountains of work we need to do before the first day of school,” Dinh said. “When you add having to move an entire classroom, that’s just another mountain of work to do.”

New senior parking spots have taken over where most portables were before and portables around the horseshoe have been removed too. With the portables gone, it is the start of a new chapter for all of McNeil.

“I am very excited to begin teaching in my new classroom,” Dinh said. “I now have the benefits of being in the main building such as having a sink, countertop space, and cabinets.”