Updated schools envy of all others

By Jennifer Hiller
Advertiser Education Writer

In the typical 50-year life cycle of buildings, Central Middle School is beyond old age.

Extensive renovations to Royal Elementary School include the vaulted library with a media center. Across the street, Central Middle School students get by in 75-year-old buildings. Deborah Booker • The Honolulu Advertiser

But the 1926 building with its enormous wood-floored auditorium and six-pillared facade has a place on the Hawai'i Register of Historic Places. Princess Ruth Keelikolani built a palace on the site in the heart of downtown in 1878.

"It's a classic," said Roger Aquino, head custodian, who can never tell what might need fixing next.

Across the street at Royal Elementary School, founded in 1842 for children of Hawaiian royalty, the 1940s campus has seen a major renovation.

The central office has two large conference rooms, a teacher work room and a health room with space for three cots and a shower. Upstairs, kids leave their shoes at the entrance to the library, a barrel-vaulted room with arched windows and a media center.

Royal Elementary and Central Middle represent contrasts in environments where Hawai'i students learn, even within the same school district, sometimes a block away.

On a walk around Royal's well-landscaped campus, Al Suga, Department of Education assistant superintendent for administrative services, peeked into its air-conditioned computer lab.

"This is what a school should look like," he noted. "There is so much that could be done if we had the funding. The state says the typical life of a building is about 50 years. We have many schools that are beyond that and haven't been renovated."

DOE officials estimate Hawai'i schools will need $1.2 billion in capital improvements during the next 10 years. That includes major renovation projects such as the one at Royal Elementary, and constructing new classroom space in areas of growing population such as Kapolei and Maui, said Gordon Sam, an engineer in planning and finance for capital improvements.

There's also a $621 million backlog of basic repair and maintenance work on the public school campuses. Many times, projects such as new roofs and termite treatment can languish for years or decades before being completed.

The need has far outpaced the money available. As a result, the learning environment varies dramatically from campus to campus, depending largely on the age of the school and how far facilities have been allowed to deteriorate.

"That's where the argument lies," said State Rep. Guy Ontai, R-39th (Wheeler Army Airfield, Mililani). "It's a beautiful sentiment to have a statewide system: The idea is to provide equality across the system. But it doesn't happen."

Differences are even more pronounced across O'ahu, where students at 4-year-old Waikele Elementary School attend classes on a campus that is entirely networked, and each child has an e-mail address. The state had to build several new campuses in Leeward O'ahu recently to meet a population and development boom.

Waikele Principal Diane Matsuoka calls it the opportunity of a lifetime to be able to start up a new elementary school and take part in the design process. Classrooms are grouped into pods of four, with a central area where students of different ages can gather to work on projects together.

Matsuoka said the design encourages interaction. "It's definitely an asset," she said. "The environment is very conducive to learning."

Older campuses, especially in central Honolulu, will have to wait years before they can approach equal footing.

When Central Middle gets a major classroom renovation in the spring, school officials hope their campus will come more into line with neighboring Royal Elementary. Classrooms need new doors, dry-erase boards, cabinets and new countertops for the science labs.

"We've had a whole mass of (state) people here measuring and making plans," said Principal Penny Tom.

Principal Richard Matsumoto, who oversees the 45-year-old campus at Lincoln Elementary School, said he's impressed more by the new schools' equipment than their appearance.

"I've been out to Kapolei Middle School, and it's just amazing," he said. "It's not just the way it looks; it's even the way they are already set up for technology."

Not long ago, Lincoln — which is slowly being renovated — had to be rewired just so students could turn on the computers without overloading the electrical system.

Reach Jennifer Hiller at jhiller@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8084.