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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Saturday, January 19, 2002

DOE still tardy on 37 playgrounds

By Suzanne Roig
Advertiser East Honolulu Writer

KAHALA — The state has completed renovations of only two of 39 school playgrounds that were supposed to have been done by the end of 2001, prompting criticism from a legislator.

In November, the state Department of Education planned to have new equipment and soft surfaces installed at 39 public school playgrounds by the end of December and another 30 by March 25.

Of the 39, only Mililani Uka Elementary had a completed playground by mid-December.

This week, crews were completing installation work at Wilson Elementary School in Kahala.

The holdup, critics have said, is because of the state's hiring only one company to pour all the concrete foundations for the 39 school playground facilities that were promised by the end of December.

The concrete foundations are in place at nine schools, according to Ken Kajihara, DOE facilities planner, who said another nine will have the work done over the next three weeks.

Rep. Cynthia Thielen, R-49th (Kailua, Kane'ohe Bay Drive), has been critical of the length of time it has taken the department to install the playground equipment. She questioned why the department hired only one contractor to do the concrete work.

"The DOE is so inept," Thielen said. "They shouldn't be handling playgrounds. I don't think they've saved us any money — all it's done is saved job positions. ... Meanwhile the kids are running around on playgrounds without any equipment."

Al Suga, acting assistant superintendent for the DOE's division of administrative services, said the contractor is being monitored closely. Suga said the bidding process allows for only one contractor to be hired.

"There are delays because the concrete takes 10 days to cure," Suga said. "I do know we're backlogged."

Kajihara said the concrete work did not start as early as officials had planned. The contractor was selected by the invitation-to-bid process and one large contractor got all the jobs, Kajihara said.

"While the timeline for the first 39 jobs is in flux, half the pads (foundations) are done," he said. "Our timelines were aggressive because we wanted to get our kids quality product quickly."

At Wilson Elementary in Kahala, students have been clinging to the temporary fence around the project, checking workers' progress daily on the purple and yellow playground equipment, said principal Elsie Hu.

"The students were so excited about the progress," Hu said. "We're planning a thank-you program in our cafeteria in honor of the new equipment. No one will get to play on it until we have that program."

For three of the four years Susan Young's daughter has been at Wilson Elementary, the girl has had no playground equipment to climb on. The pupils climb on dirt piles or run and chase each other.

"The students have missed the equipment," Young said.

Wilson is one of many schools statewide that had their equipment yanked out because it didn't meet new federal safety guidelines and because the state feared that the schools would become liable if a child were injured on the equipment.

In the spring of 1999, many schools were left without any equipment.

Reacting to public outcry, the Legislature appropriated $4.5 million over the past couple of years to spend on playground equipment and installation of the soft rubber surface underneath.

The DOE decided it would be cheaper to handle the procurement and the specifications for the playgrounds in-house, rather than sending it to the state Department of Accounting and General Services, which usually handles these kinds of projects.

Eighty-five schools, out of 179 statewide, submitted proposals almost two years ago.

Some schools don't need playground equipment because they are next to city parks. At other schools, parent groups held walk-a-thons and auctions and sold magazines and wrapping paper to raise money to buy and install equipment.

Each school was allotted about $50,000 for equipment and rubber surfacing.

Reach Suzanne Roig at sroig@honoluluadvertiser.com or at 395-8831.