OUR SCHOOLS • ROOSEVELT HIGH SCHOOL
Rough Riders' campus gets spruced up

By James Gonser
Advertiser Urban Honolulu Writer

It's a rebuilding year at President Theodore Roosevelt High School.

With the campus closed for summer, Roosevelt principal Dennis Hokama looks in on some of the renovation work at the high school. Hokama said the project, originally scheduled to be finished in October, could be completed as early as the start of school in August. Deborah Booker • The Honolulu Advertiser

Roosevelt High, which has an estimated $5.7 million backlog of repairs and maintenance projects, is in the middle of a $2 million renovation of all its classrooms, restrooms and offices.

The rooms are getting fresh coats of paint, windows and light fixtures are being repaired or replaced, new flooring is being installed and new furniture is being brought in for the classrooms.

The school's hallways are filled with old chairs, filing cabinets and microwave ovens, piled to the ceiling as construction workers go about their jobs. The smell of industrial paint fills the air.

The work began during the spring break and is expected to be completed by mid-October, but principal Dennis Hokama said crews are ahead of schedule and the project could be done as early as the start of school in August.

"There is no question in my mind: When you have facilities that are new and clean, it serves to make the whole environment more conducive to doing the business of education," Hokama said.

"On the other side: Not to have good facilities is really a subtle message to students that education is not that important."

Because of the work, Roosevelt's summer school has been moved across the street to Stevenson Middle School this year.

Also under way is a volunteer effort to provide repairs and maintenance for the locker rooms at the school's 70-year-old stadium through the Hawai'i 3Rs project. The heavily used stadium is the home football field not only for Roosevelt, but for McKinley and Farrington high schools as well because of its lighting.

The 3Rs — Repair, Remodel and Restore — uses volunteers, grants and tax incentives to fix school facilities at a fraction of what it typically would cost the state. The state's school maintenance backlog stands at about $640 million, according to the Department of Accounting and General Services.

With $25,000 of state money to buy materials, volunteer crews are handling an estimated $140,000 worth of repairs as they clean and paint locker rooms, replace plumbing and perform other long-overdue work.

"It takes a whole community to keep a school up to the standards for kids in Hawai'i," Hokama said. "There is no way there will ever be enough state funding for all the needed repairs."

The next scheduled project is a $6 million makeover of the school's auditorium. Built in the early 1930s, the stage is so small that the school's renowned concert band has never been able to perform there, instead going to other schools and shopping centers for concerts.

The work will include a larger stage, a mezzanine, dressing areas, practice rooms and new seats and will provide a venue for performances by the school's bands and drama and dance troupes as well as for community events.

"The arts are so important to the total development of any person and a significant part of any public-school education," Hokama said. "The auditorium will be a crown jewel, setting the tone of excellence at a public-school level."

• What are you most proud of? How well our students perform academically and as citizens and the ability of the teachers to maintain high standards of education, Hokama said.

• Best-kept secret: That many of our teachers and staff are Roosevelt alumni.

• Everybody at our school knows: Carrie Yamamoto, the student activities coordinator, who has a hand in almost everything going on.

• Our biggest challenge: "To make everything fit together so our students are able to benefit from all the current work and that (work) in development stages," Hokama said.

• What we need: More land to expand parking and facilities.

• Projects: The school's Opera Project allows students not only to attend opera performances but also to work as extras, set designers and costume makers. Members of the Hawai'i Opera Theatre reciprocate by offering special classes to students on campus.

To get your school profiled, call education editor Dan Woods at 525-5441 or send e-mail to dwoods@honoluluadvertiser.com.