Portables for new Mililani school criticized

By Catherine E. Toth
Advertiser Central O'ahu Writer

Construction of a new elementary school in Mililani Mauka is barely under way, but community leaders say it won't be big enough and are criticizing the state's plan to use portable classrooms on the new campus.

Carol Petersen, principal of Mililani Mauka Elementary, shows a portable classroom being used. Residents say their children deserve to learn in "real classrooms." Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser

But with 2,000 new homes scheduled to be built in Mililani Mauka within the next four years, officials fear that the school, like others in fast-growing Central O'ahu, will soon be overwhelmed.

That will make portables permanent, area officials and residents say, and they think their children deserve to learn in "real" classrooms.

"It's an embarrassment to have a master-plan community with all these portables," said Laura Brown, mother of three and a member of the Mililani/Waipi'o/Melemanu Neighborhood Board. "That's just ridiculous. We're almost built-out. We need to get rid of these portables and get children in real classrooms. Make these kids stop suffering."

Legislators who represent the area have submitted House Bill 1624 asking the state to add a six-classroom building to the Mililani Ike campus. That would add an estimated $2.5 million to the school's $30 million to $40 million cost.

"Our biggest community priority right now is getting these classrooms," said Rep. Guy Ontai, R-37th (Mililani, Waipi'o).

The state Department of Education says portables are a key element in its design for a new school, helping keep costs down and preventing overbuilding while dealing with a bulge of peak enrollment that will eventually decline, leaving a school at a more appropriate size in the long run.

"When the community begins to mature and enrollment levels off, the portables are no longer needed," said Al Suga, DOE assistant superintendent. "There is a designation (in the plans for Mililani Ike) that we may need to put in portables. And if so, there's a space allotted for it. That's the design for most schools."

Audrey Amona, a third-grade teacher at Mililani Mauka Elementary, has been assigned a portable classroom at the Central O'ahu school. Some say portables are not as conducive to learning. Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser

Portables have been a long-standing issue with residents of Central O'ahu, which has hundreds of portables on its school campuses. The Mililani complex alone — Mililani High, one middle and four elementary schools — has 78, and that number is expected to increase as Central O'ahu's population grows to a projected 173,000 by 2025, up from 150,000 in 2000.

Getting rid of the portables in Mililani is a long-term goal for district legislators and residents, who feel they are not only an eyesore but not conducive to learning as they tend to be hotter than building classrooms and disconnected from the rest of the school.

"While I understand the need for portables, I don't agree with the permanency of them," Ontai said.

When residents and officials talk about their concerns for Mililani Ike, they point to the situation at Mililani Mauka Elementary School, which has had portables for at least five years to accommodate the booming population.

The school has about 1,250 students this year, and next year enrollment may hit 1,300, nearly 50 percent more than the 900 students the school was designed to serve when it was built 10 years ago.

The school has 13 portables and was denied a request for five more.

Though enrollment at Mililani Mauka Elementary will drop with the opening of Mililani Ike, state officials expect both schools to be at or above peak enrollment within four years as a projected 500 more elementary school-age children move into the area.

Under current plans, Mililani Ike will have 36 classrooms when completed, six of which will be self-contained special-education classrooms. Community leaders had asked for two, two-story buildings on the new campus; the state ordered only one.

Last week the Mililani/Waipi'o/Melemanu Neighborhood Board adopted a resolution that supported House Bill 1624, which also included a 12-classroom building for Mililani High School, covered play courts and a bus shelter for Mililani Middle School and renovation to Kipapa Elementary School's entrance.

But with a limited budget for capital improvements, it's doubtful the state will provide money for the projects outlined in the bill, said Rep. Roy Takumi, D-36th (Pearl City, Palisades), chairman of the House Education Committee.

"Most of these (bills) don't see the light of day," Takumi said. "Every legislator will try to get these types of projects for their districts as much as possible. But of the years I've been here, the budget's been tight."

The suggested capital improvements budget for schools is $45 million, less than half of what's needed to maintain and improve Hawai'i's schools, Suga said.

The proposed improvements "are long overdue," Brown said. "We need every classroom we can get."

Reach Catherine E. Toth at 535-8103 or ctoth@honoluluadvertiser.com.