Room 219 closed for year
By Eloise Aguiar
Advertiser Windward O'ahu Writer
KAILUA — A month after a ceiling collapsed on eight students and a teacher at Kailua Intermediate School, a contractor has completed work on 10 faulty classroom ceilings, but students won't have to return to Room 219 where the accident occurred.
"We made the decision with the help of the students that they will not return to 219 for the rest of the year," school principal Suzanne Mulcahy said. "They don't feel comfortable. They know it is safe but there are some bad memories there."
Students will return to the other nine classrooms tomorrow as cleanup after construction is completed, then a second phase to replace ceilings will begin on five more rooms and an office space.
Katie Vaughn, the science teacher in Room 219 when the roof collapsed, said she wants to discuss returning to the room with her students before going back.
"There are some kids that really don't feel safe going back there," Vaughn said yesterday. "I think some kids are scared. I want to make sure everyone feels safe before we go back."
The teacher and students suffered minor injuries in the Jan. 14 accident.
The state Department of Education initiated the repairs following an inspection after a portion of the ceiling in Room 219 fell. The inspection of all 62 classrooms in the school revealed that 15 classrooms and one office in C Building needed repairs, which called for replacing the ceiling material with a lighter weight paneling at a cost of $250,000, Mulcahy said.
The second phase of the project will take about two weeks, Mulcahy said.
The accident has had little effect on the school routine and all students and teachers have resumed their work, Mulcahy said. Counselors had a plan to address students' needs but few responded, she said.
"There hasn't been a need expressed to the counselors," Mulcahy said. "We did a follow up on certain kids, but really, kids in 219 got back into the swing of things."
Room 219 will be turned into a science lab, she said.
The accident spurred a statewide inspection of suspect schools, including those built around the same time as Kailua Intermediate, which was built in 1954. Schools with roof problems or leaks also were inspected. The inspection of more than 36 schools was to begin at the start of the month but officials yesterday had no update on its progress.
The accident prompted the school to reassess emergency procedures, and improvements have been made to ensure a smoother response, Mulcahy said. Changes include assigning a media person to deal with reporters and purchasing more walkie talkies, she said.
Another policy change involves student cell phone use. On the day the ceiling collapsed, Mulcahy said students were calling their parents almost before she knew about it, making it difficult to field questions when parents called her.
From now on, students will be allowed to have cell phones in their back packs and turned off, she said. In an emergency, teachers will tell them when to turn them on and use them.
Reach Eloise Aguiar at eaguiar@honoluluadvertiser.com or 234-5266.
