Posted on: Monday, January 24, 2005

School safety awareness high

By Christie Wilson
Advertiser Neighbor Island Editor

The recent classroom ceiling collapse at Kailua Intermediate School that injured eight students and a teacher proved unnerving to some parents and educators around the state, and launched a flurry of e-mails from concerned school administrators to Department of Education officials.

The Jan. 14 collapse is blamed on corrosion of tie wires used to hold up the plaster ceiling. The same building had lost a portion of its roof to high wind last year, allowing water to seep into the ceiling structure.

Richard Soo of DOE's Safety and Security Services Section said school administrators have been buzzing about the incident, but that there have been no reports of conditions that might lead to a similar occurrence. "There's a higher sense of awareness ..." Soo said. "We're all very lucky (it wasn't worse). It's a good wake-up call."

Baldwin High School teacher Linda Coleon said the ceiling collapse at Kailua Intermediate gave pause to some of her co-workers at the Maui campus, built in 1939. "We all experienced some fears whether that could happen here," she said.

"I'm on the second floor so it's not as great a concern as being downstairs," said Coleon, a Baldwin alumna who has taught at the school for 24 years.

She said the high school has undergone recent improvements and that she places her trust in custodial and campus facilities staff members to detect any problems.

"But it made me wonder how safe we are ... It would be good if they could reassure us."

'Aikahi Elementary parent Wendy Rosen said she initially had some concerns about her daughter's school when she heard about what happened at nearby Kailua Intermediate. However, after giving it some consideration, Rosen said she could not think of any serious problems at 'Aikahi.

"I know they've had problems with the classrooms flooding and the rain gutters, but those are kind of minor issues," she said. "I haven't noticed anything causing great concern."

Parent Tami Brock, whose daughter attends Moanalua High School, said she recently helped inspect the Honolulu campus and is satisfied it is safe.

"Some of the things are old and could use some maintenance, but I didn't see anything that was dangerous," she said.

State officials this week are expected to announce a list of public schools that will be inspected to prevent another ceiling collapse like the one that occurred at Kailua Intermediate.

Officials with the DOE and the Department of Accounting and General Services have been working to identify schools with similar plaster ceiling construction, according to Gilbert Chun, section administrator for the Operations and Maintenance Section of the DOE Facilities Branch.

The age of school buildings, previous problems with roof leaks and flooding, and proximity to the ocean are other factors that will be considered, he said.

DAGS, which is in the process of turning over responsibility for school buildings to the DOE, has retained a structural engineer consultant to inspect the ceilings once the list is assembled, probably by this week, Chun said. Officials met with the consultant Friday to develop inspection procedures.

Officials so far have been unable to estimate just how many schools might qualify for the priority list, how much the inspections will cost, or how to pay for them.

Rae Loui, assistant superintendent of the DOE Office of Business Services, said options include going to the Legislature for an appropriation and letting department staff do the work.

Loui said the unanticipated expense will not affect the $100 million in school repair and maintenance projects scheduled for this year.

Century-old Ka'a'awa Elementary, on the Windward coastline, is on the list for some of the repair projects this spring, including new windows, floors, lighting, furniture and interior and exterior painting.

"There are a number of reasons for it," said principal Todd Watanabe. "We're right up on the ocean and there's just wear and tear and weathering."

The small campus is primarily portable buildings, which do not stand up to weather well, Watanabe said, but safety is not an issue.

"I think it's more a matter of creating an appropriate educational environment."

Watanabe, who has been at the school two years, said he has received a relatively quick response to repair requests.

At one urban school on O'ahu, where falling ceiling tiles are a frequent problem, it's an ongoing battle to keep up with repairs and maintenance, according to the principal.

"We're an older school, so we're in constant need of repair," said the principal, who asked not to be named because of fears her comments could create problems in getting future repairs.

The school has experienced roof leaks that have caused suspended ceiling tiles to become saturated with water and collapse, creating more of a mess than a safety hazard.

"We've had so many tiles go down, books damaged, equipment damaged," the principal said. The biggest loss was the soaking of three cases of almost-new textbooks, which the publisher was willing to replace.

The roof has been redone twice in the past 15 years, and the most recent repairs stalled midway through, leaving the roof vulnerable to leaks, the principal said.

But it is mold from repeated flooding and leaks, not collapsing ceilings, that is the principal's biggest health and safety concern. The principal and custodian have come in on weekends and vacations to pick up fallen tiles, vacuum up water from the carpets and turn on fans to try to prevent mold.

"My school has air-conditioning and if you have dampness, you're going to have mold," the principal said.

It's been smoother going for the Big Island's Waiakea Intermediate School, where principal Maureen Duffy rates the physical condition of the campus as "good to excellent." The school's 70 classrooms underwent major renovations four years ago, she said.

Duffy credited the janitorial staff with doing a good job of maintenance, and said Waiakea Intermediate consistently scores well in its annual inspections.

There have been concerns: One of the school's two playcourts was closed for about a year for safety reasons, but resurfacing was completed in September to allow the court to reopen, she said.

"We had to remind and keep after those that were helping us to get this job completed, but there was a strong motivation on our part, because when you have a campus of 900, you have 900 kids out during recess and kids need to have different activities that are open to them," she said.

The school list for repairs and maintenance for this year includes almost $170,000 worth of such work as re-roofing a walkway and building, repairing a sidewalk and replacing light fixtures.

"All of our jobs are things that need to be done, but none of them are to the extent that it has to be done tomorrow or (the) health and safety of the students is compromised," she said.

Staff writers Treena Shapiro and Kevin Dayton contributed to this report. Reach Christie Wilson at (808) 244-4880 or cwilson@honoluluadvertiser.com.