When the Department of Education shut down a classroom building at King Kamehameha III Elementary School in Lahaina, Maui, last summer for reroofing, the building was supposed to reopen by the start of school.

But after reroofing began, the contractors learned there was structural damage to the building that needed to be dealt with.

Now, more than a year later, the building is covered with a black tarp while some teachers are teaching reading and math outside on picnic tables covered by an awning.

None of the pupils spend the entire school day outside, but some teachers do. "The teachers are pretty cooperative," said principal Lindsay Ball.

Ball said it is fortunate that Lahaina doesn't see much rain. "Some teachers are literally instructing under a tree, under a tent, at a nice new picnic table," he said.

While the Kamehameha III case is extreme, it's not uncommon for repair and maintenance problems to face long delays when the scope of work expands. One legislator is suggesting a new way to pay for school repair projects when costs exceed original estimates.

Another factor in the delays is the ongoing transition between two state departments that are exchanging the authority for school repairs.

Since July, the Department of Education has been in charge of school construction work on the Islands, taking over from the Department of Accounting and General Services.

"Some of this is everyone getting to know the ropes," said DOE spokesman Greg Knudsen. Another complication is that functions have been consolidated and people are wearing multiple hats, he said.

PARENTS CRITICAL

Parents are frustrated by how long it can take to get work done.

For example, at Kamali'i Elementary School in Kihei, Maui, parents were taken aback when they learned that their school's playground would be closed for an entire year because it needed to be resurfaced.

"It doesn't seem fair to the 730-plus kids at the school," said PTSA member Susan Erickson.

"Why does it have to take a whole year to get playground equipment replaced or get the playground resurfaced?"

In this case, it turns out it doesn't, and the kids should be back on the playground in November.

Erickson said she is familiar with the situation at her school only and doesn't know if it is a Neighbor Island problem or a systemwide problem but, whatever it is, she thinks there is too much red tape involved in school repairs.

"It's not just this single incident at Kamali'i," she said. "The policies and procedures need to be streamlined."

Robyn Nahooikaika, who serves as the Parent Teacher Student Association legislative liaison on Maui, thinks getting construction work done is more difficult on the Neighbor Islands. The DOE has talked about how a transfer of services from DAGS will streamline school repairs on O'ahu, but the Neighbor Island schools are still serviced by DAGS. "We're still under the old system and some of our schools fall by the wayside," she said.

While DOE is now in charge of school construction work on all islands, it contracts with DAGS to do Neighbor Island work.

Sen. Norman Sakamoto, chairman of the Education Committee, said: "I think, on the surface, things didn't change in terms of DOE and DAGS."

UNUSUAL CASE

In terms of cost, Knudsen said the Kamehameha III case was unusual in that the original reroofing work was budgeted at $184,000, but then the DOE had to find an additional $131,000 for more work, only to discover in July that another $82,000 would be needed.

"That's what's holding things up now," Knudsen said. "It is always hard to chase down additional money when it hasn't been budgeted."

Sakamoto noted that if this project becomes significantly more costly, the DOE might have to go back to the Legislature for more money. "Unfortunately, that takes time to do," he said.

He suggests that the DOE work with the Legislature to come up with a more flexible funding mechanism that doesn't dictate how much money goes to which school. "They need to be able to have a component that's flexible for this kind of increase," he said.

The DOE has said it needs $100 million a year just to keep up with new repair and maintenance projects and keep the list of backlogged projects from growing. This year, however, the department was given only $75 million for repair and maintenance.

The delay in repairs come at a challenging time for the Lahaina school. With enrollment up by 100 children over the past five years, Kamehameha III was already overcrowded before the loss of the building and it was typical for instruction to overflow onto the lanais, said Ball, the principal.

But the condemnation of Building G because of termite damage has forced the school to find new homes for Hawaiian studies, occupational therapists, two special-education classrooms, a speech communication aide and a speech pathologist.

"We've just juggled the other programs around and had to absorb them," Ball said.

Even after doubling up some kindergarten classes and renting a trailer for a special-education class, there's still not enough room indoors for everyone. "We're forced to be creative with how we service our students," Ball said.

Reach Treena Shapiro at tshapiro@honoluluadvertiser.com.