Panel slams report on closing school

The state Board of Education wants more information on the impacts of closing Likelike Elementary in Kalihi before the cost-saving proposal is taken to the community.

The board had been asked Tuesday to schedule a public hearing on the proposed consolidation. Instead, a BOE committee raised concerns about the quality of the Department of Education’s report on the repercussions of closing Likelike Elementary, saying it needed more details on how students would be affected and where money saved by shuttering the school would go.

BOE member Brian De Lima called the department’s report considering the consolidation of Likelike Elementary "deficient" and "grossly lacking," and said the board needed more specifics on how the community would be affected.

"Why don’t we think about whether we think it’s a good idea or not before we generate public concern about it?" De Lima said. "People need to see how closing a school is going to benefit the rest of the students."

The board is expected to take up the issue again later this month.

The decision pushes back the department’s time line for bringing its final recommendation on whether to shutter Likelike Elementary to the full board.

Randy Moore, the DOE’s assistant superintendent for facilities and support services, told the committee Tuesday the delay could be problematic if a final decision isn’t made by early 2012. "One of the complaints we have had in the past (is) there’s too little time between when the decision is made and the school closes," he said. "Hopefully, we’ll have a decision by Christmas."

He added, "Too far past February, you miss the teacher transfer period."

BOE Chairman Don Horner said he welcomed public input — through a hearing — on the consolidation proposal, but agreed the board needed a better grasp of why Likelike was being considered for closing.

"This won’t be the first school that we need to consolidate," Horner said during the hearing. "We need to reflect on the process of how we’re going to do that. We are tasked with a significant challenge to reduce costs."

Board member Nancy Budd also raised concerns, saying she didn’t like the idea of targeting small schools without a firm handle on the impacts on student achievement. "The consequences to the students really should be the No. 1 question," she said, adding small schools often have benefits for kids.

Likelike, with about 370 children, is the only campus in the McKinley complex being considered for closing, according to the DOE’s consolidation report. If the school is shuttered, students would be sent to Kauluwela, Kaiulani and Lanakila elementary schools, boosting enrollment at those campuses by 100 students or more. Closing the school would save about $1 million.

The department’s review of the McKinley complex is the latest step in a statewide plan to determine whether there are any small schools that can be closed. Shuttering Likelike would bump up to three the number of campuses consolidated since the DOE started eyeing small schools for closure.

Liliuokalani Elementary in Kaimuki was closed in May, sending about 100 students to neighboring schools. Also closed as part of the review were Wailupe Valley Elementary and a one-room school on Maui. Eight schools have been spared.

Moore said that once the review of the McKinley complex is complete, the department will move to the Roosevelt complex and then the Kaimuki complex.

VIDEO: BOE may consider closing Likeike Elementary