A cooler classroom and a cleaner campus might not make all the difference, but the state is hoping it will help boost student achievement at 17 schools in Waianae and on Hawaii island.
As part of a unique initiative to "level the playing field" through facilities upgrades, the Department of Education is spending about $18 million to tackle backlogged repairs at the schools.
The work includes everything from painting to new ceiling fans to carpeting to revamped science labs.
By the coming school year, when all the repairs are expected to be finished, 12 of the schools will have received new roofing, new windows will have been installed at three schools, and carpeting or tile flooring will have been replaced at eight schools.
Robert Purdie Jr., acting public works manager of the DOE’s construction management section, said the repairs aren’t "flashy or dramatic."
But they are being noticed.
"It’s the glue that makes everything work right," Purdie said."We’re going to take away these negative elements in facilities that may have a negative impact on the kids’ ability to learn."
He added, "We’re going to try to level the playing field."
At Leihoku Elementary, classrooms received new ceiling fans as part of the work, and a reflective coating was put on rooftops to further cool classrooms, said Principal Randall Miura.
At the campus on a recent morning, Miura said creating better surroundings for kids fits in well with efforts to make learning engaging and fun — and schools a place where students want to be.
"It’s about trying to create a more conducive learning environment," he said.
The DOE decided to address the repairs — all at once — as part of ongoing efforts to offer intensive supports to schools in two "zones of school innovation."
The zones, which include campuses along the Waianae Coast and in the Kau-Keaau-Pahoa area of Hawaii island, contain most of the state’s "priority," or chronically low-performing schools.
While this isn’t the first time that the DOE has bundled repairs projects — tackling like issues at once, for example — it hasn’t before explicitly tied the issue of facilities maintenance to student achievement.
The initiative, though, does come amid increased interest at the department to think more strategically about facilities issues, given an inventory of aging schools and a shrinking budget for maintenance needs.
Duane Kashiwai, DOE public works administrator of facilities development, said to address backlogged repairs in the zones, projects at other public schools did have to be delayed.
"The department made the decision that these schools in the ZSI were top priority," he said.
The DOE puts the price tag for overdue repairs at public schools statewide at $266 million. That’s the lowest total in more than a decade, thanks to a major effort to address overdue projects. In 2003, the total topped $703 million. By 2011, it had dropped to $382 million.
Kashiwai said it makes sense to consider a school’s physical facilities when trying to improve student learning. The zones of innovation, he said, were created to boost achievement and "one of the things that sometimes is an obstacle to that is basically the condition of the facilities."
Nationally, too, school districts are paying greater attention to not only the instruction that happens inside classrooms, but what those classrooms (and schools) look and feel like.
"The conversation all around the country is about how to do everything we can to help students be successful,"said Amy Yurko, an architect and founder of BrainSpaces, a Chicago-based consulting firm that promotes "brain-based considerations in the planning and designing of learning environments."
Yurko said because there are so many variables to learning at schools, it’s tough to draw a direct line between better facilities and improved student achievement.
But research has shown that relatively minor changes — improved lighting, temperature, acoustics and air quality — can make a difference for students.
She said better-looking schools are also more welcoming to students, teachers and parents, and could spur improvements that might not necessarily show up on test scores, like decreases in teacher absenteeism.
"I think even a coat of paint can make worlds of difference for the atmosphere," Yurko said.
As part of the Hawaii work, the most expensive backlogged repairs project will be at Nanakuli High and Intermediate, where the state is expected to spend about $4 million to install new ceiling fans and science labs, replace windows and carpets, address structural repairs and upgrade plumbing and electrical systems.
Waianae High will get $2.4 million in projects set to wrap up in July, while about $2.3 million will be spent to make improvements at Pahoa High and Intermediate.
Pahoa Principal Darlene Bee said the school has been freshly painted. It will also get new ceiling fans, roofing, door hardware and plumbing, and a stage will be rebuilt.
Already, Bee said, "the school looks much better."
