Educators, students turn up heat in push for air-conditioned schools

After a heat wave led schools in the Midwest to shut down last week, teachers and students in Hawaii are renewing their call for air conditioning the state’s public schools, gearing up for a rally on Sept. 26.

"Schools across the mainland are closing because their classrooms got into the high 80s and low 90s, yet that is a daily occurrence in Hawaii schools," said Corey Rosenlee, a social studies teacher at Campbell High School in Ewa Beach, who is leading the effort.

"A classroom at Campbell was over 95 degrees the other day," he said. "If you are a teacher in a classroom with that kind of environment, it’s so difficult for the kids to learn. The heat is unbearable."

Rosenlee expects more than 400 students and faculty from Campbell to bus down to the Capitol for the rally, which runs from 9 to 11 a.m. on a school day. They are treating it as a field trip, and expect to be joined by their peers from other schools. Teachers, students or parents from 16 other schools so far have agreed to write letters to their legislators or attend the rally, he said.

"The teachers are doing a really great job here, but the heat, it does get to the mind," said Ka‘io Akiyama, a junior at Campbell. "We get drained focusing on the heat rather than the lesson being taught."

Before moving up to Campbell, Akiyama attended the new Ewa Makai Middle School, an energy-efficient school that includes air conditioning and natural day lighting. It is one of just 12 public schools in the state that are fully air conditioned out of 255 campuses, according to DOE spokeswoman Dara Young.

Many other schools have some air conditioning, such as in the library or band room, she said. One-third of the classrooms at Campbell have air conditioning, including a new 10-classroom building and several new portables.

In 2007, legislators considered a bill asking the department to come up with a plan to install air conditioners in all schools within a decade. But the plan was shelved after the superintendent called it unrealistic and projected the cost at $1 billion.

Instead the department has focused on the hottest schools. In 2007, air conditioning was installed at Kihei Elementary on Maui. Last summer, Pohakea Elementary in Ewa Beach became fully air conditioned. Lokelani Intermediate in Kihei is midway through its conversion, with the first phase complete and second underway. Other than those three campuses, the only old campus retrofitted with air conditioning in more than a decade was Kamehameha Elementary on Maui, which converted in 2001.

The department pegs the cost of air conditioning a school at $3.5 million to $10 million, depending on the size of the campus, according to Young, communications specialist for the department. And installation is just the beginning. Electricity bills soar with air conditioning.

Rosenlee has been pushing for air conditioning at the public schools practically since he began teaching at Campbell seven years ago. He took part in a similar rally in 2008 at the Capitol. This year, he is teaching in an air-conditioned classroom, but he is just as committed to the cause because he considers it a matter of equity.

"The big question we have to decide as a society is, What is the value that we place on public education and should all children regardless of whether they are rich or poor deserve a quality learning environment?" Rosenlee said.

"When we ask for AC, people think we’re asking for Champagne and caviar," he added. "We’re not. We’re not asking for a luxury."

Donalyn Dela Cruz, director of communications for the department, pointed out that cooling the state’s classrooms is not an easy task.

"It’s not just about inserting an AC unit," she said. "It’s not that simple. We have to make sure that the infrastructure can handle it, and sometimes the electrical system needs an overhaul. What we are doing is taking a very strategic approach, discussing what our options are with the utility.

"Some schools have a pretty good situation in terms of the tradewinds," she said. "Campbell obviously is not one of them."

The Department of Education is also pursuing other ways to cool classrooms. It is in the midst of a campaign to install ceiling fans in 150 classrooms on the Leeward Coast of Oahu, Young said.

In conjunction with plans for the rally, students and teachers at various campuses are writing letters to their legislators about what life is like in a sweltering, humid classroom, asking for relief. Some are posted at a community forum page on Facebook titled "Hawaii Teachers Work to the Rules."

Morag Miranda, who has two children at Honokaa Elementary on Hawaii island, recently wrote to her legislators to urge that they take action. A substitute teacher, Miranda told the Star-Advertiser the temperature was 85 degrees in her classroom Tuesday, even though the school is 900 feet above sea level and has ceiling fans. She said she felt sorry for students at sea level in Kailua-Kona.

"I understand this is not an easy issue," she said. "I get budgeting and finances. But I just challenge any businessman or banker or lawyer to turn off their AC. How much work is going to get done well?"