Report shares how 7 schools are struggling with the Red Hill water contamination crisis

State education officials for the first time publicly detailed the struggle of the seven public schools affected by the Red Hill water contamination crisis to operate without running potable water.

The report from interim schools Superintendent Keith Hayashi, shared Thursday with the state Board of Education, sheds light on how the thousands of students and school employees on the seven campuses — which have been without safe tap water for almost two months — are managing the cost and hassle of getting drinking water and meals and maintaining hand hygiene during the latest COVID-19 surge.

The affected elementary schools — Red Hill, Nimitz, Pearl Harbor, Pearl Harbor Kai, Iroquois Point, Hickam and Mokulele — have a combined enrollment of nearly 3,200 and a total of 513 employees, according to the DOE website.

In late November, residents on the Navy’s water system in and around Joint Base Pearl Harbor- Hickam began reporting a fuel or chemical odor coming from their taps and health symptoms including headaches, rashes, vomiting and diarrhea. The Navy later confirmed that one of its drinking water wells was contaminated with jet fuel, which is thought to have come from its Red Hill fuel facility.

Several thousand military families and an unknown number of nonmilitary residents have been displaced from their homes as the Navy works to clean its pipes and ensure the water is safe to drink.

Hayashi said fuel odors were detected in the running water at multiple schools starting the week of Nov. 29, and all water use was shut down at the campuses on the advice of the state Department of Health.

Since Dec. 1 the DOE’s Office of Facilities and Operations has been providing thousands of gallons of bottled water to the affected schools for cooking and food preparation, hand-washing and drinking.

“One of the unintended consequences of the need for bottled water is the additional burden this has had on the schools’ staff, which were already impacted by COVID-19,” Hayashi said in his report. “Custodians have had to fill hand-washing stations; teachers have had to help students with makeshift hand-washing stations to ensure proper hand hygiene; and school staff have had to deliver bottled water to classrooms, all adding unexpected tasks for the school staff. Fortunately, military personnel have provided assistance with these efforts.”

The shortage of potable water for food preparation and dish washing meant schools had to shift temporarily to using a combination of fresh, frozen and prepackaged food, Hayashi said in his report.

At Nimitz Elementary, students ate baked frozen pizzas for lunch every day for almost three weeks, Logan Okita, Hawaii State Teachers Association vice president who teaches at the school, told the Honolulu Star- Advertiser in an interview Friday. She said children who normally would be thrilled to eat pizza were confused, saying, “We have to eat pizza again?”

Hayashi said now that bottled water is being supplied, the schools are returning to their regular breakfast and lunch menus.

Okita credited her school’s administrators with getting bottled water into every classroom at Nimitz from Day One and keeping the school community informed. Every classroom sink there is now outfitted with a pump sprayer linked to a 3-gallon water bottle for the students to wash their hands, she said. Students who use the restrooms wash their hands at refillable portable sinks.

Shepherding students through changes and new procedures has taken away from instructional time, Okita said. “It’s unfortunately become our routine of just ‘this is how things are done.’”

Hayashi acknowledged in his report that some relocated families have struggled to sustain their children’s education.

Some of these families were moved to hotels, and “the military covered all costs for these services including student transportation to and from school. Other families who have secured other accommodations have had challenges in finding transportation to school. This has impacted school attendance, which in turn affects student learning already impacted by the pandemic. As families move out of the school community, school enrollment will be negatively affected.”

Multiple requests by the Star-Advertiser to visit the campuses have been denied or unanswered.

Since Dec. 15 it has cost DOE $15,000 and counting to bring in potable water to the affected schools, including 670 5-gallon containers and 144 3-gallon containers of purified water. Hayashi said the department is working with DOH and the Navy to seek possible reimbursement.

The military has also provided water buffalo tanks, hand-washing stations and bottled water to some affected schools, Hayashi reported.

Health assessment surveys of students, staff and surrounding communities will be conducted by DOH and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and a team of federal epidemiologists will come to Hawaii to oversee the surveys, he said.

—

Schools affected by the Red Hill water contamination crisis

>> Red Hill Elementary School (437 students, 63 staff)

>> Nimitz Elementary School (554 students, 70 staff)

>> Pearl Harbor Elementary School (464 students, 79 staff)

>> Pearl Harbor Kai Elementary School (347 students, 66 staff)

>> Iroquois Point Elementary School (682 students, 111 staff)

>> Hickam Elementary School (463 students, 79 staff)

>> Mokulele Elementary School (221 students, 45 staff)

Source: State Department of Education