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CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARBULLETIN.COM
T.J. Utai played on new playground equipment Feb. 11 at Kalihi Kai Elementary School after a dedication ceremony. The school received the equipment through a Star-Bulletin/Starbucks promotion.




Playtime delays

The DOE replaces unsafe
playground equipment
cheaply but slowly

4 of 39 target schools had new
equipment by the end of last year


By Pat Gee
pgee@starbulletin.com

Installing playground equipment at Hawaii's public schools is not child's play.

That's the lesson the state Department of Education is learning as it works to replace 75 unsafe playgrounds that had been removed more than two years ago.

Ray Minami, director of the DOE's Facilities and Support Services Branch, said at first his staff thought it would be able to replace the equipment more quickly and cheaply than if it had been done under standard procedures through the Department of Accounting & General Services.

His division thought it could complete the first 39 schools by the end of 2001, which would have been six months faster than if it had gone through DAGS.

But facilities manager Ken Kajihara says the DOE has had to balance doing the job quickly against doing the job right.

The DOE volunteered to do the work because it had received training on national accessibility and safety standards, Minami said.

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STAR-BULLETIN / DECEMBER 2001
Andrew Souza of McCabe Construction demolished old playground equipment Dec. 8 at Kailua Elementary School.




"And because we didn't have to pay consultants (to do the inspection and approve designs), we've saved $675,000, doing the work ourselves with no added staffing or funding," Minami said. "The money we saved provides more playground equipment for 10 more schools."

But as of the first week of February, only four playgrounds were completed, and Rep. Cynthia Thielen (R, Kailua-Kaneohe) says she is "tired of the excuses, the rationales."

"The department has not produced and it should be held accountable," she said. "They can pat themselves on the back, but they don't deserve any credit. I want action. I want equipment out there for my kids."

Kajihara, who has been in charge of the project since May, said the playgrounds are two months behind schedule from the original December completion date because the concrete contractor waited until "every last piece of paperwork" was approved by the state before starting work in December.

Putting the playgrounds up for bid contributed to the time delay, along with making sure each design met Americans With Disabilities Act requirements, he said.

Thielen has introduced legislation requesting that the DOE be exempted from state procurement codes if a project is less than $150,000, to expedite the building of playgrounds.

But, Kajihara said, the DOE is concerned that the removal of bonding requirements will put the schools at substantial risk if contractors encounter financial difficulties or go out of business before work is completed.

Three equipment installations were to start this month at Aliiolani, Red Hill and Pearl Harbor Kai schools, he said. Concrete slabs, which need to harden for two weeks, have been completed at 15 other schools. Three schools on the Big Island were scheduled for concrete pouring for the first week of the month, and work on three others was to begin as soon as the ground dries out, according to Kajihara.

Initially, the facilities branch was going to use only one design for all schools using one vendor. But the department did not want to end up with a shoddy product that would not hold up, Kajihara said. Now there are 19 variations of several basic designs being installed to meet the individual needs of each school, he said.

The $4.5 million appropriated in the past two years would have been enough to erect playground structures at only 75 of the 100 schools requesting equipment, he said. Now they are aiming for 85.

"We budgeted $55,000 for each school ... but we're averaging $43,000 per job, saving $12,000, which we're able to supply 10 to 15 more schools," Kajihara said. It costs $38,000 for the actual playground structure and rubberized surface and $17,000 for the concrete.

Mike McFarland, owner of Coast Recreation Inc., one of the vendors, said: "The DOE should be applauded for what they are doing, not chastised. They are taking the time to look into all the possibilities (of equipment and design) for our very diverse children."

It is actually harder and more time-consuming for the vendors to come up with individualized designs for each school than "mass-producing one design, which is way more profitable," he said.

"In five years, looking back, the end result will be better. (The equipment) is a lot more developmentally involved for children. Each one has different (features) that use different skills and muscle groups" that are appropriate for various age levels, he said.

"Remember, this isn't a race. These playgrounds will be around for 30 or more years, and we have only one shot to do it right," McFarland added.

Ned J. Nuding, president of Pacific Recreation, which is putting in a dozen playgrounds for the state, said it is taking only six months since the contracts started rolling to put up the playgrounds now being installed.

"We are doing these playgrounds overall for about half the cost than if DAGS had done them," Nuding said. "The public is getting a $50,000 playground that might have cost any other person $100,000."

Kammy Yuen, a member of Kailua Elementary School's Playground Safety Committee and a custodian for eight years, said it took the school a year to raise $14,000 and install the first playground seven years ago. It did not meet ADA or safety standards, did not have a rubberized fall surface and was made of relatively inexpensive materials, such as tires and wooden structures, and "that's why it went up so fast," she said.

But seven years later, it had to be torn down. "So it's no use building it fast without foresight," Yuen said. "This time, we want to do it right."



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