Lead paint hazard Lead paint that poses a hazard to preschool children has prompted the state Department of Human Services to shut down Head Start programs at Kahaluu and Waiahole elementary schools, the programs' director said.
forces state to close
Kahaluu and Waiahole
Head Start sites
The shutdown of the preschool
programs will not affect other
classes at the schoolsBy B.J. Reyes
breyes@starbulletin.comMeanwhile, officials from Head Start, DHS and the Department of Education are scheduled to meet today to discuss the situation of five other Head Start programs that also use classrooms in state schools. It has not yet been determined whether those programs' classrooms need to be treated for lead paint.
"Kahaluu and Waiahole have been closed effective (Friday)," said Roland Gella, director of Oahu Head Start.
Parents have been notified and will have to find alternate care for their preschool children. Head Start programs accommodate about 20 to 40 children each.
While the preschool programs will not be able to operate at Kahaluu and Waiahole, the schools will remain open for elementary students, a DOE official said. The DOE's standards for lead paint exposure are not as strict as those of DHS, which licenses preschool programs in Hawaii.
Deborah Oyama, assistant superintendent in the DOE's Public Affairs Office, has described the DOE's standards as "zero risk," vs. the DHS policy of "zero tolerance."
"From (the DOE's) point of view, these classrooms are safe," Oyama said. "Because there's a difference in opinion with the DHS, the principals had determined that it would be the safest course of action to close the Head Start classrooms."
A Head Start program at Wheeler Elementary School in Wahiawa was closed earlier this summer because of lead paint.
Last month, when concerns over lead paint in Head Start classrooms first was reported by the Star-Bulletin, Gella said he felt it was hypocritical for DHS to deem the facilities hazardous while DOE considered the rooms safe for children only a few years older.
Head Start, which receives federal funding, serves about 1,700 students from lower-income families in 73 centers on Oahu.
The programs in DOE campuses are allowed to use the classrooms rent-free.
Hawaii preschools are licensed by DHS. Today's scheduled meeting centers on classrooms in Kaewai Elementary and Likelike schools in Kalihi, Maunawili and Enchanted Lake elementary schools in Kailua and Jefferson School in Waikiki that are still awaiting a determination as to whether they need to be treated for lead paint.
DOE last inspected schools for lead paint in 1998.
The Head Start programs are expected to open today, as scheduled, while agency officials meet, Gella said, adding that parents and administrators have been asked to warn children about the dangers of eating paint chips.
Lead paint was widely used until 1978, when the federal Consumer Product Safety Commission prohibited using more than a trace amount. Lead poisoning can cause a variety of ailments, ranging from lower IQs and learning disabilities to seizures and death.
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