Most isle schools
deemed to be safe

All but two facilities pass, while just four
schools fail fire safety inspections

Hawaii public schools maintained high marks in an annual quality survey of overall school facilities and improved their showing in fire safety inspections, the Department of Education said yesterday.

All but two schools earned a passing grade in the facilities inspections -- the same as last year -- while just four schools failed to measure up in the separate fire safety assessments.

Konawaena High and Aliamanu Elementary were the only two schools out of 256 inspected campuses that received "unacceptable" marks for the overall condition of their facilities.

"Very good" ratings were earned by 122 schools, while 132 were rated "acceptable."

Those inspections are conducted each fall by teams of school stakeholders including administrators, parents and teachers.

Both Konawaena and Aliamanu suffered from "structural issues," but there was no danger to students, said Gary Yasui, the Department of Education's school inspection coordinator.

Aliamanu, which has many military dependents, made the "unacceptable" list for the second straight year. Plans to address its problems earlier were bogged down by an effort to involve the Army Corps of Engineers that "backfired," Assistant Superintendent Rae Loui told a Board of Education committee.

The two schools are slated for schoolwide renovations that are expected to start this school year.

The fire inspections, carried out by county fire inspectors or area fire companies, found that 252 out of the 256 schools had no safety violations this past school year, up from 196 the previous year.

"This is a dramatic improvement," said Honolulu Fire Chief Attilio Leonardi, who praised the Department of Education for "an excellent job" in prioritizing fire safety.

Initially, 39 schools were found to have fire code violations, but inspectors wiped the slate clean if the schools fixed the problems within 10 working days of the inspections.

Four schools -- Waialua High, Mokapu Elementary, Honokaa Elementary and Kapaa High -- have outstanding violations related mainly to problems with fire alarms.

Education officials said those problems are being addressed.

Yasui said the department planned to recruit more technical experts for the volunteer facilities inspection teams in the coming school year to spot structural and other problems that the team's lay members might miss.

The inspections failed to spot structural deterioration concealed within classroom ceilings at Kailua Intermediate School that resulted in a ceiling collapse in one room. Students and teachers suffered minor injuries in the incident, which prompted a separate statewide look at school ceilings.

Both inspection efforts excluded most of the state's 27 public charter schools. There are 285 public schools in the state.

Majority of isle schools get passing grades Results of annual school facilities and fire safety inspections: Facilities "Very good" » 122 schools "Acceptable" » 132 schools "Unacceptable" » Two schools (Konawaena High, Aliamanu Elementary) Fire Safety In compliance » 252 schools Not in compliance » Four schools (Waialua High, Mokapu Elementary, Honokaa Elementary and Kapaa High) Source: State Department of Education