Call Out for “Hot Classroom” Stories!

Has anyone on the Waianae Coast experienced heat exhaustion or dehydration due to the DOE’s hot classrooms? I’m trying to put together a press release asking for A/C and fan donations, and it would really help if we had at least one public school student, teacher or staff person who is willing to tell their story to add the human element.

The good news is that I’ve heard from the DOE that all the schools on the Waianae Coast either have, or are in the process of having, power upgrades to accommodate A/C donations. My understanding is that the DOE can accept donated, new A/C units as long as they:

• have fresh air vents; and
• enough output (BTUs) for the room size;
• Acceptable A/C donations include split A/C units; and
• Photovoltaic A/C units.

If you are interested in donating A/C, call the school principal or the DOE Auxiliary Services at 586-3452.

So far, my staff has gathered the following data about schools on the Waianae Coast in need of A/C:

• NHIS                   100 classrooms w/o aircon or fans
• Nanakuli El          38 classrooms w/o aircon or fans
• Waianae HS        70 classrooms w/o aircon or fans
• Waianae Int        42 classrooms w/o aircon or fans
• Leihoku El           54 classrooms w/o aircon or fans
• Kamaile El           50 classrooms w/o aircon or fans
• Makaha El           42 classrooms w/o aircon or fans
• Waianae El          * school has aircon; however 5 units recently broke down and the school is trying to raise funds to purchase replacements.

We need your “hot classroom” stories to get some media attention for our Waianae Coast schools ~ please share!

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For more on Senator Shimabukuro’s efforts to cool Wai’anae Coast classrooms, click here.