Department of Education officials backed away from their earlier conclusion that “the continued operation of Kaaawa Elementary School is not in the best interest of the school’s students and staff or the public at large.”

Windward District Complex Area Superintendent Lea Albert told more than 100 people crowding the school cafeteria that a December 10, 2008 memo from schools chief Pat Hamamoto has been withdrawn and will be reissued after modification.

In what appeared to be a significant reversal, Albert told the skeptical audience several times that “this is not a done deal.” However, Deputy Superintendent Randy Moore, who appeared with Albert at the meeting, remained silent on the “done deal” question.

Albert and Moore acknowledged there were several significant errors in Hamamoto’s Dec. 10 memo.

• The memo describes the school as having a “two-story hollow tile classroom building”, although there are no buildings above a single story on the campus. Moore, who acknowledged drafting the memo for Hamamoto, did not explain the error.

• The memo estimated it would cost $5 million to replace the school’s existing large capacity cesspool. That estimated has subsequently been reduced to $2 million by consultant CH2M Hill, but at least one member of the audience criticized the proposal for ignoring recent technical advances in small-scale wastewater treatment facilities which could cut costs even further.

• The memo incorrectly states that the school’s tsunami evacuation route “is initially along Kamehameha Highway which exposes the children to harm….” School principal Todd Watanabe confirmed that evacuations actually take students through a back entrance away from the highway and initially onto Kekio Road before reaching Polinalina Road and moving to higher ground.

• It appears the Kaaawa closure plan was based on the school meeting just one of the criteria for selection (“one-third or more of the square footage in the existing facilities requires replacement or improvements to meet prescribed standards.”) That sounds like the facilities are in poor repair or dangerous, but Moore clarified that the school’s “portable” classrooms are by definition in need of replacement. This appears to mean that there’s nothing wrong with the buildings other than the fact that the state saved money in the first place by relying on portables instead of permanent structures. Of course, this is common in state facilities, and there are many programs in the DOE, the UH system, and in other departments that have operated for decades in similar portables without incident.

Albert said the next step is to name a task force to study the school’s situation and make a recommendation to her office. Albert would then submit her own recommendation and the task force recommendation to Hamamoto, who would add her own conclusion. All three reports would then be forwarded to the Board of Education for action.

A number of people who spoke at the meeting pointed to Kaaawa School’s record of academic achievement, symbolized by the “annual achievement awards” proudly displayed in the room. This record of academic achievement contrasts with those of the two neighboring schools proposed to handle Kaaawa students if the school is closed, both of which have failed to meet academic goals.

After hearing complaints that educational criteria do not appear to have been considered in reaching the closure recommendation, Albert tried to assure the crowed that academic concerns will be taken into consideration in reaching a decision.

“The most important thing here is the children of Kaaawa”, Albert said.

Albert tried unsuccessfully to steer discussion away from a comparison between Kaaawa’s academic success and the educational struggles of the schools in neighboring communities, saying that she didn’t want to pit one school against another. But that message wasn’t resonating with parents who said the success of Kaaawa School is one of the factors attracting families to the community.

Albert said past school closures have been rare.

“We haven’t done this for 20 years, and I don’t think anybody remembers the process,” Albert said. Neither she nor Moore could recall the name of the last school to be closed.

As the meeting broke up, concern remained about whether guidelines for the task force will allow the broader discussion of whether Kaaawa should even be considered for closure.

[cross-posted at www.kaaawa.net]