Sustainability Coordinator Les Harper, faculty member Jennifer Kajiyama, and BYU–Hawaii’s Enactus are working with the community to provide sustainable, practical solutions for cooling hot, muggy classrooms at Laie Elementary School.
Kajiyama, a BYUH Political Science professor, said temperatures at the elementary school “soar” from 85 to 100 degrees. Days of high humidity, such as a 90 percent humidity, make classrooms feel like 121 degrees.
Kajiyama said the portables especially don’t have the airflow like other classrooms, resulting in even higher temperatures. To verify these high temperatures, the BYUH Enactus team volunteers and others came into the school with an ultraviolet heat radar gun measuring the heat radiating from the walls and other surfaces. In some cases, the heat on the surfaces of walls and astro-turf grass measured 100 to 130 degrees.
According to Kajiyama, children at Laie Elementary School have reported feeling dizzy during and after school, along with accounts of exhaustion, headaches, and sleepiness.
In a video on youcaring.com/KeepLaieCool, a student said, “I’m sticky and wet. It’s hard to concentrate.” Another student added, “I have a headache and can’t pay attention.” Another student said, “I just want to go home and turn on the air conditioning.”
Kajiyama and other concerned parents of children at Laie Elementary have reached out to local and state government officials for funding of air conditioning. However, other schools are doing the same across the islands, as the high heat problem is not just in Laie but exists throughout all of Hawaii.
According to the Hawaii Department of Education, the cost to install AC at all DOE schools would be $1.7 billion, so alternatives are welcome. According to www.youcaring.com and Kajiyama, the coastal location of the school excludes Laie Elementary from being placed in Hawaii’s Department of Education (HDOE) heat abatement program priority list.
Kajiyama also noted that 94 percent of schools in Hawaii do not have air conditioning. The high demand for financing and work to be done at other schools leaves the Laie community alone to find solutions for the heat problems.
The growing concern of parents and faculty led Kajiyama to reach out to student organizations at BYUH and the Parent Teachers Association at Laie Elementary School.
Harper, a leader of Enactus and Entrepreneurship teacher, said the inspiration to finding “sufficient, cost-effective, sustainable solutions,” came from a student from the Philippines who said they were able to stay cool at school even through temperatures are comparable and similar to Hawaii’s.
Harper, at a gathering about 50 parents and teachers at Laie Elementary School, said, “We have manpower and great research… We have simple straightforward solutions. We won’t cool your rooms down to 69 degrees, but they will be comfortable. It’s not going to be an overnight solution. It will be a room-by-room situation.” Solutions include adding insulation to walls and ceilings, building false walls and planting trees to shade classrooms.
Depending on financing, future plans include building better infrastructure to hopefully prepare for air conditioning.
Kajiyama and the community have helped build awareness of the project by starting a fund raising site. Keep Laie Elementary COOL on Facebook already has over 2,000 supporters and over $3,000 of funds. Every dollar is directly used for the elementary school. Students at Laie Elementary School have helped raise money to support cooling the school.
Ambrose (8 years old) and Asher Robertson (6 years old), along with parents and grandparents, sold homegrown star fruit in cloudy rainy weather. After raising $90 to help the fund raiser, Ambrose Robertson said, “We want to do our part to keep our school cool.” The funds have been put to good use. Volunteers from the community and students at BYUH have already “worked wonders,” said Kajiyama.
“The whole 3rd grade is cooled and three of the six first-grade classrooms are cooled between 6-12 degrees. Before insulation the classrooms were 98 degrees and are now 86 degrees, 12 degrees cooler.”
The ceiling temperatures also dropped by a dramatic 20 degrees. She said to cool the third grade, consisting of six classrooms, cost $2,800. This first phase cooled one-sixth of the elementary school rooms. In order to complete the rest of the school, more money will be needed.
For those interested in helping by donating money or volunteering, contact Harper or Kajiyama. To donate, visit https://www.youcaring.com/keeplaiecool. Donations may be considered “tax exempt” and may qualify for a tax deduction.