Laie Elementary School teacher Keisha Funaki likened the heat in her classroom to “walking into a sauna.”
Sixth-grade students who attend her class in a portable building constantly complained. Some suffered headaches and nausea. Multiple water breaks throughout the day were necessary to stave off dehydration as temperatures in the classroom soared up to 100 degrees.
The recent installation of split air-conditioning units in the classroom has brought much relief, she said.
The stifling heat at one of Oahu’s oldest public schools jolted the Laie community to find solutions to cool down classrooms. A group of parents, students, teachers and community members formed the initiative “Keep Laie Cool” in September.
With the school at the bottom of the Department of Education’s priority list for the state’s heat-abatement project, they took it upon themselves to reduce the heat.
Jennifer Kajiyama, a parent of a first-grade student at Laie Elementary, is helping to spearhead fundraising efforts and hopes to raise $50,000 by the end of the 2015-2016 school year. The money would go toward installing air-conditioning units for one classroom at every grade level.
As of Friday, the group had raised a little more than $19,000.
Their long-term goal is to install air-conditioning units in all 34 classrooms at the school. Earlier this month, Greenpath Technologies installed two units in one of the portable classroom buildings for sixth graders. The air conditioner is powered by direct sunlight from the solar panels and does not require an inverter. “There’s absolutely zero feedback from the grid,” said company spokeswoman Dana Akasaki.
The cost for each unit is about $7,000.
Before the installation, students often arrived at home drenched in sweat due to the extreme heat in the classrooms. Funaki said the sweltering conditions also caused fatigue and made it difficult for students to concentrate.
Fans donated to the school have been ineffective because they only circulate hot air.
Sixth-grade student Tajah Naeata, who has a hearing problem, said whirring sounds from the fans aggravated her. It was like listening to constant static noise from a TV channel, she said.
The split air-conditioning unit has been effective, especially because the school’s aged electrical system cannot support a window or portable air conditioner. Electrical upgrades are also costly.
Sixth-grade student Ben Merrill said the cooled-down classroom has helped him improve his grades and efficiency.
“It keeps my brain running,” he said.
Last fall, volunteers from Brigham Young University-Hawaii installed insulation in the roofs of buildings E and F, which house first- and third-grade classrooms respectively. The “Keep Laie Cool” initiative bought $2,800 in material that has reduced the heat in classrooms by 12 degrees.
In its ongoing effort to cool down classrooms, the initiative also plans to paint two buildings with a reflective coating and plant more trees on the campus.
To donate to the “Keep Laie Cool” initiative, go to bit.ly/1UW9CGx.
