“Hot Damn!” as Bruno Mars says. Hawaii classrooms are on fire!

Hawaii public schools started July 29, forcing students to sweat through academics.

Average temperatures for Hawaii in July and August were in the 90s. The kicker is that 90 percent of public schools here do not have air conditioning.

Teachers, parents and students have reported temperatures inside classrooms of up to 108 degrees! Teachers are sending their students to the nurse’s office because of heat exhaustion, headaches and dehydration. This is no longer a concern about calendars and instructional days; it is now a matter of health and safety.

Hawaii does not have the mechanical infrastructure to start public schools in July or August. Our children are being neglected, and their health and safety are in jeopardy.

There are two options to fix this immediate health problem:

>> Spend $1.7 billion to put air conditioners in all Hawaii public schools now.

>> Delay the start date for public schools to after Labor Day and allocate money annually to start retrofitting schools.

It is unlikely that state legislators will spend $1.7 billion all at once on air conditioners in public schools (option 1).

Sadly, this hasn’t been a priority for current elected officials, which is why the school start date has to be after Labor Day (option 2).

Schools around the country, including Hawaii, have traditionally started around Labor Day. So why has Hawaii changed, beginning the school year in the height of summer?

The state Department of Education dispersed school breaks throughout the year for better retention of information for the students. The theory is that students lose knowledge when they have longer breaks, requiring teachers to reteach curriculum upon returning from break.

The new school calendar, where children are attending school in sweltering months, also has been implemented because it’s conducive to standardized testing. The Hawaii State Teachers Association’s president, Corey Rosenlee, told Hawaii News Now: “The nice thing about ending at winter break is that lessons are done, tests are done. Over a three-week break, kids can forget stuff, and so you want to sort of complete their lessons when everything is done.”

Hawaii could use best practices of school calendars around the country as a guide. Hawaii has 180 instructional days in a school year. By cutting back holidays/breaks and non-instructional days, schools would not have to start or finish in the excruciatingly hot summer months.

Children and teachers of Hawaii are exposed to conditions that are unacceptable for most working environments.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration recommends temperatures in the range of 68-76 degrees Fahrenheit for offices.

The American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers standard on Thermal Environmental Conditions for Human Occupancy defines “thermal comfort in an office environment, which means that an employee wearing a normal amount of clothing feels neither too cold nor too warm.”

Hawaii’s Department of Health requires that employers provide “fresh air” for employees.

Working standards for adults are in a different class than those for our children. How can we expect our students to learn, retain and score high on standardized tests in such hot climates when we don’t expect even the working adults to function in these environments?

This health and safety issue must be dealt with immediately. Our children’s grades and tests scores are not the only things suffering. Children are physically suffering, being forced to sit in saunas. Reports of heat exhaustion, headaches, dehydration and others will continue to incresae if we don’t do something.

If the state is not willing to pay $1.7 billion now to protect our children from these extreme conditions, then public schools have to start after Labor Day.

Jaci Agustin, Mrs. Hawaii 2013, is a wife, mother and community advocate.