Lawmakers in Schools Working Group hear hours of public testimony during first hearing
Posted: September 29, 2023
Families in Lahaina voiced their concerns Thursday over inadequate evacuation plans and inaccessible mental health services as three of four Hawaiʻi State Department of Education schools in West Maui prepare to reopen to students next month in the wake of devastating wildfires.
Dozens of community members addressed state lawmakers and school officials in the first public hearing by the House of Representatives Schools Working Group. The interim group, chaired by Reps. Justin Woodson and Jenna Takenouchi, is assessing government response around schools in the aftermath of the Aug. 8 wildfires, and will recommend improvements to address during the 2024 Legislative session.
Lawmakers are asking for community feedback in several areas, including:
- Evacuation plans. Are robust evacuation plans in place for all schools? Do they account for all students and staff? Should drills be held?
- Strengthening school facilities. Can and should the state invest in hardening facilities like cafeterias and gymnasiums to withstand natural disasters? Should evacuation sites be accessible to the public?
- School closures. How can families and school communities participate in discussions should a school need to be closed, reopened, or moved?
- Mental, social, and emotional health. How can we ensure the mental, social, and emotional well-being of the entire school community in the aftermath of a tragedy?
- School rebuilding. How can the community participate in the school rebuilding process to ensure spaces are properly designed to support learning?
Many testifiers said schools do not have adequate evacuation plans in place, if any, and much more needs to be done to ensure students and staff are safe should another disaster strike.
Pakalana Phillips, a former teacher who taught at several area schools, pointed out that Kamehameha III Elementary, which was destroyed by fire in August, was built in a tsunami evacuation zone. Concerns were raised decades ago, yet nothing was done.
Phillips said when the school conducted evacuation drills, “we would walk our students from Kamehameha III all the way up the road, and we would practice going to the youth center and crossing major highways at the time with no sidewalks. For years, we’ve asked for them to move. For generations, that school has been there in a tsunami zone. We’ve allowed our kids to go to school in a dangerous place, and because it’s been there for many generations, people just allow it. Thank God no tsunami took out our school while our kids were in school.
“It needs to be statewide that our schools are prepared for this catastrophe to happen, and our kids get out safely,” Phillips stressed. “Before you even open up, there should be a plan in place so that our kids do not have to be in harm’s way again.”
Many expressed concerns with limited road access to Lahainaluna High, Lahaina Intermediate, and Princess Nahiʻenaʻena Elementary. They said the bottleneck results in massive traffic jams during drop-off and pick-up periods. Additional routes are necessary, especially during an evacuation.
Elizabeth Bowen, a teacher at Princess Nahiʻenaʻena Elementary and parent, explained, “There used to be two roads before the fire: Lahainaluna Road, from Lahaina up, and the bypass. Now Lahainaluna Road is closed, so if an evacuation order is issued, how are we going to evacuate… students, faculty out of that area?
“The one road in and one road out for our schools is systemic in the poor planning decisions which amplify the tragedy of the fires,” Bowen said.
Another parent noted, “If there’s a major car accident or fire at Kuialua (Street) and Lahainaluna Road, that’s going to block the escape for all the public schools.”
Parents also raised concerns over the difficulty in accessing mental health services for their keiki through a support hotline.
Sonya Chambliss-Alexander, an independent family and mental health counselor, said, “I hear you guys saying that you have counseling available, and I’m telling you all of the parents are telling me it’s not working out. ‘We call. They call me back, and they give me someone in Oʻahu. They can’t see me. They can’t take my kid. They don’t work with my issue.’ … They’re not getting the help.”
Chambliss-Alexander says officials need to ensure families actually receive mental health support, and be more proactive in connecting students with mental health services.
When Chambliss-Alexander visited Lahainaluna High Wednesday to provide trauma therapy to students, she said, “It was just amazing to see how they responded, to see how they showed up, to see how they cry. They’re hurting.”
She explained that students are “not going to ask you for help. They’re not going to say ‘I hurt’ unless they’re in really, really bad shape. You need to go to them.”
Testifiers also noted how few educators were in attendance since the hearing took place from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
Kaitlyn Aure, who taught at King Kamehameha III Elementary for six years, said, “I don’t understand. There’s no teachers here. You do this all of the time. You ask for a voice. You ask for stakeholders. We are stakeholders. We’re on the front lines and we never have a voice. You’re doing this meeting and they’re teaching the kids right now. Some of them aren’t ready at all. I’m not ready.”
Aure said she was able to attend Thursday’s hearing because “I’m on leave right now. Many teachers are stepping up and stepping in. How can we be here? How can they sit here and tell you, we know what the kids need?”
HIDOE Deputy Superintendent Tammi Oyadomari-Chun thanked testifiers for sharing their feedback and assured them that their concerns will be addressed.
“I wanted to acknowledge the concerns that we’ve heard multiple times about air, water, soil, as well as evacuation plans, and so I just wanted to let you know that we’re concerned about those too,” she said.
Oyadomari-Chun said all health and safety updates, including test results, will continue to be posted online here.
She added, “The evacuation plan is being updated. People are working on it right now, and that’ll be ready before school starts, so we will make sure that those are available and communicated.”
The August wildfires killed at least 115 people in West Maui, displaced about 4,300 others and damaged or destroyed 2,700 buildings. The deadliest fires in U.S. history for more than a century, they caused an estimated $5.6 billion in damage.