To Fine or To Fix?
In the state of Hawaii, the Department of Education is not allowing themselves to be left behind when it comes to the issue of school safety. They have recently conducted inspections public schools in Hawaii. There were 9 public schools and 2 administrative offices found lacking when it comes to safety. The findings of the inspections show that there about 55 safety violations in the mentioned areas.So what are they planning to do about it? The ongoing process is that whenever a school is found to have violated safety measures, the Department of Education fines them.
I think this is where some changes could be made. It is well and good that safety checks - unannounced at that - are conducted periodically. This keeps school administrators on their toes. However, what sense does it make to fine these schools when there are things that could be improved?
I guess what I am saying is this - what assurance do we have that being fined will encourage the school administrators to get rid of the hazards that are present in their schools? I have no idea how much the fine is - this probably depends on the degree of the violations. No matter what the amount of the fine is, though, wouldn’t it be better to use this money to fix the schools?
An alternative could be to require the schools to pay money that will go directly into solving the safety problems in their buildings. Maybe the fines that are levied could be funneled into “fix a school” programs or something like that. However, this may not be the best course of action - as we all know, money and action have a way of getting lost somewhere in the depths of bureaucracy.
Another thing about the inspections of Hawaii public schools - it seems that the authorities are not disclosing the names of the public schools wherein they found safety violations. Their rationale is that they do not want to single out specific schools. I suppose they are trying to protect the reputation of these schools. The good intention is apparent. Sometimes, though, good intentions do not really mean much.
Aren’t the parents and the school children entitled to knowing whether their schools are safe or not? If I were a parent, I would rather know what the real situation is. That does not immediately mean that I would stop letting my child go to school. Maybe, more proactively, I would be able to do something to help resolve the situation. Parents being in the know could actually be a good thing - they can take certain steps to ensure that repairs and other safety measures can be employed.
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Posted on December 24th, 2007 by Deborah J Thomas
Filed under: News
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