A new elementary school being built in Kapolei will be called Hookele Elementary to convey the idea of navigating 21st-century learning.
The Board of Education on Tuesday unanimously approved the recommendation from a committee made up of community and education representatives.
The group said Hookele was favored over seven other proposed names for its meanings in Hawaiian, which include "wayfinder" and "navigator."
"When we look at this new school as a 21st-century school, today’s students of Hookele, they’re searching for ways to navigate in an ever-changing world," Principal Laureen Dunn said.
The $40 million school’s unofficial name had been Kapolei II Elementary during the planning and design phases.
Crews last spring broke ground on the site across Fort Barrette Road from Kapolei High School, and construction is expected to be completed in April.
Board of Education Chairman Don Horner said the department’s use of a design-build process for the new campus — where the same contractor handles both the design and build-out of the campus — is saving the state time and money. Kiewit Building Group is the contractor.
The new school will serve 750 students in pre-kindergarten through fifth grade and help alleviate overcrowding at area schools.
Kapolei Elementary and Middle schools are on year-round school calendars, known as multitrack schools. Multitrack schools have special schedules aimed at coping with overcrowding by having "tracks," or groups of students, take classes and vacations at different times to make full use of the campus year-round.
Kapolei Elementary is the state’s third-largest public elementary school based on enrollment, while Kapolei Middle is the second-largest intermediate school.
A second middle school for Kapolei is in the early planning stage.
