School board considers Likelike Elementary School closure

The Board of Education on Tuesday will decide whether to pursue consolidation for Likelike Elementary in Kalihi.

Likelike, with nearly 400 children, is the only school in the McKinley complex being eyed for closure.

Principal Kelly Bart said he expects parents and community members to show up in force at Tuesday’s meeting, where board members will decide whether to hold a public hearing on the issue.

Comments gathered at a public hearing would be used in the Board of Education’s final decision on whether to close the school.

Bart said the school’s closure would have a "big impact" on neighboring schools.

If Likelike is shuttered, its students would be sent to Lanakila, Kaiulani and Kauluwela elementary schools.

"We are talking about an impact on student achievement if all those other schools have to take our kids," Bart said.

Nearly 80 percent of students at the school come from disadvantaged families, and about one-third are English as a second language learners.

The board will take up the issue of Likelike’s closure at its Finance and Infrastructure committee at 11:30 a.m. Tuesday.

The full board will discuss the issue at its meeting the same day, which starts at 2 p.m.

For more information or to submit testimony on the consolidation proposal, go to the board’s website at hawaiiboe.net.