Reports of armed teen shut down schools
Maui High School and nearby Kahului Elementary School were locked down for about an hour Monday after reports of a teenager carrying what looked like a handgun on the high school campus, police Lt. Wayne Ibarra said.
Police searched both school campuses and found no sign of the boy, Ibarra said.
In a news release, the Maui Police Department said it received a 911 call at 10:47 a.m. "from an anonymous female caller reporting that she observed a 16-year-old male, thin built, about 5-feet-3-inches tall, with medium-length wavy hair, wearing a white shirt and jeans, to be concealing a black handgun under his shirt and going into the Maui High School campus by jumping over the fence near the Banana Patch area off of Papa Avenue."
The schools were locked down shortly before 11:15 a.m. and reopened at 12:30 p.m.
Leila Hayashida, a state Department of Education acting complex superintendent, said school administrators were able to ensure students’ safety with no disruption to learning time.
"Parents at Maui High received initial notification via voice mail and have been sent a letter about the incident; Kahului Elementary parents were issued a letter," she said.
NEIGHBOR ISLANDS
Degree program accommodates full-time jobs
The University of Hawaii Maui College is offering a new program that allows people working full time to earn a two-year associate degree in three years.
Students in the Degree-in-Three program will attend classes on Tuesday and Wednesday nights, online or on cable TV, and during the summer semester. Those who complete the program will earn an Associate in Arts degree in liberal arts.
The college will hold informational sessions on the program at 5:30 p.m. Thursday and March 19 in the Ka‘a‘ike Building, Room 109. Topics will include financial aid, transferring credits from other institutions, program and time requirements, and student support services.
To RSVP contact Linda Fujitani at 984-3226 or email lkfujita@hawaii.edu.
Renovations made to Kauai water source
The Kauai Department of Water has finished renovation work on one of two sources of water in the Waimea-Kekaha area.
The $560,000 project by contractor R. Electric Inc. included installation of a submersible turbine pump at the existing well site; installation of a liquid disinfection system; upgrades to the motor control center and supervisory control and data acquisition components, various piping and control valves; renovations to the existing control building; and site improvements to the Waimea Well "A" facility.
The project was part of Water Plan 2020, the department’s comprehensive long-range plan to replace or repair aging infrastructure.
