2,025 Lahaina students not enrolled

About two-thirds of the 3,001 children who once attended Lahaina’s four public schools still have not enrolled in other Hawaii public schools or the state’s distance learning program. And state officials cannot tell yet exactly how many have left the system for private schools or the mainland, are pausing schooling, or are among the roughly 1,000 West Maui residents reportedly still missing in the wildfires disaster.

As of Monday only 538 of the Lahaina students had reenrolled in other Hawaii public schools, and 438 students had signed up for the State Distance Learning Program, according to a “Maui Wildfire Impacts” report that state Schools Superintendent Keith Hayashi is scheduled to present today at a state Board of Education meeting.

That leaves 2,025 Lahaina students “who have not enrolled in another public school or opted for distance learning (may have moved out of state, enrolled in private schools),” Hayashi’s report says.

The report does not specifically mention that some of the students missing from current public school enrollments might be putting their education on hold or may have died in the fire.

But the FBI and Maui County police are working through a list of about 1,000 to 1,100 people who are still unaccounted for. Maui County Mayor Richard Bissen has previously estimated the number of the missing at around 850. Gov. Josh Green has said that it’s possible that some of those killed were children. Some families already have independently posted online or said in media reports that their children are among those who perished in the fires.

On Wednesday, the official death toll stood at 115 and an official list of the missing had not yet been made public.

Meanwhile, the state Department of Education on Wednesday announced an interim schooling plan for those West Maui families still seeking places to enroll students in in-person learning: They can temporarily relocate to designated schools in Central and South Maui, and bus transportation will be provided in coming days.

However, the union representing Hawaii’s public school teachers is expressing frustration with the DOE’s response so far to the disaster. “In the wake of the Maui wildfires, the Hawaii State Department of Education must provide crisis counseling, establish safe campuses, keep displaced Lahaina students and staff together, and improve its communication with parents and educators,” said a Hawaii State Teachers Association statement posted Wednesday on its website.

The DOE plan is meant to provide more schooling options as Lahainaluna High, Lahaina Intermediate and Princess Nahienaena Elementary schools remain closed to staff, students and volunteers while safety testing of air, water and soil continue. Hayashi’s report describes the three schools with wind damage, debris and soot. Hayashi has said the fourth school, King Kamehameha III Elementary School, was damaged beyond repair; photos in his report show blackened, gutted ruins.

The DOE is “designating the following temporary sites for students to return to learning environments with their teachers and peers to help facilitate the healing process and restore some sense of normalcy as we await clearance for the Lahaina campuses to reopen,” a DOE news release said. “The Lahaina schools will retain their school status, but in temporary locations.”

>> Grades K-5: King Kamehameha III and Princess Nahienaena students will be temporarily assigned to either Wailuku Elementary or Kamalii Elementary in Kihei.

>> Grades 6-8: Lahaina Intermediate students will be temporarily assigned to Lokelani Intermediate in Kihei.

>> Grades 9-12: For Lahainaluna High students, their school will temporarily function as a “school within a school” at Kulanihakoi High School in Kihei.

The DOE said it is coordinating bus transportation for West Maui students to get to and from the temporary school sites, and hubs for pickup and drop-off are being determined. Interested families should obtain and complete a bus application at their new school as soon as possible, the DOE said.

Bus transportation for general education students will be provided only for the designated schools for students still residing in Lahaina, the release said.

“For families who remain in Lahaina and are not able to take advantage of this option, the Department is working on plans to offer community-based learning activities in West Maui, but families are advised that programming will not look like traditional education provided in schools,” the release said.

Special transportation will be provided for special-education students who receive transportation as a related service as part of their individualized education program.

West Maui students who are already enrolled at other schools or in the state’s distance learning are unaffected by the temporary reassignment plan, the DOE said.

“We are still very hopeful that our Lahaina schools will be able to reopen, but not until we are assured that it is safe to do so,” Hayashi said in the release. “In the meantime we need to be able to provide options for families and students who want to access education outside of West Maui. We are also still actively pursuing temporary learning sites in West Maui to be able to provide options within the community.”

The department is organizing a family and community meeting Aug. 30, with details to come, the DOE said. Families and staff who are facing internet challenges and who need assistance can call the DOE’s support hotline at 808-727-6880, from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on weekdays.

Staff at all four public schools in Lahaina, who have been on paid administrative leave since Aug. 8, have had the paid leave extended through Friday. But beginning Monday, they have have been told to expect to report to a centralized off-site location in West Maui that will be determined soon.

However, HSTA President Osa Tui Jr. wrote in testimony submitted for today’s BOE meeting that teachers are “concerned and frustrated over the lack of timely communication from the HIDOE.” A hotline established Aug. 18 by the DOE to provide support to school staff and families “requires those struggling with loss of life and property to take the initiative to obtain important information that should have already been in their hands. Teachers are also reporting that their calls often go unanswered,” Tui wrote.

Tui also said the department “needs to connect with the community face-to-face.” Campus visits to assess damage and meet with administrators are not enough, he said.

“Earlier this week, President Biden and first lady Dr. Jill Biden traveled thousands of miles to visit the Lahaina community, hear residents’ stories, and offer words of support. Decision-makers for our Hawaii public schools, a mere 100 miles away, have yet to do the same,” Tui wrote.

Meanwhile, Maui’s private schools also are in flux. Maui Preparatory Academy recently received a surge of about 1,000 applications for new openings the school made to accommodate displaced students, officials posted online this week. “We shuffled, rearranged the entire campus to welcome 110 new students (a 40% enrollment increase from last year). It is only a drop in the bucket. So many students not in classrooms today,” the school posted Monday on Instagram.

Sacred Hearts School has posted on its website that its campus faced a “devastating fire that has left our campus in ruins.” A Hawaii Association of Independent Schools report shows the school enrolled about 200 students.

“Sacred Hearts School has been a cornerstone of our community for over 100 years, nurturing generations of young minds and fostering a sense of unity and growth,” the statement continued. “The fire has left us in a state of shock and uncertainty, but we are resolved to emerge from this tragedy stronger than ever.