Temporary West Maui school on schedule for completion | News, Sports, Jobs
Goodfellow Brothers masons put the finishing touches Thursday on one of the final sidewalks to be installed for the temporary West Maui elementary school being built for displaced King Kamehameha III Elementary School students below Kapalua Airport. The Maui News / MATTHEW THAYER photos
Ninety-five days in and a bit more than three weeks left to go, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Hawaii Wildfire Recovery Critical Public Facilities Mission Manager John Davidson promised Thursday that the temporary West Maui school being built to serve displaced King Kamehameha III Elementary School students will be finished as scheduled, Feb. 23.
“We’re going to get there,” Davidson said Thursday at the busy 10.2-acre jobsite below Kapalua Airport in Mahinahina. “It’s a race to the end.”
Maui’s rainy winter has provided the biggest challenge, he said.
“Every day it rains, it hurts.”
Thursday had at least three subcontractors on site laying sidewalks, doing landscaping and wiring the main electrical feed to the school. Davidson said Pono Aina Management is the general contractor for the $53.7 million base contract and the main subcontractor is Goodfellows Brothers.
Kihei Gardens & Landscaping Co. supervisor K-Boy Ka‘alakea prepares for the arrival of grass sod to the temporary West Maui elementary school campus on Thursday.
Goodfellow masons were hustling to finish one of the last stretches of sidewalk while a Kihei Gardens & Landscaping crew spread topsoil across the campus in preparation for the laying of grass sod Saturday. The sod grown on Oahu and shipped by barge was expected to transform the red-dirt swath dotted by 38 temporary buildings into a rolling green.
Davidson said the campus will include 20 classrooms with a sink, 10 with a bathroom, three standalone bathrooms and five administrative buildings. All are constructed out of 8-by-20-foot modular steel units that are about the size of shipping containers and can be ganged together to create different-sized buildings. There is also one covered outdoor space, one basketball court and two playgrounds.
The campus is designed for 600 pre-K to 5th grade students and can handle 700, he said. Prior to the wildfire that destroyed King Kamehameha III Elementary School on Aug. 8, 2023, 603 students were reportedly enrolled at the school sandwiched between Lahaina Harbor and Front Street.
Once the temporary campus is completed, it will be turned over to the Department of Education for furnishing and installation of telecommunication equipment. The DOE’s goal has been to have King Kamehameha III students use the temporary classrooms for the final semester, which starts Mar. 25.
That’s just one deadline the DOE faces with the school. Another major one is to have a permanent replacement school opened within five years. Davidson said Army Corps oversight lasts only five years, which means all the temporary buildings and infrastructure are to be removed by then. The property is also to be returned to its original grade. Davidson said the 336 modular units used to construct the school are leased and will be shipped back to the Mainland when the mission is finished.
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Hawaii Wildfire Recovery Critical Public Facilities Mission Manager John Davidson (right) and Field Office Chief of Public Affairs Rick Brown navigate one of temporary school’s winding sidewalks Thursday afternoon.
The temporary site is located on a portion of land scheduled to be part of the Pulelehua mixed-use project. The campus enjoys commanding views of the ocean, coastline and neighboring islands.
* Staff Writer Matthew Thayer can be reached at grass sod Saturday. The sod grown on Oahu and shipped by barge was expected to transform the red-dirt swath dotted by 38 temporary buildings into a rolling green.
Davidson said the campus will include 20 classrooms with a sink, 10 with a bathroom, three standalone bathrooms and five administrative buildings. All are constructed out of 8-by-20-foot modular steel units that are about the size of shipping containers and can be ganged together to create different-sized buildings. There is also one covered outdoor space, one basketball court and two playgrounds.
The campus is designed for 600 pre-K to 5th grade students and can handle 700, he said. Prior to the wildfire that destroyed King Kamehameha III Elementary School on Aug. 8, 2023, 603 students were reportedly enrolled at the school sandwiched between Lahaina Harbor and Front Street.
Once the temporary campus is completed, it will be turned over to the Department of Education for furnishing and installation of telecommunication equipment. The DOE’s goal has been to have King Kamehameha III students use the temporary classrooms for the final semester, which starts Mar. 25.
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers personnel visit one of the classrooms Thursday afternoon. A total of 336 modular steel units were used to construct the temporary school’s 38 buildings.
That’s just one deadline the DOE faces with the school. Another major one is to have a permanent replacement school opened within five years. Davidson said Army Corps oversight lasts only five years, which means all the temporary buildings and infrastructure are to be removed by then. The property is also to be returned to its original grade. Davidson said the 336 modular units used to construct the school are leased and will be shipped back to the Mainland when the mission is finished.
The temporary site is located on a portion of land scheduled to be part of the Pulelehua mixed-use project. The campus enjoys commanding views of the ocean, coastline and neighboring islands.
* Staff Writer Matthew Thayer can be reached at mthayer@mauinews.com.
DuWatts Electric electricians work at the site Thursday.
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