A Sparkling New School Opens as Old Schools Are Eyed for Closure
Amid the turmoil surrounding several possible school closures on Oahu, the Hawaii Department of Education proceeded with opening a new one Tuesday.
The department held a media day at the brand new on its very first day of operation.
With an enrollment of around 600 seventh- and eight-graders, it is the department’s first school to reside entirely under one (air-conditioned) roof. It is also the state’s first “green” campus, qualifying for silver status.
The start-up price tag for the new school is around $67 million. The school was funded by a state bond issue, rather than the education department’s operating budget. Its ongoing expenses will, of course, come out of that budget. (The savings from closing schools would go to the district’s operating budget.)
“We build schools where the population is growing, and Ewa is the fastest-growing area on Oahu,” said public works administrator Duane Kashiwai.
Ewa Makai is actually the third new school to come to the area in the last 15 years. opened in 1995 and opened in January of 2007.
Determining exactly when and where to build new schools is a time-consuming and complex process, he said. The department looks first at where the existing schools in a high-growth area are, then it considers whether the schools are close to capacity.
“That area in Ewa was a small community before, but it’s been growing so much that the schools — especially Ilima Intermediate — got overcrowded,” Kashiwai said.
Ewa Makai can hold up to 750 students and is designed so that a third wing could be added later to increase its capacity to more then 1,000 students. The school’s first 600 students shared space with Ilima Intermediate while they waited for their new building to be completed.
The one-building campus is a stark contrast to Hawaii’s traditional schools, which consist of multi-building complexes. The department chose this time to go with the single enclosure style common on the mainland in order to conserve real estate. Gentry Homes was required to donate to the education department for the school — which is actually fewer acres than customary for a school in Hawaii.
“This is the first school we’ve built all under one roof,” said Kashiwai. “The way they were designed earlier, they were for more rural communities. The sites were larger and the buildings were spread out more. But with all this growth, land is getting more precious, so we try to build the same amount of space on a smaller site by putting everything in one big building. This site is relatively tight.”
Principal Ed Oshiro said one of his goals is to make Ewa Makai the “greenest” school in Hawaii — if not the United States.
As a school administrator, he said, it’s his dream come true to open a school. This will become his legacy, and he’s raising the bar for his students and faculty.
“My motto is, ‘good’ isn’t good enough,” Oshiro said. “I want this to be known as a great school.”
Oshiro will be armed with the latest technology to achieve his goal. The building is equipped with wireless Internet throughout and about 40 classrooms come with electronic interactive whiteboards, document cameras and iPads. The school also includes a multi-media production room, a dance studio and several computer labs.
