Wildfire-hit Maui town sees schools reopen this week
LAHAINA, Hawaii — The wind-driven wildfire that leveled the historic Maui town of Lahaina this summer displaced many pupils not just from their homes, but from their schools, forcing their families and education officials to scramble to find other ways to teach them. Now, more than two months after the Aug. 8 wildfire killed at least 98 people, the three public schools that survived are set to reopen this week.
Some parents said they won’t send their children back because they worry the fire left toxins behind, despite assurances from education officials that the campuses are safe.
“I’m feeling optimistic about it and grateful we get to go back,” said Cailee Cuaresma, a 10th grader at Lahainaluna High School. “I’m grateful our school is still standing.”
For the past month, Cuaresma has attended classes at the makeshift campus of Sacred Hearts School, a Catholic school founded in 1862. Most of the school burned down, but its leaders quickly got classes up and running at Sacred Hearts Mission Church 10 miles away.
Sacred Hearts and other private schools across the state took in displaced public school students, such as Cuaresma, while offering a year of free tuition. Other students bused more than 45 minutes away to public schools on the other side of Maui or opted for remote classes.
On a recent school day at Sacred Hearts’ temporary site, teachers moved students between pockets of shade to keep them out of the relentless Lahaina sun. Principal Tonata Lolesio told students assembled on cushioned pews in a chapel that it might be two years before they can return to a rebuilt school.
“Pray that it can be sooner,” she said.
Meanwhile, space limitations require students to attend classes on staggered days. Workers have been readying an adjacent lawn for tents, allowing at least the younger children to attend school daily.
Cuaresma sat with a group of younger students petting a golden retriever comfort dog brought in by Assistance Dogs of Hawaii. Her home survived the fire, but her dad only recently got his job back at a hotel. Being at Sacred Hearts was a good opportunity because the work was challenging, she said.
One public school in Lahaina, King Kamehameha III Elementary, was destroyed. Pupils from there will share space with Princess Nahienaena Elementary, which was closed for post-fire cleaning along with Lahainaluna High and Lahaina Intermediate.
The schools are just blocks away from piles of potentially dangerous ash, prompting concerns from parents, but education officials have said air-quality tests show it is safe to reopen.
“He is not going to be stepping one foot back there,” said Tiffany Teruya, the mother of a Lahaina Intermediate eighth-grader.
She and her son, Puuwai Nahooikaika, have been staying in a hotel since their apartment building burned down. He has been participating in a Hawaiian immersion program connected to Lahaina Intermediate.