KILAUEA — Namahana School has targeted the fall of 2025 for when the first cohort of students will be arriving at the new charter school in Kilauea.
Major work has yet to begin on the 8-acre parcel at Wai Koa Plantation after receiving conditional charter approval by the Hawai‘i State Public Charter School Commission in 2022.
“In an extraordinary turn of events, Namahana School has been provided the opportunity to purchase a parcel of centrally located land in Kilauea town,” the Namahana Education Foundation announced on Tuesday.
“If able to marshall the necessary funds in time, this property will bring the public charter school closer to the families it will serve on Kaua‘i’s North Shore. It will also ensure a permanent site for future generations of middle- and high-school students.”
Joan Porter, one of the school’s founding supporters, has provided Namahana with a renewable land license, and the Wai Koa site remains available as a contingency after Porter endorsed the new plan.
Namaahana Education Foundation Executive Director Melanie Parker said the school is pursuing the newly available site in Kilauea because of the many advantages that outright ownership will confer. That includes more freedom regarding land use and facility use, a steamlined approval and permitting process, and greater access to financing for campus construction.
“We are eternally grateful to Joan Porter and the Kaua‘i North Shore Community Foundation for laying that crucial foundation for Namahana. Without that foundation, we certainly would not be where we are today. We never imagined that an opportunity like this would appear,” Parker said.
“However, because owning our school site is by far the most practical option when establishing an institution meant to last for generations, we are moving mountains in hopes of closing the purchase of this property for Namahana School. We have launched a fundraising campaign to secure the needed funds by June 9.”
Parker said the total price of the parcel is $2.4 million, including financing costs. The school has secured some financing for nearly half of the cost, but must raise more than $1 million in cash in order to secure the property.
Parker also said with some “minimal revisions, our plans for the original campus can be adapted and utilized at this new site.”
“We continue to work closely with G70 International, who has overseen initial site assessments and led the design process for our future campus. As we had yet not started construction at the original Wai Koa site, we see this opportunity as an exciting pivot that does not disrupt the great strides we have made recently towards our vision,” Parker said.
“The Wai Koa site remains as a contingency site should we not be able to raise the necessary funds. The acquisition of this land will ultimately increase access to public education for our North Shore community, and we will pursue every funding opportunity available in order to successfully build and sustain Namahana School.”
Namahana School Leader Dr. Kapua Chandler said the site will further strengthen the community driven pillar of the educational vision.
“Students from Kilauea town will be able to walk and bike to school, and we will be closer to many of the businesses and organizations where our students will have internships,” Chandler said. “Like Wai Koa Plantation, this site is agriculturally zoned, which directly supports our ‘aina-based learning model.”
Chandler said the new site would only require minimal adjustments to the ambitious campus design the school has been developing with Honolulu architectural firm Group 70.
“At nearly 11.3 acres, this parcel is more than 3 acres larger than the Wai Koa location,” she said. “And, because it is on the future main access road to Kilauea that connects directly with Kuhio Highway, families north of Kilauea will be able to access the school without driving through town.”
Parker said the phased construction plan targeting the opening in the fall of 2025 will have temporary facilities that will house students for the first few years of school.
“Securing a permanent site for the school now will enable us to immediately begin preparing for the temporary facilities and the necessary permitting,” Parker said. “Our Phase I construction would include enough temporary and permanent facilities to house the entire school at capacity if needed.”
Mayor Derek S.K. Kawakami said the additional educational facilities in Kilauea have been a focus since the development of the Kilauea Town Plan in 2000.
“Having Namahana School occupy this space would fulfill a decades-long community ambition,” Kawakami said. “This is exactly the type of institution that anchors and enriches our island’s unique social fabric, and I hope that others will support their effort as much as I do.”
Kilauea resident Dr. Mehana Vaughan, a Namahana School board member and educator, said Namahana School is evolving to fulfill its promise for the ‘ohana of Kaua‘i’s North Shore communities.
“I believe this remarkable opportunity has appeared in part because we are now ready for it,” Vaughan said. “For anyone who knows the fundamental role a school can play in bringing people together, this new site enhances Namahana’s potential to serve as a piko for our community.”
Namahana Education Foundation, the nonprofit organization which oversees fundraising for Namahana School, has launched a campaign to acquire the Kilauea property, and is actively seeking donations to secure the site by the June 9 deadline.
“This is the kind of a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that we can’t afford to pass up,” Parker said. “Though our timeline is tight, I believe that our community, which has courageously carried the vision of Namahana School forward from its inception, will rally to the cause.”
w Info: namahana.org
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Dennis Fujimoto, staff writer and photographer, can be reached at 808-245-0453 or dfujimoto@thegardenisland.com.
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