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Maui Waena building move-in date delayed again

Occupancy target date now planned for December . . . or maybe January

The opening of this Maui Waena Intermediate science, computer, math and music building, which has been in the works for 11 years, has been delayed to winter break or the beginning of second semester in January, according to the school’s principal. The Maui News / CHRIS SUGIDONO photo

A Maui Waena Intermediate building 11 years in the making is so close, yet so far, from opening with the newest move-in date set for winter break or beginning of second semester in January.

At a blessing for the building in late September, school officials said they hoped to have students and teachers moved in by Oct. 17.

That did not happen, the latest setback in a long string of delays spanning years.

The two-story, nine-classroom science, math, music and computer building next to the parking lot off Onehee Street in Kahului has a few niggling details that need to be completed, said Principal Jamie Yap.

He said Wednesday that the new occupancy date for the classroom building is sometime during winter break, Dec. 22 to Jan. 6, or early second semester in January.

Kahului state Rep. Justin Woodson said Wednesday that state Department of Education officials told him two weeks ago that the building would be ready in December.

Maui Waena school officials expressed some skepticism about the latest opening dates, and Woodson said that he understood the sentiment.

“The community has a right to be frustrated,” he said. “The building will be open sooner rather than later.”

The new wing at Maui Waena, the fifth largest intermediate school in the state with 1,183 students, was first proposed in 2005, and then-Gov. Linda Lingle released $8.7 million for the project in 2007. At the time, construction was slated to begin in 2008 and completed a year later.

In December 2013, Ray L’Heureux, then assistant superintendent for facilities, told a meeting at the school that construction would begin by the end of that year.

Ground-breaking did not occur until July 2014. Officials said then that construction would take a year and that the classrooms would be ready for the beginning of the 2015-16 school year.

Since then, there have been more delays. Move-in dates have been pushed back to October and now possibly January.

“We are overcrowded and lacking space,” said Yap. “All these kids are suffering.”

The teachers are being affected, too, he said. Some instructors had packed up in anticipation of the move and are now rummaging through those boxes to teach their classes.

The items that need to be completed include the installation of Wi-Fi, which is needed to run the phones and security system, and of a phone and heat sensor in the elevator to make it operational, and obtaining a variance from having to install a septic system for disposal of chemicals from the science lab, Yap said.

Furniture for the first floor has arrived but not for the second floor, Yap said. That may be just as well because the furniture cannot be moved upstairs without the elevator.

No date has been set for a final walk-through, he said.

The building may not be ready for people, but it is currently being cooled by an air conditioner on a timer, which school officials have been hesitant to adjust, Yap indicated.

Woodson said that the Wi-Fi issue is currently being taken care of and that “it shouldn’t be a challenge.” He understood that there is an agreement between the state and the county regarding the septic waiver, where the school will not send hazardous chemicals into the sewer system until the infrastructure details can be worked out. In the meantime, the school would be able to use the building.

Yap said that Hawaiian Telcom was scheduled to connect the elevator phone Wednesday and that the elevator may be able to run without the heat sensor. The security system has been scheduled to be installed over winter break.

“I am confident the building will be open soon,” said Woodson. “It is important to stress this has been a very long process. . . . We are very much on the tail end of the completion of the much-needed STEM building.”

The initial delays were blamed on a “soap opera” of “malfeasance, confusion, lack of process and no oversight” with much of the blame falling on the original contractor, L’Heureux told the Maui Waena gathering in 2013. Education Department spokesman Brent Suyama said in April that the contractor did not to meet regulatory requirements, including failing to complete an environmental assessment on time, which delayed the initial permits.

“The DOE continues to make adjustments to their processes,” Woodson said, adding that he didn’t know if legislation was necessary to fix the system. He did say that “a lot of it is systemic” relating to how the state goes about building and repairing school buildings.

* Lee Imada can be reached at leeimada@mauinews.com.

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