Jada Apolo stands with her 1-year-old daughter, Jani-yah, outside her family’s Kula home. The teen parents and day care programs at Maui High School have helped her stay in school and provide a support group for young mothers. Photo courtesy Jada Apolo

A nonprofit organization has offered Maui High School a $20,000 grant to help house its day care and teen parents program — provided the school can come up with the rest of the funding.

School administrators said earlier this year that they may have to cut the program due to a lack of space and a large incoming freshman class. That sent students and teachers scrambling to find a solution, and with less than two months to go before the end of the school year, the program’s future is still up in the air.

“I think we’ve exhausted all the options of trying to stick the program somewhere that exists on campus,” program director Bronwyn Tatman said Tuesday. “Everybody has racked their brains . . . but it’s not feasible at this point. We’re at a standstill.”

Tatman said the school is waiting to see whether the state Department of Education could provide additional space, perhaps in the form of a portable. In the meantime, the school also applied for a grant. Tatman said the Laurence H. Dorcy Hawaiian Foundation is willing to pay $20,000 to support the cost of a classroom or portable, though the board needs to know that the project has enough funding before issuing the check. A portable, Tatman said, can cost well over $100,000.

Maui High is expecting 640 freshmen in the fall, pushing enrollment over 2,000, Principal Jamie Yap said in January. Yap said administrators are having to make tough decisions, which includes cutting some programs to make room for the new students.

The teen parents program started in 1989 and is funded by the school. It offers prenatal classes for pregnant students and educational classes for new parents, teaching them everything from meal prep to discipline to dealing with teething and crawling toddlers. The day care started around 2005 and is funded through a U.S. Department of Heath and Human Services grant.

Maui High is the only school on island to offer a day care, and one of only three schools statewide, along with Kapaa and Konawaena high schools, according to Yap.

The day care allows students to drop off their children in the morning and pick them up after school. It costs each student $25 for the whole school year, a huge savings given that the average cost of child care in Hawaii is $640 a month, according to Patch Hawaii, a statewide child care resource and referral agency. The day care has helped many students stay in school and graduate even after having a child.

The way Tatman sees it, “either we put our tax dollars toward supporting them to get their degree, or we pay for welfare for a good part of their lives as adults,” she said.

This year, there are 15 students in the teen parents program, with five babies that rely on the day care. Eight are graduating seniors. Whether the other seven students will be able to come back next year if the program is cut depends on each girl’s situation, Tatman said.

“We have probably three that are very stressed out because they don’t have anybody to give baby to during the day,” Tatman said. “The other ones, a couple will be able to ask grandma or ask a sister or somebody. None of them are going to be able to pay . . . for regular day care.

“At this point, they’re either going to drop out, or they’re going to try to continue, and they will have many, many absences because they will have to stay home with baby,” Tatman added.

One of the students, 16-year-old junior Jada Apolo, has launched efforts to try and save the program. Apolo is a mother to a 1-year-old daughter and has been able to stay in school thanks to the day care program. It’s helped her focus on her studies, keep her grades up and set her sights on higher education after Maui High. Earlier this year, Apolo put a call out to the community through letters and a survey.

Tatman said the administration has been supportive, and the community has been responsive, but the school has yet to find a concrete solution.

“What it boils down to is not having the space,” Tatman said. “The teen parents course will probably still continue next year since it’s just one period and I teach it. . . . It’s the day care where the babies are going to be — they need their own space.”

State Rep. Justin Woodson, whose district includes Kahului and who chairs the House Education Committee, said in a statement Tuesday that “we are actively working with the Department of Education to secure more resources so that the school can determine the benefits and ultimately whether or not to keep this program going.”

“Based on conversations I’ve had with members in the community, there is a strong consensus that the program is needed,” Woodson added. “Teenage mothers require additional support, and it’s important that we offer them adequate resources so that they can reach their full potential.”

Woodson said there is currently no legislation moving to address the issue because he only learned of the situation in March. However, he said the Department of Education, in conjunction with the state Department of Human Services, has a Toddler Infant Grant program to support schools with teenage mothers. Space, however, is the issue, he acknowledged.

Woodson said he wasn’t aware of the potential $20,000 grant for Maui High, but he pointed out that a portable would cost significantly more.

“We are trying to see if (the Department of Education) has any available portables in their inventory,” Woodson said. “If the department does not have additional portables, then it is Maui High School’s decision on what to give priority to with the limited instructional space they have.”

* Colleen Uechi can be reached at cuechi@mauinews.com.