The Maui News

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has awarded a $53.7 million base contract to a Waianae-based company to build a temporary elementary school campus for students displaced from King Kamehameha III Elementary School, which was destroyed in the August wildfire.

Pono Aina Management, an 8(a) Native Hawaiian Organization, will construct the temporary campus just down the road from the Kapalua Airport on a portion of land that is part of the Pulelehua mixed-use project. The 8(a) program helps socially and economically disadvantaged small businesses, according to the U.S. Department of the Interior.

The Army Corps of Engineers, which awarded the contract on Friday, is tasked with designing and overseeing the installation of modular buildings for the temporary campus. The Galveston District will be responsible for contract management and project oversight.

“The children of Lahaina have gone through a heartbreaking trauma, and the Corps of Engineers, the Department of Defense and our partners can now help the state bring back a bit of normalcy to these young lives,” Col. Jess Curry, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Recovery Field Office commander, said in a news release Monday. “This school may be temporary but will stand as a reminder that despite the grief and loss, Lahaina’s children will have a space to continue to learn, to dream and to thrive. We are proud to be here for them in this moment.”

More than 600 students were displaced when the Aug. 8 fire burned the elementary school along Front Street. Families had the option to shift to distance learning or transfer to other schools until the three remaining West Maui public school campuses reopened in October. More than 200 King Kamehameha III Elementary students are currently sharing a campus with Princess Nahi’ena’ena Elementary School and will be there until the temporary campus opens.

The money to cover the cost of the temporary school is coming from the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Disaster Relief Fund, according to Hawaii U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz.

“This new funding will give King Kamehameha III students a new temporary school that will help provide them with the resources they need to learn, connect with friends, and heal,” Schatz, a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said in a news release Monday. “As the recovery effort in Lahaina continues, we’ll keep working as hard as we can to bring home more federal resources.”

The general site plan for the school on the corner of Akahele Street and Honoapiilani Highway includes classrooms, a cafeteria, covered space, a basketball court and buildings for administration and learning resources.

When federal and state officials unveiled the plan in late September, they did not have an exact date for when students could start at the temporary campus, but Curry said at the time that they estimated the project would take 95 days.

Post-fire cleanup is continuing in Lahaina, with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency saying on Friday that it had removed 90 percent of hazardous materials from properties burned in the fire. Once that’s done and residents have had a chance to visit their properties, the Army Corps of Engineers will move ahead with debris removal.

On Monday, Gov. Josh Green extended the emergency proclamation for the wildfires. The eighth proclamation will be in effect through Jan. 5, unless terminated or superseded by a separate proclamation, whichever comes first.

According to a news release from the Governor’s Office on Monday, some of the changes under the latest proclamation include:

• Enhancing housing opportunities for displaced Maui residents by allowing condominium owners and associations to exceed time limits in governing documents.

• Encouraging hotels, motels and condos to make units available for fire-displaced residents by exempting such housing agreements from landlord-tenant statutes unless specified in a tenancy agreement.

• Waiving fees for copying, certifying and other services for wildfire survivors who need to obtain records and evidence of identity, property and individual rights from the State Archives Division.

• Allowing liquor licensees of premises that are no longer in operation due to the wildfires to transfer their operations to new premises within Maui County under temporary licenses or permits, provided that the licensees and their operations were in compliance with liquor laws before Aug. 8.

• Removing dairy and nondairy milk, ice and rentals of motor vehicles from the list of commodities subject to a prohibition against price increases on Maui.