HONOLULU (KHON2) — Lahaina campuses are set to reopen next week. Lahainaluna will open Monday, followed by Lahaina intermediate Tuesday and Princess Nahienaena and King Kamehameha the III on Wednesday.
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Despite good air quality reports and a new evacuation route, parents and teachers said they have mixed feelings.
Lahainaluna road stretches two miles. The bottom half of the road burned and is inaccessible, the upper half is where the schools are located and about 200 homes remain.
“Mixed feelings my kids are at Kiapuni , sorry, um we were hoping for a satellite location,” said parent Sabrina Wilsey-Botelho.
She has two kids at Lahaina intermediate and one at Lahainaluna. She lives just under Nahienaena and said she and her kids can’t look down the hill at the town they once knew but also is happy her kids are closer to home.
“I’m concerned about escape routes, evacuation plans, just traffic because it’s now literally one way in and one way out,” Wilsey-Botelho continued.
On Friday the state announced it created a 2.5 mile emergency route from Lahainaluna to the bypass with a second phase under construction. In case of emergency, school and emergency officials will have a key to open the gate.
“It is kind of right in the zone of a dirt path. A fire area to me there’s there’s a lot of brush there,” said parent and teacher Shannon i’i.
Kamehameha the III was destroyed and there are temporary tents in place for them. Plans for a new location in Kapalua are underway with no timeframe for completion.
“The parents are concerned that if anything was to happen, how are they going to get to their students?”
We reached out to the DOE for an answer.
The teachers union said it supports its members returning and appreciates the states efforts to check air water and soil.
