School officials are weighing options for keeping classes going, should lava encroach on roadways and populated areas in lower Puna.
School officials are weighing options for keeping classes going, should lava encroach on roadways and populated areas in lower Puna.
Ka‘u-Keaau-Pahoa Complex Area Superintendent Mary Correa has kept in regular contact with Hawaii County Civil Defense officials during the last few weeks, said Department of Education spokeswoman Donalyn Dela Cruz in a Wednesday phone interview.
“We’re getting information from them, and we’ve been watching and waiting, watching and waiting, like everyone else,” she said. “The plan, at this time, is to try to figure out where they (students, staff and faculty) would go. It’s been more of a discussion of different scenarios. It isn’t anything final at this time.”
For instance, if Pahoa High &Intermediate and Pahoa Elementary are threatened or cut off, school officials are working to find other area schools that will be able to take on additional students. The school system discussed the possibility of flying out additional faculty and staff from Oahu in the event teachers who live on one side of the lava flow are unable to drive to the other schools, or are busy with their own evacuation plans.
“These questions we’re looking at; there’s no easy answer. We’re trying to see, how do you cause less disruption to something that will shake everything up? We’re looking at ensuring there won’t be a break in instructional time,” Dela Cruz said.
Additionally, officials are working with Civil Defense to figure out whether fences and other barriers around the schools might need to be taken down to make evacuations for other surrounding neighbors easier. And they are setting in place plans for moving computer equipment and files necessary for continuing school operations.
“We’re not just thinking about students and staff. There are many areas we have to look at,” Dela Cruz said.
She added that meetings at the DOE are ongoing, and officials should have a better idea of response plans within the next week or two.
Steve Hirakami, principal at Hawaii Academy of Arts and Science, which is located off of Pahoa Bypass Road, said his staff has been working to prepare for lava crossing the roadway.
“We’ve been exploring our options, and right now our first task is to separate and decide which kids live on the side we’d potentially be cut off from, the (Hawaiian Paradise Park)/Ainaloa side, and which kids live on the Leilani/Kapoho side,” he said. “We have that same consideration with staff living on both sides. I’ve been arranging with two other charter schools to service their kids on this side, and service our kids on that side.”
Hirakami said that mostly his school community has been doing a lot of watching and waiting — and fighting nerves.
“You know, the whole community, adults and kids alike, many of them have come to this area in the recent past, so a lot of the people haven’t experienced the lava flows of Kalapana like the older residents who lived through 30 years of lava,” he said. “These people are very anxious. … I think there’s kids and parents alike who are just returning to normal, after having a sort of (post traumatic stress disorder) from (Tropical Storm) Iselle. And this is pretty nerve-wracking to come right onto this week after such a devastating event. …
“The smoke (from the June 27 lava flow) is visible from Pahoa, especially on a clear day. It’s evident it is looming above us. I feel anxious about this as well.”
Colin M. Stewart can be reached at cstewart@hawaiitribune-herald.com.