Pāhoa Elementary redevelopment moves forward after years of planning

Families in lower Puna are finally getting a clearer look at what a rebuilt Pāhoa Elementary School could become after years of waiting. The Hawaii Department of Education laid out a five-phase redevelopment concept at a May 20 community meeting at the school, signaling that the campus overhaul is moving from planning into the long road of design, review and construction.

The project has been in the works since the state set aside $500,000 in 2017 for a master plan. The current budget stands at $2.5 million for design and construction, but the first phase cannot begin until an environmental assessment is completed. That opening phase is expected to include a new preschool building and a north-side parking lot, the first visible changes on a campus that still depends heavily on aging portables and one permanent building, according to Principal Karrin Hauanio.

Hauanio said the school, which serves about 350 students now, needs facilities that match the realities of a growing Puna population. Pāhoa Elementary dates to 1910, was renamed Pāhoa High and Elementary School in 1914, and shared one campus for all three schools until the fall of 1993. A few original buildings, including the gymnasium, are still in use, underscoring how much of the site has outlived the era when it was built.

The broader master plan calls for new classroom buildings, a cafeteria, a library, a playground, a covered play court and upgrades to parking lots and other infrastructure. DOE project coordinator Romeo Gampong said the full buildout could take 20 to 25 years, with work sequenced to keep classes on campus and minimize disruption. Public comments on the plan were accepted through May 31, and the department said a draft environmental assessment would come next, followed by another round of public input.

That timeline leaves lower Puna parents watching for two things at once: whether the next steps stay on schedule, and whether the funding and permitting process can hold up long enough to deliver the project in phases. The state’s repair and maintenance backlog, the COVID-19 pandemic, supply-chain shortages and permitting delays all slowed the effort before this latest push. For Pāhoa, where the school is a neighborhood anchor on Pāhoa Village Road, the question is no longer whether a redevelopment concept exists. It is whether the long-promised rebuild can stay on track long enough to reach the children who will use it.