As Lahaina’s three remaining public schools open to teachers today for the first time since the Aug. 8 wildfire, and their students return on a staggered schedule starting Oct. 16, state education officials announced that a new “safety plan” has been created in case of emergencies and evacuations, 300 air filters are being distributed to classrooms and offices, and each campus will have a “designated administrator” responsible for daily monitoring of air quality.
After next week’s fall break, it will be a back-to-school time like no other as nearly 3,000 Lahaina students, along with teachers and staff, return to three refurbished schools for the first time since the devastating Aug. 8 wildfire.
Getting permanent housing and more funding for Lahaina fire survivors were two of the biggest concerns brought up during a meeting with Maui county council members today.
"As it is, thousands remain in hotels in the Kaanapali resorts about 4 miles north of burned out Lahaina, and while the state government is promising they won’t be cast out of these rooms once tourists return, the questions many are asking is, 'Where will we go?' ” writes Don Miller. "West Maui resorts (with more than 10,000 hotel rooms) contribute more than half the tourism revenue for the island."
HONOKOWAI In the coming months, King Kamehameha III Elementary School students could move into a new temporary campus just down the road from the Kapalua Ai