Wai'anae schools no longer crowded

By Catherine E. Toth
Advertiser Central O'ahu Writer

It got so crowded at Ma'ili Elementary School five years ago that teachers had to hold classes in the faculty lounge.

More than 1,000 kids were packed into the small Wai'anae Coast school, situated on five acres of land just off Farrington Highway. Classes were moved to the cafeteria and library because the school's six permanent buildings and 15 portables were not enough.

Since then enrollment has plummeted — more than 200 students — in what has become a trend along the Wai'anae Coast.

Enrollment has dropped at elementary and middle schools from Nanakuli to Makaha. The state Department of Education projects further decreases through 2010.

While numbers have been declining across the state, some schools on the Leeward Coast have experienced pronounced decreases. The Ma'ili decline amounts to about 20 percent of its student body. At Kamaile Elementary, it's 18 percent.

One of the primary reasons for the decline is an out-migration of families to the burgeoning regions of Kapolei and 'Ewa Beach, school officials said.

"At one time a lot of people were moving out ... If it's affordable and people can afford it, they'll go there," said Ma'ili Elementary principal Linda Victor, who has lived in Makaha for about 40 years.

The steady drop in enrollment along the Wai'anae Coast is also attributed to an aging community and a lower birth rate in the area, said Keith Kameoka of the DOE's statistical research and analysis section. Others say more parents are sending their children to private schools or to public schools outside the district.

Growth has been so strong in the Kapolei and 'Ewa areas that the Leeward District overall is the only one in the state expected to continue to have a rising enrollment through 2010. Even the bustling Central O'ahu region is expected to see school enrollment decline in the next seven years, with the numbers dropping in the older areas of 'Aiea and Pearl City offsetting growth in Mililani.

"There are more kids leaving than coming in" to the Wai'anae Coast, said Kameoka, who compiles enrollment statistics for the DOE. "The Leeward (District) is growing overall because of the Kapolei and 'Ewa Beach schools. If the Wai'anae Coast is declining, Kapolei is increasing at a much faster rate."

Since the 1998-99 school year, the nine public schools on the Wai'anae Coast have dropped an average of 89.5 students. Those schools are projected to continue to drop in enrollment through 2010, even as other district schools such as Holomua Elementary and Kapolei High show significant gains.

Realtors along the coast have also noticed the out-migration over the past several years, despite a recent surge in home and condominium sales in the area, particularly in Makaha.

Most of those buyers are Mainland investors, they say, who use them as vacation or rental units.

"There's a lot of movement here; it's continually growing," said Rosemarie Kane, owner and broker of Sugar Kane Realty Inc., which has operated in Wai'anae for more than 30 years. "There has been some movement out, but that's slowed in the last six months."

Larry Estrella, who has been living in Ma'ili his entire life, said most of his classmates from Wai'anae High School have left the coast — and even the state.

"A lot moved out; a lot are gone," said Estrella, 44, administrator at Ma'ili Bible School & Church, the only K-12 private school in Wai'anae.

His school has seen a slight increase in enrollment over the past few years. Nearly all of the school's 150 students are from the Leeward Coast.

While he has seen more families moving to nearby Kapolei, Estrella said he has also noticed more parents sending their children to private schools or to public schools in other districts.

"They're more academic-minded," said Estrella, whose five children are in private schools. "They want their kids to go to college, get a good education."

Heather Wilhelm, principal at Mauka Lani Elementary School in Makakilo, has noticed an influx of Wai'anae Coast students in recent years, especially with the completion of the state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands project in Kapolei.

The movement is most noticeable in Mauka Lani's ethnic demographics: Nearly 25 percent of the school's students are now part-Hawaiian.

"This is the first stop to town," Wilhelm said. "With the Hawaiian homesteads in Kapolei, they're moving this way."