Mid-Pacific, Epiphany School deal affirmed

Advertiser Staff

Mid-Pacific Institute and Epiphany School will formally seal a partnership today when officials sign an agreement of Mid-Pacific's purchase of Epiphany's books and equipment.

Epiphany, a private Episcopal elementary school in Kaimuki, will become part of Mid-Pacific in the 2004-05 school year but will not actually move to Mid-Pacific's campus in Manoa until the 2005-06 school year.

Mid-Pacific, a private Christian school, now serves students from the sixth through 12th grades.

Joe Rice, the president of Mid-Pacific, said the new elementary school will likely be built on the site of an aging dormitory that has to be replaced. Last month, Mid-Pacific moved student boarders from the dormitory to a Waikiki hotel for the rest of the school year because of structural concerns about the building.

Epiphany will give up its name and its Episcopal tradition but will gain better facilities for its teachers and students. Mid-Pacific will be able to offer parents a full K-12 program, and will adopt Epiphany's elementary curriculum.

"This unique opportunity provides both schools — Epiphany and MPI — a stronger future together as one educational community serving Hawai'i's children and their families," said Edna Hussey, head of Epiphany, in a statement.

Rice said the schools' combination of leadership, expertise and talent "will create a consistent, continuous program of first-rate kindergarten through 12th-grade education."

The merger comes as a number of private schools in Hawai'i add grades or open new campuses, part of a movement toward enrolling students at pre-kindergarten and keeping them until they head to college.

The trend toward K-12 schools has been developing for about 10 years, according to Robert Witt, executive director of the Hawai'i Association of Independent Schools.