Three private schools may open on O'ahu in 2004
By Jennifer Hiller
Advertiser Education Writer
Three new private schools hope to open on O'ahu in September 2004, bringing growth — at least in the number of schools — to an area of education that traditionally sees little change.
For information on O'ahu's new private schools, contact:
Calvary Chapel Honolulu is building a 58,000-square-foot school building and a gymnasium on six acres in 'Aiea; the Union of French Citizens Abroad hopes to start the state's first French-American school; and Island Pacific Academy in Kapolei, which had planned to open this fall, will instead start its first school year in 2004.
Numbers to call
Although private school enrollment has remained stable for years, educators and observers have said there is room for growth in Christian schools and in underserved areas. Island Pacific Academy will be the Kapolei area's first private school.
Although families have asked Pastor Bill Stonebraker to open a school in the past, Calvary Chapel's downtown location and its 8,000-square-foot footprint made such a concept difficult.
"We've wanted to do this for many years," Stonebraker said. "A lot of times, our timing isn't God's timing."
But the church has put its downtown site on the market and, if the property sells, may eventually move its entire congregation to 'Aiea, where picnics, sports events and peaceful meditation would be easier.
Calvary Chapel first plans to open a school to serve students in kindergarten through eighth grade at the 'Aiea site.
"We have a built-in constituency with our families," Stonebraker said. "We also have a number of schoolteachers in our congregation."
Jacqueline Martinez, president of the Union of French Citizens Abroad (Union des Francais de l'Etranger), said her group already has 80 families waiting for a French-American School to open.
The bilingual school would become one of more than 400 around the world to use the curriculum of the French Ministry of National Education.
Although the group has a curriculum and teachers, it so far has been unable to find space suitable for a school. Martinez said the group hopes to lease space from an existing school for the first two years, and then would be able to tap into money from the French government to purchase its own site.
Only one school in the state — Mid-Pacific Institute — offers the rigorous International Baccalaureate Program, which is the most familiar form of the French school curriculum.
Martinez said the French-American school needs two classrooms for its preschool, kindergarten and first-grade classes, and will add more grades from there.
Like Stonebraker, Martinez is convinced there is a market for the school.
The state's private school enrollment has remained steady for the past 15 years.
About one in six Hawai'i students in kindergarten through grade 12 is enrolled in private school — a rate higher than for the nation as a whole, according to Census Bureau statistics.
Although enrollment fluctuated from the 1990 to 2000 census, the ratio of public to private school students in Hawai'i remained constant, at about 84 percent to 16 percent. Nationally, about 11 percent of schoolchildren attend private school.
Larry Caster, executive director at Island Pacific Academy, said the school received 600 inquiries for 2003 enrollment and had 100 families apply before it announced it would delay its opening a year. Children who were accepted for this school year will not have to go through the application process again, he said.
"We were pushing so hard and it just became apparent (that) we were better off waiting a year," he said. "That way we can go through a traditional applications process. People can see the building under way when they apply."
The school will start construction in October. In 2005, building will commence on a high school to be opened in 2006.
"There's an enormous pent-up demand for private education here," Caster said. "The area is growing in leaps and bounds."
Reach Jennifer Hiller at jhiller@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8084.
