'EWA BEACH — A Department of Education plan to shift more students into the older 'Ewa Beach Elementary School and away from the much newer Keone'ula Elementary School drew strong reaction from more than 100 parents of the Ocean Pointe community at a public meeting last night.

Under the proposal explained last night, future students entering the public school system who live in the Ocean Pointe subdivision and makai of Keone'ula Boulevard would be designated to go to 'Ewa Beach Elementary. That would affect more than half the 2,364 existing homes in Ocean Pointe.

At full buildout, developer Haseko Inc. expects to have 4,850 homes, and fewer than a quarter of them would be within the Keone'ula school boundary area. Haseko gave 12 acres for the school site although it was only obligated to offer six, said Sharene Saito Tam, Haseko vice president.

The proposed redistricting would not force those already attending Keone'ula to switch to 'Ewa Beach Elementary, but would affect new students beginning with the 2008-09 school year. One exception is that prospective kindergartners and pre-kindergartners who live in the current Keone'ula district and who register by a certain date will be able to attend Keone'ula.

The street where Erin Barres lives with her husband and two children would be affected. But because her son is a student at Keone'ula and a daughter is already registered to enter the school as a kindergartner this fall, her children will be able to go there.

Barres, who lives three blocks from Keone'ula and walks her son there daily, said she's still angry about a plan she believes will split the community.

Barres said she and her husband specifically bought their house in June based largely on its proximity to a new school. She even had her real estate agent "check, double-check and triple-check" that her children would attend Keone'ula.

"I don't see how you could have a neighborhood school and not allow most of the neighborhood to go there," Barres said.

Randy Moore, the DOE's assistant superintendent in charge of school facilities and support services, said there's a big difference in the population trends at Keone'ula and 'Ewa Beach.

There are 782 students currently at Keone'ula, which has a capacity of 739 students. The school opened in January 2007.

Meanwhile, there are 378 students at 'Ewa Elementary, which has a capacity of 729 students.

The DOE projects that in the 2008-09 school year, there will be 857 students at Keone'ula and 287 at 'Ewa Beach.

"We thought this might be one of the best ways to balance both schools,"said Mamo Carreira, the West O'ahu complex superintendent. While Keone'ula has a state-of-the-art science facility, "we're not using it as a science lab right now because it is a classroom (due to crowding)."

Carreira said the two schools' test scores are comparable. Keone'ula scores a little higher in reading while 'Ewa Beach Elementary scores slightly higher in math.

"I don't think we anticipated that the increase in enrollment at Keone'ula would happen as quickly or that the decrease in 'Ewa Beach would happen that quickly," Moore said.

The plan was always to send a good number of students from the newer subdivisions to 'Ewa Beach Elementary, Moore said, noting that a new school building was built at 'Ewa Beach in recent years with that in mind.

One alternative is to multi-track students, Moore said.

Nearby Holomua Elementary is on multitrack. However, Moore said, "the department does not believe multitrack is in the best interest of the students."

But Sen. Will Espero, D-20th ('Ewa Beach, Waipahu), said the multitrack system is working in Holomua. "That is something we should consider," he said.

Another alternative would be to put up portable buildings at Keone'ula, Moore said. But the fact that 'Ewa Beach Elementary has excess capacity makes it more feasible for students to be shifted there, Moore said.

Magilyn Remigio, an Ocean Pointe resident since 2001, said new and quality schools were a big reason her family moved to the subdivision. Her two daughters, a third-grader and a kindergartner, already are in Keone'ula and will be allowed to continue there under the proposal. But she also feels it's wrong that other Ocean Pointe children won't be able to go there.

Remigio's 16-year-old son, Daniel, now an 11th-grader at Campbell High School, attended 'Ewa Beach Elementary and is amazed at how much more modern the facilities are at his sisters' school. 'Ewa Beach Elementary "was good, but compared to here ... Keone'ula has way more technology," he said.

Public comments are being accepted at keoneulaewabeach@notes.k12.hi.us or 692-8000 through March 21. A final decision is expected sometime thereafter, Moore said.

Reach Gordon Y.K. Pang at gpang@honoluluadvertiser.com.