A worker excavates soil from an area at Kona Pacific Public Charter School, where a four-classroom building will be built, and loads soil into a truck where it will be taken to another area on property. That area is the site of the future ball field. The building to the left was once a classroom and is being made into a bathroom. (Brad Ballesteros/Special to West Hawaii Today)
A worker excavates soil from an area at Kona Pacific Public Charter School, where a four-classroom building will be built, and loads soil into a truck where it will be taken to another area on property. That area is the site of the future ball field. The building to the left was once a classroom and is being made into a bathroom. (Brad Ballesteros/Special to West Hawaii Today)
A $3 million federal loan is helping Kona Pacific Public Charter School expand its Kealakekua campus.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Community Facility Direct Loan funded the November purchase of the 38-acre parcel containing a portion of an ancient Kona field system, a dormant 8-acre farm and the school, located above Kona Community Hospital. It also enabled the construction of two new buildings, totaling 6,000 square feet, that triples classroom space, as well as the building of additional restrooms, a parking area and a ball field, said school director Usha Kotner.
The school’s 40-year loan’s interest rate is roughly 4 percent, she said. Such USDA loans are available to public entities to develop and revitalize essential community facilities in rural areas up to 20,000 in population. Funding was calculated based on the number of eligible students who qualify for free or reduced lunch, of which more than 65 percent of Kona Pacific Public Charter School students do.
The expansion is costing approximately $1 million. Construction by Tinguely Development began June 4 and is anticipated to be completed by October, Kotner said.
Because of the construction, the start of the 2012-13 school year was pushed back, beginning Sept. 4, and affected grade levels will use temporary classrooms for about a month, she added.
The six new classrooms allow the school to grow by 25 percent next year. Kona Pacific Public Charter School will add a second kindergarten class and an eighth grade class. It will serve 230 students, from junior kindergarten through eighth grade, and enrollment applications are being accepted, Kotner said.
One new building will feature two kindergarten classrooms with a shared kitchen, where snacks and food from the school’s garden will be prepared. The other building will have four classrooms for middle school students, allowing these older students to have a space of their own. The ball field is also important because it gives the students a place to run, play and participate in athletics, Kotner said.
Kona Pacific Public Charter School will hire a part-time office employee, two teacher’s aides and two teachers to meet its growing needs, she added.
When opened in August 2007, it had kindergarten through fourth grade and has added an additional three grades since. Last year, the school served 187 students, Kotner said.
“The expansion is important because there’s a need for small schools that provide free, nontraditional public education,” she said. “Our enrollment of 99 percent and the continually deepening waiting lists demonstrate the high level of need and strong community support.”
The expansion, which the school has been working on for at least two years, creates an educational environment that supports the school’s mission of inspiring and developing “a lifelong love of learning” and cultivating the skills, knowledge and values young people need to reach their highest potential.
Kona Pacific Public Charter School offers a “holistic, hands-on, project-based” academic program that integrates Hawaiian culture and agricultural studies into its Waldorf curriculum, Kotner said.
What Kotner hopes the staff, students, parents and community take away most from this expansion is pride. She said Kona Pacific Public Charter School has always been more than a place to drop off children and its success, including its growth, belong to those who helped make it possible.
For more information, call 322-4900 or visit kppcs.org.
