Waimea Middle School gets $5M more toward science building

Another $5 million in state capital improvement funds are headed to Waimea Middle School to construct the much-anticipated Science-Technology Building, according to the governor’s office.

This funding is among the more than $87.1 million recently released by Gov. Neil Abercrombie for projects at Department of Education facilities statewide.

To date, approximately $15 million has been appropriated for the two-story, nine-classroom Science-Technology Building, said Patti Cook, Waimea Middle School community liaison. In April, Abercrombie released the first $5 million for the project, she added.

“We are deeply grateful to our legislators, especially Sen. Malama Solomon and Rep. Cindy Evans, and also to Gov. Neil Abercrombie, as well as the DOE facilities team for supporting this long dreamed of nine-classroom Science-Technology Building for Waimea,” said Principal Matt Horne. “These 21st century STEM education classrooms — coupled with the school’s recent six-year accreditation which prescribes a plan for continuous improvement — puts Waimea Middle School on the map as one of the state’s most progressive and effective public middle schools.”

The building will provide essential classroom facilities to support 21st century learning and teaching in science, technology, mathematics and engineering for students, helping lay a firm foundation for high school, college and career readiness. The school serves 285 students in sixth through eighth grade, Cook said.

“At Waimea Middle School, we have dedicated teachers and our students and families tell us they feel safe and supported. But that’s not enough; preparing middle schoolers for 21st century college and careers requires more than classrooms that are virtually the same as what their grandparents and great-grandparents had except for having changed out blackboards for whiteboards,” Cook said. “We need these children to learn and embrace technology as a means to discover and create new knowledge. It’s not enough for our children to say they know how to use PowerPoint or Excel, or share a Google document. They need to become proficient at using these tools to problem solve and most often as a team.”

The Science-Technology building will include science classrooms and labs, computer labs, a faculty center, teacher planning spaces, a conference room and offices, according to the governor’s office. There will also be “seamless integration” between the building and the school’s Malaai culinary garden, Cook added.

According to the project’s timetable, provided by DOE’s Facilities Development Branch in April, the design is slated to be completed this month, followed by a plan review a month later and permit approval about four months later. The environmental assessment is anticipated to be completed in June or July. Assuming the plans are completed and the governor releases the remaining appropriated funding, the project will likely go to bid in October and construction could start in January 2015. Construction is estimated to take at least 360 working days to complete.

Besides what’s been appropriated, Cook said additional funding is needed for classroom furnishings; technology including computers and smart boards; a paved entry drive; a hands-on environmental stewardship learning lab; photovoltaic installation and related design features for monitoring and managing energy consumption and waste reduction; as well as potable water, utilities, data connectivity and rainwater harvesting.

Waimea Middle School faculty, administrators and families, along with the community, have requested this building for more than a decade. In 2003, the DOE condemned and removed Building N from the campus because of its aged, dilapidated condition. The state agency agreed to replace it with a Science-Technology Building, posting it on its facilities matrix that year as a replacement building for the school, Cook said.

“It’s far more than simply a replacement building. Today, it is viewed as critical to successfully fulfilling the state’s adoption of the Common Core Standards, its ‘college and career readiness’ education goals, and the Waimea Middle School’s mission of ‘empowering all students with the skills, values and cultural understanding to successfully navigate high school and beyond,’” Cook said. “Waimea Middle School has smart kids who can and will contribute in amazing ways providing they have a good academic foundation. This new building gives our teachers what is today really an essential tool to guide students in learning to think critically, to problem solve. It tells them ‘we believe in you, we know you can do it, now make us proud.’”