June 20, 2013

The Department of Education sent out a Media Advisory about our groundbreaking event tomorrow.  Hawaii News Now shared about our project.  Read about it here.

http://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/story/22726188/schofield-elementary-to-undergo-332m-renovation

We appreciate all positive messages about our school!  We'll share some photos and comments after tomorrow's groundbreaking ceremony.

June 27, 2013

The 40' trailer is in place. The school grounds look great!  Our awesome custodial crew deserves our appreciation for working so hard this past week to clean up and make our school look so spiffy.  We are ready for the groundbreaking ceremony on Monday, July 1 at 10:00. Our guest speakers are Governor Abercrombie, US Senator Mazie Hirono, BG Pete Johnson, and School Superintendent Kathryn Matayoshi.

We are so fortunate to have such wonderful staff at Hale Kula who exemplify our school vision, "Working, learning, and succeeding together!"

By the way, no one ventured a guess about what this is.  It actually designates the electrical lines which are already in place.  The contractors need to know where all the lines are for electricity, water, and sewer.  

June 25, 2013

We had some inquiries about why we are cutting down the monkeypod tree.  In the photo I shared yesterday, it appears to be a beautiful, healthy tree.  This photo shows why we are concerned about safety issues, especially since our new administration building will be in that location.  Here's a side view of the tree.  Notice how far over the fence line it is and how the tree has grown disproportionately on one side.  Fortunately, the military and the state agreed that it would be best to remove the tree for safety reasons.

It was a little rainy for much of the day, but some work was done.  The area where they are relocating Portables P12 and P13 is marked off.

These are placed at different places in the play area by buildings A and B.  Do you know what they're for?  Make your guess and I'll give you the answer tomorrow.

June 24, 2013

When I drove up to school this morning, I saw a 20' trailer in our play area.  Our $33.2 million school construction and renovation project is officially underway!  The planning part is over, and now the actual work will begin!

Since we are a transient community and many of our families will not see this project through to completion, we will be documenting our progress via this blog.  Our plan is to take lots of photos from beginning to end (which will be between two and three years, we are told).  So today, I'll be sharing a few photos.

The first task will be to move portables P12 and P13 to make space for our new 10-classroom building.  The contractor expects that it will take approximately twenty days to move the portables (which brings us pretty close to the start of the next school year).  

 P12 and P13 will be moved next to P17.  They're getting the area ready; the classrooms need access to water and electricity, so the contractors are preparing the area prior to moving the portables.

There will be three trailers on campus for this project.  Notice the porta-potty in the background.  The project manager will be housed in one of the trailers.  The contractors needed to cut a fence so the construction trucks and vehicles can come and go throughout the day.  

This monkeypod tree fronting our school campus will be removed.  It is hanging over the fence and due to safety concerns, it was decided that cutting it down was necessary.  Our new administration building will be built in that general location.

The school office, built in 1959, is way too small to accommodate the needs of our school.  The new administration building will be much more spacious and will include meeting and conference rooms,  

Parent-Volunteer /Transition room, a larger principal office (yeah!) and two vice principal offices (if we need an additional person). The new administration office will be part of Phase I of this project.

We will be having a groundbreaking ceremony next Monday, July 1 at 10:00 a.m.  So far, we have 30 distinguished visitors who have indicated that they will be attending.   This is a big event for us - a true collaboration between the federal and state governments as well as our school community.  

Groundbreaking - July 1

It's hard to believe that in less than 2 weeks, we will be breaking ground on our "new" school!  The event will be held on Monday, July 1, 2013 at 10:00 a.m.   A number of Distinguished Visitors will be in attendance including US Senator Mazie Hirono, Governor Neil Abercrombie, BG Johnson, Col. Whitney, School Superintendent Matayoshi, and State Senator Kidani.  You are all invited to attend the event which will be held in the grassy field where the May Day program was held.

The Beginning . . .

June 13, 2013
This summer, we will break ground on our new $33.2 million construction project.  This is a project which has come to fruition very quickly.  A Department of Defense facilities assessment in spring 2011 resulted in our school being #9 on the list of 160 schools located on military bases in the United States.  This rating, announced in September 2011, meant that Hale Kula would be able to access part of the $250 million allocated by Congress to address concerns in the DoD assessment.

Here is a slideshare which documents the process from that announcement in September 2011 until the award was granted in March 2013. This project was made possible through a collaborative process where everyone contributed their ideas.  We are so appreciative to the Department of Defense and the State of Hawaii for funding this project!

We will do our best to update you on our progress via this blog!