The principal of Ernest Bowen de Silva Elementary School said he’s hoping that planning and design of a new classroom building for the overcrowded Hilo campus can be completed within a year.
“That’s our hope, anyway,” Dennis O’Brien told the Tribune-Herald on Friday. “I’ve been told it’s going to be about a million (dollars) for (construction of) each classroom. I know that sounds like a lot. It sounded like a lot to me.”
Gov. Josh Green has released $3 million in capital improvement funding for the planning and design phase of the classroom for the Ainako Avenue school, which was rated by U.S. News &World Report magazine as No. 5 among the state’s public elementary schools, making it the top-ranked Neighbor Island public elementary school.
“The money was there for awhile, but the paperwork finally went through,” said state Rep. Mark Nakashima, a Democrat who represents the district where the school is located. “So, what they’re hoping for is that the design will move forward and meanwhile, this session, we’ll be working on the $18 million to construct the building.”
The de Silva campus, according to O’Brien, was designed to accommodate between 350 and 360 students, and the current enrollment is about 480.
State Sen. Lorraine Inouye thanked Green for releasing the funds, calling an additional classroom building “a necessary investment … to accommodate the growing student population. She said its construction “will contribute significantly to the enhancement of learning opportunities on campus.”
O’Brien said the project likely will be “one standalone building with six classrooms” plus restrooms for boys, girls and staff.
“That’s the way we envision it right now,” he said. “But we’ve got to meet with the architects and engineers first before anything is determined.”
The likely location, according to O’Brien, is “toward the rear of the campus, probably behind our library.”
“There’s quite a bit of land back there that needs to be cleared first, but that would be part of the final allotment, I guess,” he said.
Nakashima has said classroom construction for de Silva is No. 1 on his list of capital improvement funding priorities for the legislative session which began last week.
“We have to see how things shake out,” he said. “Because it’s a (capital improvement plans) request, it’s really a bond allocation as opposed to cash.
“I’m hoping that there will be a bond sale at some point next year, and we will be able to get the money allocated for the project.”
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.