Over 2,000 Children Missing From Lahaina Public Schools Two Weeks After Maui Fire

On Thursday, the Hawaii State Department of Education released a report (read below) indicating that 2,025 students are missing from the Lahaina public school system. This happened following a destructive fire on August 8 that devastated Lahaina town on Maui Island.

Before the fire, the Lahaina school district was composed of four schools: two elementary, one intermediate, and one high school. These schools had a combined enrollment of 3,001 students.

Unfortunately, due to fire damage, all the schools are currently closed. One elementary school sustained extensive damage and might not reopen for a while. The other three schools were also harmed by strong winds, debris, and soot. The report does not discuss whether many of the absent children perished in the fire.

According to the report dated August 21, here’s what happened to the 3,001 students who were enrolled on August 8:

• 538 students have reenrolled in other public schools.
• 438 students have joined the State Distance Learning Program (SDLP) for English and Hawaiian language learning.
• The remaining 2,025 students are not accounted for. They have not re-enrolled in other public schools or chosen distance learning. It is possible they moved out of state or enrolled in private schools.

The Honolulu Star-Advertiser shared that a private school on Maui has witnessed a significant influx. They’ve seen around 1,000 fresh applications since the fire incident. However, the article also discussed another private school where the fire had dire consequences. A school with 200 students faced destruction due to the fire (excerpt):

In the meantime, private schools in Maui are also experiencing changes. Maui Preparatory Academy saw a surge of approximately 1,000 applications for the new available spots. The school made these openings to accommodate students who were displaced due to the fire. School officials posted this update online during the week. They mentioned, “We shuffled, rearranged the entire campus to welcome 110 new students (a 40% enrollment increase from last year). It is only a drop in the bucket. So many students are not in classrooms today.” The school shared this on Instagram on Monday.

Sacred Hearts School conveyed on their website that their campus was struck by a “devastating fire that has left our campus in ruins”. As per a report from the Hawaii Association of Independent Schools, this school had enrolled around 200 students.

Government authorities have not been transparent regarding the number of children who lost their lives in the fire. Even after two weeks, they only confirmed 115 documented fatalities, with an estimated 850 to 1,100 individuals of various ages unaccounted for. An inventory of those believed to be missing has not been made public.

On the day of the incident, youngsters attending schools in Lahaina were advised to remain at home. This was due to strong winds from a hurricane offshore. Numerous children were by themselves as their parents were at their workplaces.

The report from the Associated Press on Wednesday featured a father who managed to rescue his own children from the fire. However, he’s deeply tormented because he couldn’t save the kids of his neighbors (excerpt):

A lot of the survivors are furious and troubled, thinking that even a brief notice could’ve prevented numerous lives from being lost.

According to Baird, in his vicinity near Lahainaluna Road, there were many kids who were alone at home when the fire approached.

“We needed like 10 more minutes, and we could have saved a lot of kids,” he said, choking back tears. “If we’d just had like a 10- or 15-minute warning.”

In the aftermath of the calamity, the family went to a mall in Kahului recently. They were seeking a glimpse of normalcy. During this outing, they unexpectedly bumped into a friend of their son.

“The kids just don’t have a filter. So their son ran up and was just telling our son, you know, ‘This kid is dead. This kid is dead.’ And it’s like, all my son’s friends that they come to our house every day,” he said. “And their parents were at work, and they were home alone. And nobody had a warning. Nobody, nobody, nobody knew.”

Read the document below:

Over-2000-Children-Missing-From-Lahaina-Public-Schools-Two-Weeks-After-Maui-Fire