Two days after she watched fires consume Lahaina, first-grade teacher Mindi Cherry stood in the ashes of her classroom. King Kamehameha III Elementary School, where she had taught for 13 years, had burned to the ground, only its aluminum roof left behind.
As a teacher, she feels helpless. She doesn’t even know where most of her students are right now. And as a Lahaina reside and mom of a seventh grader, she says she’s also in limbo.
“She can’t go to school,” Cherry, 46, told NBC News. “She’s already lost her home.”
As September approaches, families who lost everything to the fires are trying to regain a sense of normalcy. A big part of that is getting their kids back in school, and so far, they say their options are limited.
There’s state-backed online classes, but many families say they can’t afford to replace the computers that burned in the fires. Parents can enroll their kids in school on the other side of the island, but many don’t have cars or even an address they can put down when registering.
Above all, parents and teachers told NBC News, they want their kids close by, surrounded by their friends who experienced the same trauma, and they aren’t ready to leave Lahaina behind. They’re fighting to keep their kids in school there.
“Our children need to be with people that understand what they have gone through and feel the same things that they have gone through,” said Pakalana Phillips, a Native Hawaiian resident of Lahaina who lost her home in the fire. “Once you’ve lost the people that are native to the land that have been living there for generations, you lose that heart and soul that makes Lahaina so unique.”
Parents and teacher have limited recourse
Schools in Lahaina are all currently closed, along with many of the schools in West Maui. Lāhaināluna High, Lāhainā Intermediate and Princess Nāhi‘ena‘ena Elementary survived the flames and are currently being assessed.
“We are awaiting results of…
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