About 50 of the school's teachers, students and parents attended a Wahiawa Neighborhood Board meeting last night at Fred Wright Park, along with a half-dozen residents around the Lehua Street site who expressed concern about possible parking and traffic congestion. Addressing the neighborhood board was a first step in acquiring the permit. The application process should take no more than three months. If the permit is approved, Ho ' ala hopes to modify the homes by January and move kindergarten through fifth grade to the site the same month. The Lehua Street site, just a few blocks west of the YMCA facility, is bordered on the north by Lake Wilson, on the west by Kamehameha Highway, and on the south by several businesses.
Several homes border the entrance to the property, and a church is in the neighborhood.
Letters outlining Ho ' ala's plan have been sent to neighbors. Their responses, as well as those of the greater community, have been positive, Ahuna said. Ho ' ala will graduate its first senior class of eight students on May 26. The school wants to grow, but anticipates enrollment will remain under 300, she said. The Honolulu Advertiser, a division of Gannett Co .