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COUNTY OF HAWAII RESOLUTION NO. 308 10 STATE OF HAWAII A RESOLUTION URGING THE STATE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION TO RECONSIDER THE CONSOLIDATION OF THE KOHALA COMPLEX SCHOOLS. WHEREAS, the State Department of Education (DOE) is currently looking at consolidating the three Kohala Complex schools (Kohala Elementary, Kohala Middle, and Kohala High) into one K -12 school, which would result in closure of the Hala`ula Middle School facility; and WHEREAS, a Kohala Complex Task Force ( "task force ") was appointed by the DOE Complex Area Superintendent for West Hawai`i in June of 2009 to determine the feasibility of this consolidation by concentrating on three key areas: educational quality /opportunities, financial results, and social /emotional impacts; and WHEREAS, this task force was made up of volunteers including DOE officials, the Kohala Complex principals, teachers, parents, and community members; and WHEREAS, the task force submitted a three -page summary of its final report that provides 11 major considerations relating to the consolidation that illustrate why the proposed consolidation would not be beneficial to the community at large (attached as Exhibit "A "); and WHEREAS, this consolidation of the Kohala Complex would differ from other such efforts in that this consolidation model displaces students to a school without an existing program for that grade level(s), meaning that the current 6 -8 graders would be integrated into a non - existent K -8 program, with less funds and resources; and WHEREAS, in this consolidation, the Kohala Middle School will lose access to a neighboring, newly built Hawai`i Wildlife Center, compromising an important nurturing and educational bond and further would abandon more than $400,000 in recently installed technology and equipment improvements; and WHEREAS, the Kohala High School location has no land available for the campus expansion this consolidation would generate; and WHEREAS, the Kohala High School location has enough classroom space to host the current high school classes and programs, but will not have available classrooms to host the middle school classes, thus requiring the construction of new classrooms; and WHEREAS, the task force's report estimated that a large capital cost would be required to construct and install portable classes or add permanent classroom buildings with a potential cost totaling $15 million; and