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Old Kaupo School restoration work blessing Saturday
The Maui News
A gathering at 10 a.m. Saturday at the old Kaupo School will mark the beginning of restoration work on the historic classroom building and infrastructure project, involving septic and water systems and renewable off-grid power.
A blessing and opening ceremony will be performed on-site and will honor Kaupo’s kupuna. County Managing Director Sandy Baz and several state legislators are scheduled to attend. A potluck lunch will follow the blessing and program, part of the Kaupo Community Association’s summer community meeting. The event is open to the public.
Kaupo School, which was built in 1923, was utilized until the 1960s as the primary DOE school for the Kaupo area. It has deteriorated over the last 50 years and has not been used regularly. It is on the National Register of Historic Places as one of the last two historic surviving school buildings on Maui.
The school on 2.25 acres will be restored to its 1923 glory and will serve as a community resource center, housing regular meetings, activities for residents, as well as educational and cultural programs, the association said. The property also will be available as a severe weather and other hazard mitigation facility, to shelter and service community members and visitors when the road closes due to flooded streams, brush fires, earthquakes or other natural events.
The Kaupo Community Association’s project to restore the Kaupo School and teachers’ cottage buildings has received grant-in-aid funding from the state Legislature and governor in 2016, and from the Historic Hawaii Foundation and other supporters of Kaupo. Earlier reports indicated that the association had garnered over $1 million for the work.
The infrastructure project recently received funding through the county Office of Economic Development, with support from the Maui County Council and Mayor Michael Victorino. This project has been in the works by community members for over five years and is expected to be completed in 2020, the association said.