Amy Perruso

Five months after the historic Kona Low floods, Waialua High & Intermediate School should have been fully repaired and ready to welcome students back. Instead, students and educators are returning to a campus where critical flood damage remains unaddressed.

WHIS was there for our community when we needed it most. It served as an emergency shelter as floodwaters surrounded the campus. Classrooms and the library were inundated. Athletic fields disappeared beneath water. Even the shelter itself ultimately had to be evacuated as conditions worsened. Through it all, school staff, first responders, and community volunteers stepped up with extraordinary courage and compassion.

Our students deserve the same commitment from the state DOE.

Natural disasters happen. Delayed recovery is a policy choice. Schools are not just places where children learn—they are essential community infrastructure, emergency shelters, and anchors of resilience. When repairs are not completed in time for the start of school, it sends the wrong message about our priorities.

Our Waialua students, educators, and families have already endured enough. They deserve safe, fully restored learning spaces—and they deserve answers about why these repairs were not completed before the first day of school.