New Kauai public charter school receives $1.5M donation from Mark Zuckerberg

KILAUEA (HawaiiNewsNow) – Kauai’s north shore will soon have its very first public charter school.
The new Namahana School will be built on 11 acres of land in Kilauea, right across the street from the post office.
Namahana School leader Dr. Kapua Chandler says the school is named after Namahana Mountain.
“Mahana is a type of chief, and Namahana is a gathering of chiefs, so we thought, what better name than where we are gathering the future leaders of our community?” explained Dr. Chandler.
Construction on the middle school starts next summer and will last about a year. Namahana will welcome its first students to a temporary facility next fall.
“In this first year, we’re opening our doors to 120 students for 7th and 8th grade starting with middle school. Each year for the next five years, we’ll grow one grade at a time,” said Dr. Chandler.
The community has been pushing for Namahana for 10 years. It’s tuition-free and very convenient.
“I’m excited not to have to drive an hour and 30 minutes like my sister,” said prospective student Ella Bresnahan.
There is no other middle and high school that exists right now on Kauai’s north shore.
“I’ve driven by children who are waiting in the dark for the first school bus to take them to a second school bus, and I’ve always felt sad about what that conveys to them that we don’t even have a school for them,” said Haena resident Angela Bresnahan.
Billionaires Mark Zuckerberg and wife Priscilla Chan donated $1.5 million to the Namahana Education Foundation.
“We were so grateful and thrilled to receive a gift from Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg. They reached out to us and wanted to come out and see the site,” Namahana Education Foundation executive director Melanie Parker said.
No word if the founder of Meta, who lives just a mile away from the site, will be sending his three young daughters to the school, which specializes in project-based and aina-based learning.
Student enrollment opens in January. The website also provides information about teaching positions and how you can donate to help the school reach its $10 million fundraising goal.
“The stars have aligned. I’m just really happy we are finally realizing a dream that’s been 10 years in the making,” said Dr. Chandler.
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