The Kaua‘i County Planning Commission unanimously approved the Namahana School Special Use Permit application at its Tuesday, Dec. 12, meeting.

On Dec. 12, Līhue Civic Center echoed with the voices of North Shore community members expressing their support for Namahana School’s Special Use Permit (SUP) application. The SUP, which was approved by a unanimous vote of the Kaua‘i County Planning Commission, grants permission for the school to develop its campus on 11.3 acres of agriculturally-zoned land adjacent to Kīlauea Town.

Watch the short feature from KITV sharing the news that Kauai Planning Commission approves special zoning permit for new school.

It’s official! Namahana owns the 11.3 acre parcel across from the post office in Kīlauea and is now in the Special Use Permit application process. To prepare for a Fall 2025 opening of 7th and 8th grades, we are now entering Phase I and will be raising funds to build temporary facilities to house our first cohort of students. Head over to our website to see our site plans for Phase I.

Melanie Parker, the executive director for the Namahana Education Foundation, was thrilled to receive a match gift of $500,000 in unrestricted funds from Kilauea residents Mike Kaplan and Rose Contreras.

A fundraising effort to secure a permanent campus for Namahana School received a substantial financial boost when anonymous donors committed $420,000 to the endeavor.

An anonymous donor has made a pivotal matching gift to Namahana School to help it obtain a permanent campus in Kīlauea Town.

Namahana School has targeted the fall of 2025 for when the first cohort of students will be arriving at the new charter school in Kilauea.

The planned middle and high school for students on the North Shore is fundraising to buy an 11-acre campus.

In an extraordinary turn of events, Namahana School has been given the opportunity to purchase a parcel of centrally located land in Kīlauea Town.

Donation Will Propel the Effort to Build New Public Charter School on Kaua‘i’s North Shore.

Namahana is one of two schools approved by the state Public Charter School Commission this year to begin operations.

Namahana School Receives Conditional Approval from Hawai‘i State Public School Charter Commission