Support the renovation and expansion of the Maui High School Band and Choir Rooms, and Weight Room

While the Hawai`i State House of Representatives included the $6.75M for the Maui High School projects in their 2016 draft budget, it has come to our attention that the Hawai`i State Senate has not included the much needed funding for the Maui High School building projects in their draft budget.

In the 2016 budget, the House Finance Committee appropriated $6.75M for Maui High School construction projects, including $2.7M for design and construction for weight training and wrestling rooms and $4.05M for design and construction to renovate and expand the band/choir building including additional storage.

Since the school opened at its current location in 1972, there have been no building construction projects on the Maui High School campus despite the tremendous growth in student enrollment. Maui High School has only been given portable classrooms to accommodate the increase in student enrollment. With the growth of the music programs, the need for equipment, uniform, and instrument storage has grown significantly. The band and choir rooms are woefully overcrowded and the equipment and instrument storage is beginning to take up vital classroom space. The same can be said for the weight and wrestling rooms. Neither of these programs can be housed in portable classrooms.

The overall music program has blossomed under its current leadership. In 2002, the marching band barely consisted of 35 members with 4 color guard. By 2014, the marching band had grown to over 130 marching band and color guard members. The symphonic and concert bands as well as the choirs are flourishing and have also experienced similar growth and are well over 200 students. Due to the rapid growth of these programs, the rooms that were designed to be practice rooms are now overflowing with uniforms, instruments, and equipment. In fact, the instrument storage has spilled over onto the band room floor and now occupies 20% of the usable classroom space.

A typical marching band practice starts with the percussion members practicing outside due to the band room space constraints. The brass and woodwinds are forced to take turns practicing due to the limited space in the band room. In the event of inclement weather, the only indoor location that can house the entire band is the gymnasium but only if it is not being used by the basketball, volleyball, or another team sports.

On days the marching band is performing, both the band and choir rooms are used as dressing rooms to allow separation for the boys and girls. Even then, the students still are literally stepping over each other, instruments, and equipment.

Our current weight room is on the second floor of the gym. This section was originally built as a dance studio, but has been repurposed to serve as the weight room for years now. Our students and athletes deserve a safe location to work out, which is designed for the purpose of holding thousands of pounds of weight.