Epiphany will move
to Mid-Pac campusThe merger retains faculty for
preschool through high school
Epiphany Episcopal School will merge with Mid-Pacific Institute in June 2004, leaving behind its cozy campus in Kaimuki and transforming Mid-Pac into a pre-kindergarten-to-12th-grade institution.
"It's a good day for Mid-Pacific and for Epiphany," Joe Rice, president of Mid-Pacific, said yesterday. "We can ensure their survival, and we're even stronger as a result."
The move will put Mid-Pacific, which sits on 34 acres in Manoa, on a more equal footing with schools like Punahou and Iolani in the competition for top students that starts as early as kindergarten.
Mid-Pacific approached Epiphany last year about the merger, and the two schools have been negotiating for months.
Under an agreement recently approved by the boards of both institutions, Mid-Pacific will purchase Epiphany's assets and offer jobs to its faculty and staff at the end of the next school year, Rice said.
Mid-Pacific's facilities and resources make the move attractive for Epiphany, which has 150 students in grades kindergarten through six and no room to grow on its 56,000-square-foot campus.
"Financially, it's trying for lots of small schools now," said Edna Hussey, Epiphany's head of school, noting that "we're all vying for the same child."
"We have a charming location but it's limited," she said. "The prospect of moving to a larger campus and building a new school is very exciting for our faculty and our school community."
Mid-Pacific has 1,100 students in grades six through 12, and expects enrollment to be roughly 1,200 after the merger, with roughly 175 students in the elementary school and about 1,025 or 1,050 in the secondary school, Rice said.
The merger will give Mid-Pac a natural flow of students through its system, he said. "You can do better educationally for the children when you control the program from an early age."
He said it will also help Mid-Pacific build stronger relations with families, because parents tend to be more involved when their children are in elementary school, and with future alumni, who will have spent as many as 13 years on campus.
For Epiphany parents the merger will relieve a longtime concern: where their children go after completing sixth grade at the school.
"That is a huge relief," said Kim Soares, president of Epiphany's Ohana parent group, whose son is in third grade. "This will alleviate the stress parents tend to go through."
She said parents overwhelmingly favor the move, as long as the faculty remains intact. Both are Christian schools.
"Our curriculum isn't going to change," Soares said. "We've been told the same teachers will be teaching the same classes. It'll just be in a new facility."
Epiphany occupies land on 10th Avenue that is owned by the Episcopal Church of Hawaii and the Zane family, so Mid-Pac's purchase of its assets involves largely furniture and equipment. No price was disclosed.
Other schools in Hawaii are also expanding to offer a more complete education on one campus. St. Louis School is gradually adding an elementary school, while Le Jardin Windward Oahu Academy is launching its high school this fall, starting with ninth and 10th grade.
Epiphany currently begins at kindergarten, but the merged school will add a pre-kindergarten for 3- and 4-year-olds, Rice said, to address Hawaii's need for preschools and to give Mid-Pac a progression of youngsters.
Tuition this school year at Mid-Pac was $10,985, while Epiphany charged its students $8,810.
Soares said, "We are prepared to pay more, given the new facility, but we don't know precisely how much yet."
Mid-Pacific's Math/Science/ Technology Complex, now under construction, will create 14 new classrooms and open up space for the elementary school, he said. The first floor of Wilcox Hall will be remodeled for the younger students.
One of Epiphany's strengths is its intimate atmosphere and individuality, and the new facility will be designed to help keep that intact, according to Mel Choy, chairman of Epiphany's board.
"We're really thrilled," Choy said. "They've carved off a really nice area for us. But we'll have all the benefits of a large campus -- the swimming pools, playing fields, large auditorium and all that."