Seagull to expand
its center for seniorsIt also plans to build campuses
at Ko Olina and in Ewa Beach
As part of an effort to link keiki with kupuna, officials were scheduled to break ground today on a new Adult Day Services Center on the campus of Seagull Schools Kapolei, which serves children age 2 to 5.
Seagull not only is expanding its Kapolei campus to accommodate more seniors, but also plans to build new campuses in Ewa Beach and at Ko Olina in the next two years to help relieve a child-care shortage in West Oahu.
The new Seagull facilities, estimated at more than $7 million including land and construction costs, comprise the largest child-care infrastructure project in Hawaii's history, the school said.
"The demand for these centers is so great in West Oahu that we expect the facilities to be at capacity with keiki from the first day we open," said Chuck Larson, Seagull Schools executive director.
The Kapolei Adult Day Services Center, expected to be completed in June, will allow enrollment to double to 50 seniors from 25. This will reduce the waiting list for Seagull's senior program and foster more interaction between keiki and kupuna at the school, officials said. About 240 children attend Seagull Schools Kapolei, at 91-531 Farrington Highway.
The Ewa Beach and Ko Olina campuses will break ground next year and be open for children in 2005.
The Adult Day Services Center, established in Kapolei in 1998, was the first facility in Hawaii designed for interaction between seniors and children. Other child-care and preschool Seagull Schools campuses are in downtown Honolulu, Kailua and at Mauna Lani on the Big Island.
