Ewa Beach community rallies for a new Campbell High School athletic complex
HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - Senator Kurt Fevella invited us to see his home turf at Campbell High School and says the field looked the same as when he graduated in 1986 with hard, uneven grass.
"The only improvements are they took the long jump away and more irrigation that's it," he said.
Ewa neighborhood board chair Mitch Tynanes agrees that the school needs updated athletic facilities.
"The athletics facilities has been the same ever since I was in high school," he said.
It's a common complaint in the Ewa Beach community so community leaders are holding meetings this week to bring stakeholders together.
"I'm not sure people understand that there's been almost no improvements since the school was built almost 60 years ago. 1962 the school was built," said John Clark III, Ewa Neighborhood Board Vice Chair.
The Governor released $1 million for planning and design of a new athletic complex. Farrington High School’s new athletic complex is a model, so Fevella is asking for a nearly $33 million in earmarks for a new Campbell athletic complex and girls locker room.
Meantime, the ACLU is suing the DOE alleging discrimination of female athletes at Campbell High School.
“I could go on and on and on, these facilities need to be updated. Title IX is totally separate. We want to make that sure and make that clear,” said Tynanes.
School supporters says fixes to the locker rooms are already being worked on. They tackled hot classrooms and got air conditioning. Now it's game on for a new athletic complex.
The Ewa Neighborhood Board is inviting the public to a meeting on this issue tomorrow at 6:30 p.m. at Ewa Makai Middle School. The goal is to focus their priorites and look for other community partners to help out with improvements.
Senator Fevella is also holding a town hall meeting on a range of issues impacting the community. That meeting is this Wednesday at 7 p.m. at James Campbell High School.
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