But as parents, teachers and students begin trickling back to school after wildfires ravaged the community in the western part of Hawaii's island of Maui, mental health, he now insists, must take priority.
Wherever they attend, school can be a step toward normalcy for survivors in a community grappling with how to pick up lives while carrying a load of mourning. "The teachers, their main goal is to make these kids feel as normal as possible and just get them back to a normal school life," said Courtney Walter, a parent of three elementary age students who went back to school last week in Kihei on the south side of the island where Landes also lives with his family.The state has been encouraging families from Lahaina to enroll their children at schools outside of the burn zone where they may be staying temporarily.
Campuses in areas physically unaffected by the blaze reopened to students on Wednesday, and teachers, staff and pupils at a school outside of Lahaina in Maui's Upcountry where a different fire burned are scheduled to return next week, the department said. The state has not yet set a date for reopening the three Lahaina schools that are still standing, saying only that students and staff will not be asked to come back until it is safe.