Le Jardin Digs Into Ambitious Campus Plan
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Del.icio.us“That little French school in Kailua” broke ground on a $19 million expansion project last Friday, signaling a serious pursuit of study and sports on a self-contained campus.
The project, which has been years in the planning for Le Jardin Academy, will include a gymnasium with 500-seat bleachers, a weight room, study area and mezzanine, 18 new classrooms and a state-of-the-art library. Some classrooms and the library are expected to be completed as early as August of this year, and the remaining buildings by August 2008.
“Our new gymnasium positions us to compete competitively within the ILH (Interscholastic League of Honolulu),“said headmaster Adrian Allan, noting that it’s about time Honolulu’s private schools had a few “away” games.
“The gym will be fairly hammered by ILH play,“Allan predicted,“since many of them don’t have their own gyms.” He also envisions a Sunday soccer league for the public and adult volleyball play in late evenings.
The private school already has an auditorium, swimming pool, classrooms, administration building, resource center, basketball court and library on its 24-acre campus, where the Kailua Drive-in once stood. The academy’s junior kindergarten is in rented space at St. John Lutheran Church. When completed, Allan said, the expansion will enable all 750 students in all grades to be on the same campus. Its first senior class of 47 students graduated last June.
Taisei Construction Corp. has the contract for the expansion, which covers 43,000 square feet of buildings.
Headmaster Allan also views the new facilities as a way to boost enrollment to above 900 students and achieve education quality worthy of the International Baccalaureate Program. An IBP school is regarded as having rigorous academic standards and a breadth of study that instills a global perspective in its graduates.
“For us it’s fairly mind-boggling,“he admitted, noting that the LJA would be the first Hawaii school with the full baccalaureate program, from pre-K through grade 12. “We’re proud to be a trailblazer, and to keep students on the Windward side in a high quality school.” (About 85 percent of LJA students live in the area.)
The school has “less than half” of the $20 million it needs to complete construction at this point, but Allan is undaunted.“We have the potential to handle it,” he said.
In related news, Le Jardin will hold its spring benefit gala from 5 to 10:30 p.m. March 10 in the Koolau Ballrooms, with some tickets remaining (at $150 per person). Proceeds from the dinner, entertainment and silent auction will go to scholarships, faculty development and construction.
For more information, call 261-0707. Tell the office that Adrian Allan will find you a couple of seats.
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