The number of public school students who showed up for their first day back at Lahaina’s three remaining public schools as they reopened this week was almost 500 short of the schools’ latest official enrollment, according to data presented Thursday to the state Board of Education.

In addition, the approximately 1,642 students in all who attended the first day of classes for their respective schools were equal to only about 54% of the original enrollment of 3,001 across four Lahaina public schools before the Aug. 8 wildfires, state Department of Education data indicates.

Board members pressed state schools Superintendent Keith Hayashi and his staff to form a follow- up plan, including learning the reasons approximately 496 students did not come to the Lahaina schools as their families recently had indicated they would, and supporting the absent students and encouraging them to attend school.

“I know it probably will take another week or so to get families and students back into the practice, but what will be the outreach to students who have not yet attended school?” board member Kahele Dukelow, who represents Maui County on the board, asked Hayashi during the meeting.

“We know that there is an issue with health, where we have families that don’t feel comfortable sending their kids to school on the hill. And there may be other factors like transportation,” Dukelow continued. “So my question is, What might we begin to envision as a sort of halfway point between DL (distance learning) and going back (to the Lahaina schools), so that we’re providing some kind of outreach and instructional support … until those health concerns are remedied?”

According to state Department of Education officials data, the two elementary schools sharing the campus of Princess Nahienaena Elementary School reported the lowest attendance on their first day with students back, which was Wednesday.

>> King Kamehameha III Elementary School posted an attendance rate of 55% of its current enrollment of 380 students. That meant 209 students were in school while 171 were absent. Enrollment before the wildfires was 624.

The King Kamehameha III Elementary campus was destroyed in the Lahaina fire, so the students and staff are holding classes at the Princess Nahienaena campus, many in what the DOE calls “high-quality tent structures.” Dukelow said she believes many families are waiting until a temporary replacement school is built in Pulelehua before sending their children back to school.

>> Princess Nahienaena Elementary reported an attendance rate of 71% of its current enrollment of 470 students — meaning 334 students were in school and 136 students were absent. Enrollment for that school before the fires was 707.

>> Lahaina Intermediate School’s first day with students back, Tuesday, saw 80% of its current enrollment of 436 students marked as present. That means 348 students were in school and 87 students were absent. Before the fires Lahaina Intermediate enrolled 658 students.

>> Lahainaluna High School had the highest attendance rate on its first day of school back in Lahaina, Monday, with 88% of its 853 currently enrolled students marked as present. That means 752 students were in classes on their first day back on their campus at the top of Lahainaluna Road, while 102 students were absent.

Lahainaluna’s enrollment before the fires had been 1,012. Hundreds of students since mid-September have been attending a “school within a school” at Kulanihakoi High School in Kihei.

Dukelow and other board members said families continue to worry about the safety of air, soil and water at the schools near the burn zone. Findings of high levels of arsenic, lead and cobalt in burn sites in Upcountry Maui, announced Sunday, have increased concern. A progress report of the DOE’s school reopening efforts, including test results, is posted at bit.ly/Lahaina SchoolsProgressReport.

Hayashi and other DOE officials, along with state Health Director Kenneth Fink, told the board that that testing at the schools has indicated they currently are safe, and that DOE administrators including Hayashi will get notifications on their cellphones if air monitors placed across the Lahaina schools suggest a problem.

But they also acknowledged that conditions could change during debris removal in the burn zone. “While we would expect that there’ll be dust mitigation efforts, we really want to spend more time understanding how that debris removal will occur, what protective measures will be in place. … We want to be able to plan for that in advance,” Fink told the board.