Usually when students from Manu’a attend Department of Education sponsored activities on Tutuila, they are accommodated at the former airport hangar facility. However, the group attending DOE’s Music Festival this week are staying at the Tradewinds Hotel because the airport facility has, apparently, been leased to a private company.
Director of Port Administration Barney Sene said official information on the hangar facility changes will be released later this week.
The airport hanger facility was built with American Rescue Plan Act funds, and when it was opened in February of 2022 is was called the Community and Student Learning Center.
A press release from the Governor’s Office at that time said the purpose of the center is to serve as a safe and nurturing quarantine environment for students to participate in enriching activities during a school wide pandemic spread, minimizing learning loss.
The Community Learning Center was to used as a quarantine facility to accommodate passengers with comfortable settings during their quarantine periods, especially for families with young children spending extended isolation periods at the Department of Health’s Alternate Care Facilities in Tafuna.
After covid the facility was used to accommodate traveling groups from Manu’a and Samoa, including students, sports teams and officials here for government events. The facility has also accommodated visiting medical teams, delegates for the two Samoa talks, and even Starkist engineers.
The facility is 18,400 sq. ft. and has 36 rooms, including a conference room, nurse station, laundry room, kitchen, and dining area.
