Hawaiian charter schools
tout best practices

Hundreds share their year's highlights

By Lisa Asato / Ka Wai Ola

Kaleimakamae Ka'auwai, a kumu with a new charter school opening in Kaua'i in the fall, came to his first Ku'i Ka Lono conference for Hawaiian-focused charter schools to glean ideas for his school's new curriculum. He walked away with a smile after attending his first student-led workshop.

“As I've just heard only one presentation, I'm already excited because they're doing wa'a, they're doing the lo'i, just a lot of things that are hands-on,” said Ka'auwai of the Hawaiian-language immersion Kawaikini charter school, which will open in the fall with 80 students grades K-12 in leased buildings on the Kaua'i Community College campus. “They're learning math, science, they're learning about the mo'olelo, so it's all integrated. We already see the excitement in their eyes about the things they're learning, and it's not static. … They're being involved, because they're relating it to real life.”

About 400 children and adults attended Ku'i Ka Lono 2008, the sixth annual Indigenous Education Conference put on by Nā Lei Na'auao – Native Hawaiian Charter School Alliance March 14-15 at King Kamehameha Kona Beach Hotel. The conference, mainly for its 11 member schools to share best practices and ongoing programs through workshops, also attracted representatives from charter schools in Alaska and Arizona, a representative from Sāmoa and a university professor from Japan, who flew over just for the conference. “We just went international,” said event organizer Kai'ulani Pahi'ō.

Over two days, students had a chance to do at least one workshop, attend three others, participate in a cultural Hō'ike and work in at least two sustainability-focused service-learning projects. “That's a lot to do in two days,” she said.

On the first day, student-led workshops ranged from Hakipu'u Learning Center's talk on its student-made video “Learning in Fear: Sexual Violence in School” to Kanu O Ka 'Āina's presentation of its one-week marine expedition along the Kona coast aboard the Pacific Monarch.

After the marine-expedition talk, Mark Sorenson, director of the Navajo-focused charter STAR School in Flagstaff, Arizona, said he was impressed how the students embraced teamwork. “I saw students taking responsibility for the knowledge they were developing. Every single kid in the room actually came forward and said what his kuleana and responsibility was in the team learning,” said Sorenson, a Kamehameha Schools consultant helping to develop its strategic plan for supporting charter schools. Sorenson was also impressed by the students' overall skills. “I wish our kids could sing an oli at the drop of a hat,” he said, describing his students as shy performers. “The spirit and the exuberance of the kids are wonderful.”

Hālau Lōkahi's showcase of its Friday Polynesian dance program delighted the group of about 12 students from Kula Aupuni Ni'ihau A Kahelelani Aloha, which serves 48, mainly Ni'ihauan, students at its Kekaha, Kaua'i, campus. “It was so fun, just listening to music and when we go back down to Kaua'i, we're going to start doing that, too, inside of our classes,” said 12-year-old Leiola Naea. Her schoolmate, 10-year-old Kekoa Bonachita, liked the haka the best, which was led by eighth-grader Brandon Mafua. It was Bonachita's first trip to Hawai'i Island, and he was struck by its many stores and its beauty, saying he was looking forward to swimming “in the Jacuzzi.”

The conference started with a morning oli, a breathing exercise led by Laara Allbrett of Hālau Lōkahi and two of her students who played nose flute, a keynote speech by Billy Kenoi, a self-described kolohe-youth-turned-lawyer and Hawai'i Island mayor's candidate, who told the students “don't let anybody confuse you with drugs,” alcohol, or messages that you have to be tough, radical and be able to party. “Dream,” he said, “work hard” and “no give up.”

The group also recognized its seven schools that made Adequate Yearly Progress, a measure of success under the federal No Child Left Behind Act.

Kū Kahakalau, principal of Kanu o ka 'Āina and a co-founder of the charter school
alliance, told the gathering that AYP is just one of the measurements crucial to Native Hawaiian charter schools, which also stress respect and perpetuating the culture. “We also need to be academically rigorous, and this puts us up to par with any other public school in Hawai'i,” she said, before announcing the schools meeting AYP: Kanu o ka 'Āina, Ka 'Umeke Kā'eo, Ka Waihona o ka Na'auao, Ke Kula 'o Samuel Kamakau Lab, Ke Kula Ni'ihau 'o Kekaha Learning Center and Kula Aupuni Ni'ihau A Kahelelani Aloha.

The conference was sponsored by: Kanu o ka 'Āina Learning 'Ohana, Kamehameha Schools, Bishop Museum, Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Department of Human Services Temporary Assistance to Needy Families and Kūlana Hulihonua Association.