First Meet and Greet A Great Success!!!
Thank you ALL for attending our first Meet & Greet last weekend! We were thrilled to have such a great turn-out. The Poipu Beach Athletic Club was a gracious host despite the high numbers overflowing their restaurant! Thanks go to John Horwitz for sponsoring the pupus and refreshments! Future events will need a bigger location, for sure. We are glad you had a chance to meet and hear from our director, Denise Trentham. We recorded her presentation and after it is edited, we will post on our facebook page. (Be sure and follow us there!)
Meet Our Interim Director
Denise Trentham was visiting Kaua’i this month and was able to attend the training required by the State Charter Commission on Oahu, see our school site and meet with iLEAD reps. Although she will be heading back to the mainland for the next few months, Denise will continue working on our behalf remotely and in person as she meets and plans with iLEAD Schools Development with whom we have contracted for office support, business services and professional development.
A little bit of background:
Denise holds a Master of Arts in Educational Supervision and Administration and a Bachelor of Science in Education. She has taught special education grades K-8, general education and gifted learners in grades 3-6. Seeing a need to support new educators, she created and administered the Beginning Teacher Support Program which included 160 new teachers and 80 experienced mentors. Denise has been a middle school assistant principal and principal of an elementary school with 1,000 at-risk learners. She has published articles and been a presenter at local, regional and state conferences for teacher support and special education. Following her career in traditional schools, Denise served on the governing board of the 2nd iLEAD school. When iLEAD Schools Development was formed she first became Director of Business Services then Director of Business Development. Her lifelong mission has been to transform the educational experience for K-8 students by preparing them academically and providing an engaging environment in which to learn and grow. Coming to Alaka’i O Kaua’i is an opportunity to use all facets of her experience to get our school off to a great start and establish a firm foundation of excellence.
Enrollment Update
We have received 109 applications to date. All have been offered enrollment but many have still not completed their enrollment registration. Some grades are close to full, so be sure to complete the registration process as soon as possible. Please log in to check your status and complete your registration. If you need help, please call 635-5110.
Below are listed some upcoming enrollment outreach dates. Please email us any other events you hear about that we may participate at.
Announcements
Save the dates for our upcoming events! We now have our calendar of events up on our website, www.alakaiokauai.org. We really need help with the Swap Meet and STEPS at Kukui Grove. Can you donate an hour or two of your time to make these events a success? E-mail us with your availability and we’ll get you dialed in.
4/7 Swap Meet: We will have a booth at Grove Farm Swap Meet Saturday April 7th from 8 to 1. We will get the word out about our school to recruit learners and raise money for our school.
4/10 Transportation Team Meeting: All are welcome to attend the first organizational meeting to begin the research and development of student transportation to be held at Kapaa United Church of Christ, 4-5:30pm.
4/14 STEPS at Kukui Grove: A fun event for young keiki and their parents to learn about local resources for children. We will have a table set up for enrollment outreach and an activity for keiki. Event is from 9:30am to 1pm. If you can volunteer to help tend the table, please email us.
Board Meetings: Thanks to KIUC, we have a great public location for our board meetings until our school is open. Every third Wednesday our meeting will be held at KIUC from 5 to 7pm. Our next meeting is on April 18. We hope to see you there!
Getting Organized
We are starting to organize teams with specific interests: Community Connections (to get the word out about our school), Fundraising (to raise money for start-up expenses and other needs), and Transportation (to find creative ways to get our keiki to and from Kahili Mountain Park). Community Connections team members plan and attend outreach activities such as tabling at swap meets, setting up meet and greets, walking neighborhoods to distribute info, hanging posters in businesses and community centers, etc. The Fundraising Team plans events such as The Charity Walk, benefit concerts, donation drives, etc. The Transportation Team is exploring options for all learners (particularly those from the East Side) such as carpooling apps, bus donations, grants, partnerships with local transportation agencies and businesses, etc. By joining together our networks and resources we can make our school an amazing place to learn and grow. It is time to get creative and do what we can for the benefit of our keiki! Don’t rely on other parents! We need you!
The efforts to get our school started initially fell on our six board members. Now that we have so many families interested in being part of our school, we can and should all get involved and begin to build our ohana. Interest forms were distributed at our Meet and Greet. If you were not able to attend, please follow this link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1VM9rDV5NpIoUjptzU1gUZSL3N7UsCMLQu91BfhGUYm4/edit
Fundraising Update
The new Alaka`i Founders Club welcomes donors, businesses, and philanthropists who can support the opening of our school. For Alakai Founders Club, we want to give special recognition by acknowledging each donor’s name or company name on plaques that will be prominently displayed at our school. Donations of any amount are greatly appreciated; plaques will vary according to the level of contribution. We will be sending out an email on behalf of the Founder’s Club that we hope you can share widely.
If you signed up to join our fundraising team, be on the lookout for an invitation to an upcoming organizational meeting in mid-April. We need volunteers to help organize our participation in the Visitor Industry Charity Walk which will be held at Vidinha Stadium on Saturday, May 12. Please email us if you can help!
Social Networking
Are you following us on Facebook? Please do! We always post our newsletters and announcements there: https://www.facebook.com/AlakaiOKauai/?ref=bookmarks.
We also have an Instagram account you can follow: alakai_o_kauai
Don’t miss a chance to tell friends, neighbors, family members, businesses you patronize, church members, parents in line at the local market, etc. about our wonderful school!
