Blog
20
Dec
Director DJ’s Message
An early Mele Kalikimaka greeting to all in the Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School learning community, and we hope this message finds you in good health and happiness as we enter the Winter Break. Mahalo nui for your wonderful support of all the recent festive activities on campus. We immensely enjoyed the added energy and enthusiasm that our learners exhibited this holiday season.
A perfect example of your support can be found by examining the annual Christmas Craft Fair. As a school that embraces project-based learning activities, we are proud of our creative learners and the artistic crafts they made again this school year. The annual Christmas Craft Fair is spearheaded by the Grade Five class under the leadership of Ms. Collette and included involvement from every single learner in our school. We love witnessing both the school wide engagement of all of our keiki and the support of our learning community.
This year’s Christmas Craft Fair raised over $5,300 towards the support of Not-For-Profit Organizations globally for their important work protecting endangered animals. A helpful reminder that not one penny comes to our school and all funds raised go directly to the organizations. A perfect example of this positive relationship created is that the Grade Five class has now adopted an orphaned African Elephant named Toto. Please accept our great gratitude for your generosity in the support of this project-based learning activity that has far reaching global impacts.
Winter Break at Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School has begun. We hope that everyone enjoys a break filled with food, family, and fun. Learners will return to campus on Tuesday, January 7th, 2025 to commence the second half of the school year.
Malama pono.
DJ Adams
Po’okumu (Director)
Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School
Koloa, Hawai’i
11
Dec
Director DJ’s Message
Aloha mai kakou to the learning community of Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School, and we hope that this message finds you all in good health and happiness as we enter the last week of school before Winter Break. Mahalo nui kakou for your contributions to a smooth and successful 2024-2025 thus far. It is hard to imagine that we are almost at the midpoint of the school year. We appreciate your unconditional support of our school and look forward to our continued collaboration to improve education in Kaua’i.
We greatly appreciate the good work of Mr. Jon and Mr. Adam who consistently repair and construct on campus to improve our experiences. Two small examples of their outstanding skills occurred last week when they welded the soccer goals on campus and constructed a concrete walkway to the field. Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School is fortunate to have two such dedicated staff members and we applaud their work.
Ho’omaika’i to everyone who participated in the annual school Spelling Bee where we witnessed over 20 rounds of outstanding spelling from our learners. We celebrate the school’s winners, AJ Gregorius and Orah McGee, and send them best wishes for the Kaua’i Spelling Bee happening in early 2025. We also wish to express our gratitude to Ms. Jynatha who organized this year’s event and to Ms. Patricia, Ms. Jennifer, and Mr. Adam, our talented judges.
Mahalo nui kakou to everyone who contributed to the Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School entry in the annual “Lights on Rice” parade. Once again it demonstrated the strong bond in our learning community between the learners, parents, and the school. The weather cooperated near the parade start time and we enjoyed a festive adventure being part of this great event on our island. We greatly appreciate all the hours of effort put into the float by our dedicated Na Hoa O Alaka’i Parent Teacher Network and Mrs. Shay, who acted as our school liaison.
We are excited to celebrate another Spirit Week on campus starting on Monday so please check your previous ParentSquare messages for full details. The next school-wide Assembly is on Friday, December 20th at 9 am in the gymnasium. All members of our learning community are warmly welcome to attend.
A helpful reminder that the annual Winter Break will run from December 21st to January 6th inclusively. We look forward to students returning to school on Tuesday, January 7th, 2025 for a full day of school.
Best wishes to you all for a wonderful week ahead. Malama pono.
DJ Adams
Po’okumu (Director)
Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School
Koloa, Hawai’i
04
Dec
Director DJ’s Message
Aloha mai kakou to the learning community of Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School, and I hope this message finds you all in good health and happiness as we sail into the month of December.
Mahalo for your support of our unique charter school, especially given all the extra programs, field trips, educational enrichments, and FUN events that we embrace at Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School.
We are enjoying the transition over to the festive month of December and appreciate your assistance with all the extra excitement on campus this month. It is GREAT to see the robust response to our annual Holiday Hamper program and witness the happy participants in the annual “Lights On Rice” parade. A happy reminder that the Grade Five Presentation of Learning of the Christmas Craft Fair will be this upcoming Friday, December 13th, in the gymnasium along with the Na Hoa O Alaka’i Parent Teacher Network Hot Lunch Day. This week’s photos give a sneak peek at some of the creative crafts that our students have made for the event.
In this season of giving, please accept my gratitude for the gift of you. For the last five years, it has been my great privilege and honor to serve as your Po’okumu at Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School, and your unconditional support of our unique charter school is deeply appreciated. As many of you may recall, it was my intention to retire last year to spend time with my first mo’opuna. Despite great efforts by our Board of Directors, we did not secure a new leader for our school, and it is my great pleasure to continue as Po’okumu again in 2024-2025. The Board of Directors has already commenced the search to have a new Po’okumu in place for 2025-2026, and here is a message outlining the process.
Aloha Parents, Students, and Staff in the Alaka’i Community,
We understand that with DJ’s expected departure at the end of the 2024-2025 school year, there may be some concern and anxiety. We agree that he is incredible and impossible to replace. Our standards are set very high because of him and we don’t plan on anything less. The governing board of Alaka’i has been actively reviewing candidates for the last few months, and we plan to hold in-person interviews in early 2025. Our hope is that we will be able to introduce the next Director by the end of March 2025. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to Bob Wu, the governing chair at bob.wu.board@alakaiokauai.org.
Mahalo for your time and patience with our process,
Alaka’i Board of Directors
Best wishes for a wonderful Wednesday. Malama pono.
DJ Adams
Po’okumu (Director)
Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School
Koloa, Hawai’i
26
Nov
Director DJ’s Message
Hau’oli La Ho’omaika’i to everyone in the learning community of Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School, and I hope this message finds you all in good health and happiness as we conclude the Thanksgiving Break.
In this season of gratitude, please accept our appreciation for your support of Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School. It seems surreal that we have arrived in December.
With a new month, our next school-wide assembly will quickly come, and we will come together and celebrate the accomplishments of our amazing learners. We will be excited to award the top male and top female from each grade level from our fifth annual Turkey Trot that was recently held on campus. In this edition, we will share the photos of those winners from kindergarten to grade eight right after the Turkey Trot concluded.
As we move into December, it is time to commence our annual Holiday Hamper program. This festive event connects those in our learning community with abundance with those who may have a touch less. As with our usual practice, a table will be placed at the front entrance to Main Campus, where those with abundance are invited to drop off non-perishable food items anonymously. The table is intentionally not monitored so that those in our learning community with less are warmly welcomed to take from the table as needed. A new addition for this year is that the student-directed Kindness Club will be looking after the Holiday Hamper program.
If anyone in our learning community is in need, then please contact me directly, and we will make sure that you have food on your table for the holidays. Please know you have my professional and personal assurance that this information will be kept private plus confidential, as our endeavor is simply to ensure the sharing of abundance for all.
Best wishes to you all for a delightful December. Malama pono.
DJ Adams
Po’okumu (Director)
Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School
Koloa, Hawai’i
22
Nov
Director DJ’s Message
Hau’oli La Ho’omaika’i greetings to the good people in the learning community of Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School. We hope this message finds you all in good health and happiness as we approach Thanksgiving. In this season of gratitude, please accept this message of appreciation for your support of our unique charter school. Some learners started with us when we opened seven years ago, and we greatly respect their patience as the school moved from surviving to thriving.
We also wish to recognize Ms. Kate and her excellent leadership. She hosts the Kindness Club, a fun group that gets together every Wednesday to promote kindness everywhere on our campus. The latest project that the Kindness Club has been working on together is “Kindness Rocks” in which learners decorate rocks with messages to spread kindness.
Last Friday we held our fifth annual Turkey Trot on campus. This cross-country physical activity was held on a new course for our staff and students. We are proud of all the participants and look forward to awarding the prizes to the top male and top female from each grade level at our next School-Wide Assembly.
A helpful reminder that Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School will be closed for the Thanksgiving Holiday from Thursday, November 28th to Sunday, December 1st. We look forward to seeing everyone back on campus on Monday, December 2nd.
Best wishes for a terrific Thanksgiving break filled with food, fun, and family. Malama pono.
DJ Adams
Po’okumu (Director)
Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School
Koloa, Hawai’i
15
Nov
Director DJ’s Message
Aloha mai kakou to the Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School learning community and I hope this November message finds you all in good health and happiness.
In this season of gratitude, it’s important to reflect on the contributions of others who have graciously volunteered their time, energy, and enthusiasm to improve our school. Mahalo nui to the great people who serve on our Na Hoa O Alaka’i Parent Teacher Network for your limitless work over the years to enhance the experiences for our learners.
A perfect example of their volunteerism is the monthly Hot Lunch offered by Na Hoa O Alaka’i Parent Teacher Network. Hosting the Hot Lunch involves significant time and effort including ordering, picking up, organizing, and then distributing food to around 200 people. The service provided is quick, efficient, and greatly enjoyed by our learners each month.
The annual Lights On Rice Parade is approaching quickly and taking place on Friday, December 6th. Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School has been fortunate to participate in this festive event under the guidance of the Na Hoa O Alaka’i Parent Teacher in past years. We appreciate the hard work that goes into being part of the parade and look forward to this year’s entry. Please watch for additional details and information about this event in the coming weeks.
Our Na Hoa O Alaka’i Parent Teacher Network is always looking for new members so if interested please contact the school and we will cheerfully assist in connecting everyone.
Best wishes to you all for a wonderful week ahead. Malama pono.
DJ Adams
Po’okumu (Director)
Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School
Koloa, Hawai’i
09
Nov
Director DJ’s Message
Aloha mai kakou to the learning community of Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School, and hope this message finds you in good health and happiness as we move deeper into the month of November. Mahalo for your support of our unique charter school and we wish to share an example of unconditional giving in our learning community.
Our former Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School Board of Directors Chairperson Nicola Sherrill recently stepped away after selflessly volunteering on our Board of Directors for TEN years. Under her governance the school moved from a dream to a reality and would not exist today without her guidance, direction, and support.
Ms. Nicola searched for a gift to leave behind that would enhance the campus after her departure. Her creative eye found an amazing wood carving of a pueo, which is the mascot of the school. She worked with our very own Dr. Jon to refinish this beautiful piece of art which is proudly displayed in our Main Office. Mahalo nui e Ms. Nicola and Mr. Jon for your vision and work on this amazing gift. The pueo wood carving is stunning and fits perfectly with our school but it is definitely in need of a name. We will be holding a “name the mascot” contest later in the school year with more details to come after Winter Break.
As the rainy season approaches we will need to move some of our recesses and Physical Education classes indoors during inclement weather. We greatly appreciate the good work of Ms. Jesica as our Physical Education teacher and we appreciate her efforts to introduce some new sports and activities for our learners.
We salute the contributions of our Veterans and deeply respect their service to our country. We recognize that our freedoms were built on the back of their sacrifice and service. Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School will be closed on Monday, November 11th in recognition of Veterans’ Day.
Best wishes to you all for a wonderful week ahead. Malama pono.
DJ Adams
Po’okumu (Director)
Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School
Koloa, Hawai’i
02
Nov
Director DJ’s Message
Aloha mai kakou to the good people in the learning community of Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School and welcome to the fresh new month of November.
Mahalo nui to all who contributed to all the festivities we enjoyed together during the month of October. The Spirit Week Dress Up Days demonstrated great creativity by all the students, staff, and parents who participated. The Middle School Halloween Dance was an outstanding success as the event was greatly attended by most of our Middle School students dressed in a wide array of costumes. The annual Trunk or Treat held last Thursday once again showcased the positive relationships in our learning community, and it was SO MUCH FUN!
Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School intentionally connects the students in various grades together to teach socio-emotional learning. All of our Middle School students are assigned to Elementary classes for the Morning Piko and Assembly so they can foster friendly relationships with each other. Our classes are also connected through “Classroom Buddies” where two classes from different grade levels come together for a learning activity. A perfect example of this program can be found in the Wala’au Weekly image where the Kindergarten class and the Grade Four class participated in a learning activity involving pumpkin seeds.
Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School wishes to express our gratitude to Mr. Jon and Mr. Adam for their incredible contributions to our school. As we can all imagine, there are always countless items that need to be repaired on campus. We embrace a continuous improvement mindset so Mr. Jon and Mr. Adam are consistantly adding improvements to our campus. They are currently working on the addition of two more banks of lights in the gym and repairs to the roof of the gym to address the leaking rainfall water issues.
A helpful reminder that Tuesday, November 5th is the Federal holiday of Election Day and there will be no school for students or staff.
Best wishes to you all for a phenomenal November. Malama pono.
DJ Adams
Po’okumu (Director)
Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School
Koloa, Hawai’i
24
Oct
Director DJ’s Message
Hau’oli La Heleui to the good people in the learning community of Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School, and we hope this message finds you in good health and happiness as we cruise towards Halloween this week.
Mahalo nui kakou for making this school incredibly fun for our learners and working in collaboration with the school to bring entertaining events to our campus. One of the best examples of this positive relationship is our annual Trunk or Treat event, held on Halloween, rain or shine. Once again we warmly welcome everyone in our learning community to participate.
Last year over thirty vehicles joined the festivities. Mr. Jon and Mr. Adam will help vehicles park in a circle on the field anytime after 8:15 am so everyone can get set up early. Our learners will arrive at Trunk or Treat after our daily Morning Piko and Assembly, around 9:00 am and 9:10 am. For health and safety reasons we do ask that all distributed treats are store purchased and individually wrapped. Learners will stop by each vehicle in single file sequential order starting with our keiki in Kindergarten. Trunk or Treat is usually over well before 11:00 am for your planning purposes.
As Halloween tends to be a festive day for keiki on our island, Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School will have an early dismissal to allow everyone to get home early enough for personal activities. Some of our learners have upwards of a 90 minute trip to our campus which speaks highly of their commitment to a high quality education.
Best wishes to you all for a wonderful week ahead. Malama pono.
DJ Adams
Po’okumu (Director)
Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School
Koloa, Hawai’i
18
Oct
Director DJ’s Message
Aloha mai kakou to the Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School learning community and we hope this message finds you all in good health and happiness as we enter the back half of October.
We greatly appreciate your support of our unique charter school which features socio-emotional learning as one of the core components of our state of Hawai’i Charter Commission contract. We wish to express our gratitude to Ms. Kate who has stepped into the newly formed role of Socio-Emotional Coach on campus in addition to her halftime duties of teaching Middle School.
Last Wednesday, October 16th was Unity Day in the state of Hawai’i. This annual event is set aside for all of us to stand together in unity against bullying behaviors. We celebrated Unity Day on campus and were thrilled to see so many students, staff, and community members wear orange in support. We wanted the day to be an opportunity to more deeply explore the importance of uniting against bullying. After our Morning Piko the entire school came together in a large circle and pledged to stand together to address this issue in our society. Ms. Kate reinforced the significant impact that we can all have on one another in her Socio-Emotional classes this week. She also introduced a poster and poem contest to ensure that Unity Day will live far beyond a one day school event.
A happy reminder that with Halloween right around the corner also comes our annual Trunk or Treat event. This extremely fun activity will be held on Halloween, Thursday, October 31st on campus, in the field. Last year we had over 30 vehicles participate! As Halloween is an active day on Kaua’i, please plan for early dismissal that day to make sure everyone can complete their fun before dark.
Best wishes to you all for a wonderful week ahead. Malama pono.
DJ Adams
Po’okumu (Director)
Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School
Koloa, Hawai’i
11
Oct
Director DJ’s Message
Aloha mai kakou to the good people in the learning community of Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School, and we hope you all enjoyed a fantastic Fall Break. We look forward to our students’ return to campus on Monday, October 14th for a full day of school.
Mahalo nui for your support of our unique charter school which features project-based learning as one of the key cornerstones of our state of Hawai’i Charter Commission contract. In support of this work, we recently hosted two Presentation of Learning events on campus and appreciate the robust turnout of people in attendance. The Grade One class learned about their brain and the importance of keeping it safe and healthy. The students were all given a brand new helmet free of charge to encourage helmet use when riding some methods of self-transportation outside. The Grade Three classes came together and hosted a Presentation of Learning in the gymnasium about communities. They created and built unique communities and then shared their knowledge with a large audience. Great work by all and we appreciate your support of these events.
Project-based learning is a vehicle of education used here at our school to help teach the state standards. Recently the state of Hawai’i Department of Education STRIVE HI results were released which compares schools in the state of Hawai’i in many key measures. We have placed the STRIVE HI results for our school here on our website for easy access.
Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School is outperforming the state of Hawai’i Department of Education in every single measure found in the SRTIVE HI Report. Although we are extremely proud of the work of our learners, staff, and parents in this outstanding result, we still have much work ahead in improving our offering of a high-quality free public education for the keiki of Kaua’i. Accordingly, we are offering additional support in the 2024-2025 school year for learners who are not quite reaching the standards plus the start of programs for those learners above the standards.
We look forward to our continued work together serving the important responsibility of education for our learners.
Best wishes for a wonderful week ahead. Malama pono.
DJ Adams
Po’okumu (Director)
Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School
Koloa, Hawai’i
03
Oct
Director DJ’s Message
Ho’omaika’i to all in the learning community as we share this week’s edition celebrating the massive success of the annual Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School Jog-A-Thon. Mahalo nui kakou for your generous support of this fun event and we are thrilled to share that this year we set a significant number of benchmarks never before seen at our unique charter school.
This year’s edition of the Jog-A-Thon set a new participation record of over 200 learners actively involved in the event. The event also featured the highest number of staff participants and the most amount of parent volunteers helpfully volunteering to assist on this most active day.
We are very proud of each participant in the Jog-A-Thon. We wish to recognize the top course performers for 2024. Sawyer Kimball and Tate Schuler both ran an amazing ten laps in the ten-minute time limit which required a full-out sprint to accomplish such an incredible feat.
Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School expresses great gratitude to all of our generous 2024 Jog-A-Thon donors. This year’s event raised a new record of over $24,000 due to your kindness and thoughtfulness. These monies are spent directly on our learners in such areas as supplies for Enrichment classes, buses for Field Trips, and additional financial support for Project-Based Learning.
Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School wishes to share our appreciation to Mrs. Shay for her leadership in the organizing of the 2024 Jog-A-Thon event and much of these successes are directly related to her efforts.
A happy reminder that we have now reached the end of the first quarter of the 2024-2025 school year. The annual Fall Break will run until Sunday, October 13th. We look forward to the return of our learners to campus for a full day of school on Monday, October 14th.
Best wishes to you all for a happy and healthy holiday filled with food, friends, and fun. Malama pono.
DJ Adams
Po’okumu (Director)
Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School
Koloa, Hawai’i
27
Sep
Director DJ’s Message
Aloha mai kakou to the learning community of Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School and hope this end-of-September message finds you in good health and happiness as we approach Fall Break.
Mahalo nui kakou to everyone who came to campus last Thursday and Friday for our extremely important Individual Learning Plan Meetings. These meetings connect the learner, home, and school together in collective collaboration in the best interest of quality education. Current research clearly indicates that student engagement is a key indicator of that student’s learning to the best of their ability. This forms a key component of the Individual Learning Plan. In addition, the academic benchmarks measured near the end of the first quarter certainly assist the individualization of education programs as we move forward into the 2024-2025 school year. Individual Learning Plan Meetings are another example of what makes our school unique and a touch different from other public schools.
Another area that makes our school unique is embracing project based learning as a vehicle of teaching the state standards. A happy example of this approach was found in Middle School Math where the Grade Six students created board games based on solving math problems. Not only did the students create the board games but they next had an opportunity to play the games with their classmates. This project-based learning activity was creative, educational, challenging, and FUN!
Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School wishes to express our gratitude to the good people at the Rotary Club of Poipu Beach for their generous donation of free dictionaries to our Grade Three students again this year. They have made an annual visit to our school for several years now and kindly give this gift of knowledge for each student in Grade Three. We greatly appreciate their support of learning at our school.
The next school-wide assembly will be held on Friday, October 4th starting at 9 am in the gymnasium and all members of our learning community are warmly welcomed to attend. A helpful reminder that this is also the last day of school before the annual Fall Break.
Best wishes to you all for a wonderful week ahead. Malama pono.
DJ Adams
Po’okumu (Director)
Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School
Koloa, Hawai’i
20
Sep
Director DJ’s Message
Aloha mai kakou to the learning community of Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School, and hope this message finds you in good health and happiness as we sail through September.
Mahalo nui kakou for your support of our annual Jog-A-Thon that was held last Thursday on campus. Our school is fortunate to have such a strong culture of running and the students simply amazed us with their athletic feats. We look forward to both celebrating their success and holding the raffle prize draws at a School-Wide Assembly on Friday, September 27th in the gymnasium. All members of our learning community are welcome to attend to celebrate with us.
We also wish to express our deep gratitude for the generous financial support of the Jog-A-Thon as this event is our major fundraiser of the year. Many people are not aware that charter schools in Hawai’i receive only half of the educational funding that our colleagues in the public schools are given. In addition, charter schools must pay for their facilities and for the transportation of our students which costs Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School hundreds of thousands of dollars each year from our annual budget. As all of our employees are unionized and paid the same wages as the Hawai’i Department of Education, it does become extremely important for us to host the annual Jog-A-Thon to be able to continue to offer high-quality FREE public education.
Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School shared our appreciation of the work of Mrs. Shay in spearheading the annual Jog-A-Thon. Her countless hours of work behind the scenes certainly made the event smooth and comfortable plus the shirts look AMAZING! Our school also appreciates the numerous parent volunteers who came to campus to help us count the laps for our learners.
We are excited to share that our annual Alaka’i O Kaua’i Ninja Warrior Competition will be this upcoming Thursday, September 26th, and once again learning community members are warmly welcome to attend.
Best wishes to you all for a wonderful week ahead. Malama pono.
DJ Adams
Po’okumu (Director)
Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School
Koloa, Hawai’i
11
Sep
Director DJ’s Message
Aloha mai kakou to the good people in the Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School learning community, and I hope this message finds you all in good health and happiness as we pass the midpoint of September.
The great English author A.A. Milne once wrote “The things that make me different are the things that make me.” This clever quote may properly describe our unique charter school which is significantly different than other schools on Kaua’i, in Hawai’i, in the USA, and the world.
The beautiful remote setting that we embrace on campus daily sets a perfect backdrop for both project-based learning and socio-emotional learning. Our students are outside for one hour per day which is scheduled with great purpose to empower them all to learn and practice the socio-emotional curriculum which they are taught. Many of our project-based learning activities are outdoors and connected to the ‘aina through such examples as gardening, beekeeping, and worm farming. We will also find ourselves outside, rain or shine, this Thursday, September 19th for our annual Jog-A-Thon.
Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School is also unique in that we openly encourage and expect that the world off campus is a great teacher. Each classroom attends field trips each year to ensure that our learners have a broad-based education. Recently, our grade six students took a field trip to Hokule’a here on Kaua’i and perpetuated Hawai’ian cultural traditions and values. Mahalo nui kakou for your support of these adventures off our beautiful campus as they tend to be extremely impactful days for our learners.
Best wishes to you all for a wonderful week ahead. Malama pono.
DJ Adams
Po’okumu (Director)
Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School
Koloa, Hawai’i
*Please note the following photography credit for the image of our learners in this week’s Wala’au Weekly: © 2024 Polynesian Voyaging Society, photographer Michael Wilson.
05
Sep
Director DJ’s Message
Aloha mai kakou to the Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School learning community, and we hope this message finds you all in good health and happiness as we step a little deeper into September.
Mahalo for your patience in our search to find a top-notch Physical Education instructor for the 2024-2025 school year. As you may recall, the multi-talented Kumu Nouveau moved to the position of Vice Principal this year which created a vacancy in the school.
Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School is thrilled to introduce Ms. Jesica Matsuoka as our new Gym teacher and she started on campus last week. Ms. Jesica is an experienced and successful Substitute Teacher on Kaua’i and knows the culture here well as she has keiki enrolled at our school. A warm welcome to Ms. Jesica and we are excited to have you teach our learners.
Speaking of learners, Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School will have our staff role model lifelong learning for our keiki on Monday, September 9th. This day is set aside by the Hawai’i State Teachers Association (HSTA) as a professional learning day so there will be no school for our students. Our staff will be examining data from previous years and then start working on curriculum mapping, project-based learning activities, and the Response to Intervention (RTI) program.
We wish to share our gratitude to all in our learning community for embracing the importance of playing outside at lunch and recess. Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School is extremely fortunate to be located in a rural setting with ample space, equipment, and opportunities for our learners to be outdoors in nature. We also wish to share that a key component of the Socio-Emotional Learning curriculum taught in the classroom is practiced by our learners during recess as well.
Best wishes to you all for a wonderful week ahead. Malama pono.
DJ Adams
Po’okumu (Director)
Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School
Koloa, Hawai’i
30
Aug
Director DJ’s Message
Happy Labor Day Long Weekend to all in the Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School learning community, and hope this message finds you enjoying some time away from campus. Ho’omaika’i to all the staff and students from our school who participated in the Kaua’i Marathon and Half-Marathon today and took on the challenging course.
Mahalo nui for the smooth start to the 2024-2025 school year. It’s hard to imagine we are already turning the calendar page over to September. Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School has now had the benefit of a full month of school and will ask for your kokua in making some minor adjustments to after school pickup. We annually allow for much looser guidelines in the first four weeks as we fully respect that transition into a new school year can be challenging for some people. Let’s now move to our normal routines for the remainder of the school year.
Lower campus houses our Middle School students and we ask that this area be reserved for Middle School pickup only. We know that some people have been parking down below on lower campus and walking up to pick up their keiki but let’s move to use this area for only our Middle School students. This ensures the safety for everyone in our learning community and eases the pickup line transition.
We will also be putting back up the string gate restricting access to upper campus as that area is used for bus pickup only after school. Sadly, we have had some minor incidents in the past with visitors searching for access to the waterfalls that did not drive with the understanding that this is a school ground.
We appreciate your respect of our neighbors as we drive plus pickup/dropoff with aloha. We share Kahili Valley with many others who live in this area and we ask that we all continue to drive with aloha which mirrors the culture of our beautiful island.
Our first school wide Assembly is coming up this Friday, September 6th starting at 9am in the gymnasium and all members of our learning community are warmly welcomed to attend.
Best wishes to you all for a wonderful week ahead. Malama pono.
DJ Adams
Po’okumu (Director)
Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School
Koloa, Hawai’i
22
Aug
Director DJ’s Message
Aloha mai kakou to the good people in the Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School learning community and we hope this message finds you in good health and happiness as we head into the fourth week of school.
Mahalo for your support of our unique charter school and understanding of the warm embrace that we all share for Duke Kahanamoku. You may have noticed the sign proudly displayed at the front of the school where we try to live the wise words of Duke Kahanamoku. Last Friday our Grade Seven class held their annual celebration of the life of Duke Kahanamoku and had an opportunity to watch the film Waterman on campus. We hope everyone in our learning community can find some time and space to reflect upon the contributions of this amazing person.
The Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School annual Jog-A-Thon is coming up quickly on Friday, September 20th. This event serves as our biggest fundraiser of the school year and hopefully a big funraiser as well. We are moving towards the production of the Jog-A-Thon shirts and are looking for generous sponsors who may be interested in advertising on the shirts, which are free of charge for all students. If you know of any business that may be interested in this opportunity please have them contact Mrs. Shay.
You may have noticed that the Jog-A-Thon is scheduled much earlier this year as we wanted to avoid the January rain and also give our students more time to enjoy their shirts.
Best wishes to you all for a wonderful week ahead. Malama pono.
DJ Adams
Po’okumu (Director)
Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School
Koloa, Hawai’i
15
Aug
Director DJ’s Message
Aloha mai kakou to the learning community of Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School, and hope this message finds you all in good health and happiness after the long weekend of Statehood Day.
Mahalo nui for your support of our unique charter school and embracing all aspects of our School Mission Statement. Periodically we will share some aspects of our work showcasing an area of our School Mission Statement so we can continue to be accountable for living the words.
Socio-Emotional Learning is a key cornerstone of Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School and this school year we committed to hiring a Socio-Emotional Teacher Coach. The search for a quality candidate was short plus sweet as the multi-talented Ms. Kate has stepped into this role for our school. Mahalo nui e Ms. Kate for your leadership, guidance, and expertise in this important component of our school.
A prime example of Socio-Emotional Learning on campus can be found by witnessing Classroom Buddies in action. This program matches various grade-level classes together so the students can share their learning. One of the positive outcomes is that student mentorship grows quickly across the school and relationships are built in new areas.
In our Ambassador Program, we bring students together across grade levels. The Ambassadors are all Middle School students who are assigned to an Elementary class. Every day we start with a Morning Piko followed by the Morning Assembly where the Ambassadors assist with their designated class. The program helps our younger students to be fully engaged in these activities while the Ambassadors must demonstrate positive role modeling for others.
A happy reminder that our learning community is always warmly welcomed to our Morning Piko which occurs right around 8:45 am on Main Campus.
Best wishes to you all for a wonderful week ahead. Malama pono.
DJ Adams
Po’okumu (Director)
Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School
Koloa, Hawai’i
11
Aug
Director DJ’s Message
Aloha mai kakou to the good people in the learning community of Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School and hope this message finds you all in good health and happiness as we move towards the midpoint of August.
Mahalo nui for the extremely smooth start to the 2024-2025 school year. We greatly appreciate your cooperation and collaboration in transitioning back to school, particularly since we have added a full Middle School this year.
It is a bittersweet moment in the history of our unique charter school to fully expand into our state of Hawai’i Charter Contract Mandate while at the same time saying farewell to one of the founding pioneers of the school. We moved from a dream to a reality to the fastest-improving school in the state of Hawai’i all under the skillful leadership of our current Board Chairperson Nicola.
Over ten years ago Ms. Nicola and a group of like-minded visionary people came together to try and open our school. Few people know that the charter approval was denied several times before it was eventually approved. It was the grit and determination of Ms. Nicola and others that made the magic happen. In May 2020 the school received a Notice of Concern from the Hawai’i Charter Commission about the financial stability of the school and once again Ms. Nicola and the Board of Directors came together and solved all the issues. Ever since that point, the school has moved from surviving to thriving. This would not have been possible without the dedication and leadership of Ms. Nicola.
The great American civil rights activist Dr. Martin Luther King Junior once wrote “Everybody can be great…because anybody can serve. You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.”
Ms. Nicola is great because she deeply cares about the success of the school and has a heart that was generated by love. At the August public Board of Directors meeting Ms. Nicola will be stepping away from the Board of Directors. She has served our learning community for two full terms of six years. Please take time to reflect on her selfless spirit of volunteerism as she dedicated countless hours of her life to our school. We salute Ms. Nicola for her work and know we could not be where we sit today as a highly successful school without her efforts.
Ms. Nicola will continue to be part of our learning community as we move towards the formation of an Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School Advisory Board that might include past members of our Board of Directors. If you should see her around our beautiful island, please be sure to share a hug or shaka of appreciation for her leadership.
Best wishes to you all for a wonderful week ahead. Malama pono.
DJ Adams
Po’okumu (Director)
Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School
Koloa, Hawai’i
01
Aug
Director DJ’s Message
Aloha mai kakou to the good people in the learning community of Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School, and we hope this message finds you all in good health and happiness as we conclude the Summer Break.
Mahalo to all those generous people who kindly graced our campus on Saturday, July 27th, for our annual Campus Cleanup event. We were incredibly fortunate to witness our largest turnout of volunteers to date for this annual event to help prepare the campus for the upcoming school. We greatly appreciate the gift of your time in putting some extra special touches on our school for the return of our learners.
We also wish to express our gratitude to everyone who came to campus on Friday, August 2nd, from 10 am to Noon for the annual School Open House. Once again, we were overwhelmed with the amount of supportive ohana who came to campus to visit plus drop off school supplies.
Hau’oli Makahiki Hou as we commence the new school year on Monday, August 5th, for our learners. As in our usual practice, the first day of school will be an Early Dismissal Day at 12:30 pm as we fully respect that the first day of school can feel extremely long for our learners, especially those in younger grades.
From that point forward, the regular operating hours of our school will be 8:45 am to 2:45 pm for our learners on Mondays to Thursdays and 8:45 am to 12:30 pm on Fridays.
During the first few weeks of school we do warmly welcome parents to walk their keiki to classes until the routines become more familiar for all. If you choose to do so, then please park your vehicle in an area away from the entrance to the Main Campus, as that area is used by the buses.
Best wishes for a stellar start to the 2024-2025 school year. Malama pono.
DJ Adams
Po’okumu (Director)
Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School
Koloa, Hawai’i
24
Jul
Director DJ’s Message
Aloha mai kakou to the Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School learning community. We hope this message finds you all in good health and happiness as we wind down the Summer Break.
Mahalo nui kakou to all who showed up and helped out at the annual Campus Clean-up on Saturday. Once again, we enjoyed a massive turnout of engaged volunteers who effectively assisted in setting up the classrooms and campus for the upcoming school year. Please accept this message of great gratitude for the gift of your time in improving our unique charter school.
One of the areas that not all of our visitors might have had the good fortune to see on Saturday is the recently renovated Art Room that has become the Grade Eight homeroom for the 2024-2025 school year. The room recently had new carpet installed, a new whiteboard added, and a smart television screen that will be used as a pilot project. Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School is examining a model of moving away from classroom projectors and into smart television technology as an interactive board. This experiment was used successfully at a colleague charter school in Colorado, so we are going to try out this pilot project in the Grade Eight homeroom.
As we enter into our seventh year of operations it is important to recognize those dedicated individuals who have served Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School since our opening. One of those talented people is Brian Cuda, who expertly looks after much of the programming that helps us communicate with our learning community. Brian looks after the school website and has made supportive changes on a monthly basis to make the experience much more user-friendly. Brian helpfully tends to all of our requests and we continue to see more and more important information become available by accessing the website. This very Wala’au Weekly message is also another area in Brian’s portfolio of service to our learning community, and we greatly appreciate his work in supporting our school.
This is a helpful reminder that the annual School Open House will be held on Friday, August 2nd, from 10 am to Noon. It is a perfect opportunity for everyone to come to campus to meet the staff and drop off school supplies for the upcoming school year.
The first day for students will be Monday, August 5th. In alignment with our normal procedures, the first day is an early dismissal day at 12:30 p.m. We understand that the return to school can be difficult, especially for our younger learners, so a shorter first day can be beneficial for them.
Best wishes to you all for a wonderful week ahead. Malama pono.
DJ Adams
Po’okumu (Director)
Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School
Koloa, Hawai’i
18
Jul
Director DJ’s Message
Aloha mai kakou to the good people in the Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School learning community and we hope this message finds you all in good health and happiness as we move into the second half of the month of July.
Mahalo for your support of our unique charter school that features a remote rural campus nestled in a beautiful valley that enjoys an abundance of rain. Perfect place of a school and a perfect place for a school to have a garden.
Over the last several years, we have been fortunate to see several gardens get started on campus under the watchful leadership of our dedicated staff. We are amazed at the curiosity and work ethic of our learners as they take great pride in the plants that they grow, We currently have gardens that are maintained by our students in Kindergarten, Grade One, and Grade Two as you can see form this week’s photos. We do hope to expand the current garden beds so additional classes may participate and share in the importance of growing our own food.
We do wish to express our gratitude to those diligent staff members who helped look after the gardens during the summer break while our students were away.
We will be welcoming everyone for our annual Campus Cleanup on Saturday, July 27th with shifts at 8am to 9:30am and 9:30am to 11am. We look forward to seeing you on campus for this collaborative event which will give you an opportunity to check out the gardens on campus for yourself.
A helpful reminder that the first day of school for our students will be Monday, August 5th and we are excited to see our learners and hear all about their amazing summer break away from campus.
Best wishes to you all for a wonderful week ahead. Malama pono.
DJ Adams
Po’okumu (Director)
Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School
Koloa, Hawai’i
11
Jul
Director DJ’s Message
Aloha mai kakou to the Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School learning community, and I hope this message finds you in good health and happiness as we move into the middle of July.
Although it is Summer Break for our creative learners and talented 10-month employees, there continues to be a flurry of activity as we prepare for the return of staff at the end of July and our learners at the beginning of August.
We all appreciate the excellent service that Ms. Malissa brings to our campus as our School Counselor and the positive impact she has on us all. Ms. Malissa spent some time this summer on campus reimagining our Learning Commons so the space would become much more user-friendly for our students. Check out the improved use of the area, complete with the ability of our learners to have even greater access to the books there. Great work, Ms. Malissa!
Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School is thrilled to be in full expansion of our Charter Contract by adding Grade Eight ot our school in 2024-2025. Our Grade Eight Homeroom teachers, Ms. Brett and Ms. Kate, have selflessly volunteered several days of their Summer Break to come to campus and work on the converted Art Room into a Grade Eight classroom. This week, you can see the amazing transformation of this space due to the efforts of Dr. Jon and Mr. Adam, who are fully supported by Dr. Jon.
This is a happy reminder that you can come to the school and help out on our annual Campus Cleanup Day, scheduled for Saturday, July 27th. A Signup Genius invitation will be coming soon, with sessions from 8 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. and 9:30 a.m. to 11 a.m.
Best wishes to you all for a wonderful week ahead. Malama pono.
DJ Adams
Po’okumu (Director)
Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School
Koloa, Hawai’i
03
Jul
Director DJ’s Message
Aloha mai kakou to the good people in the Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School learning community, and welcome to the start of the 2024-2025 school year. The school financial year commences on July 1st. With the fresh year comes the Wala’au Weekly, which is a name change of the weekly message to align more with our School Mission Statement.
On campus, the work continues in preparation for the return of our ten-month employees at the end of July and our learners at the beginning of August. This week, we are highlighting the outstanding work of “Dr.” Jon and Mr. Adam, who, under the curious eye of Board of Directors member Kumu Chris Town, are installing the new air conditioning units. You may recall that the generous people at the Pure Good Foundation did donate air conditioning units so all of the classrooms could be properly cooled, but this kind of gift did need proper installation far past the May 14th they helped on campus. Dr. Jon (who is a certified General Contractor with numerous skills) and Mr. Adam have been working on all the electrical connections needed for each and every unit. The positive end result has been cooling comfort for our campus when everyone returns soon.
The ever energetic Ms. Barb loves to paint and leave improvements wherever she goes. She has been busy do touch up paint around the school and last week focussed on the loft area of the Grade Five classroom. The ever improving school looks better and performs better each year due to the efforts of these people and many others behind the scenes. We salute their efforts and will continue to share photos of campus improvement each week.
Speaking of campus improvement please mark your calendars for Saturday, July 27th for the annual Campus Cleanup activity. There will be two shifts from 8am to 9:30am and 9:30am to 11am so everyone can still enjoy the Koloa Days Parade. A SignUp Genius will be distributed in the coming weeks so you can come and help out if you wish.
Best wishes to you all for a wonderful week ahead. Malama pono.
DJ Adams
Po’okumu (Director)
Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School
Koloa, Hawai’i
26
Jun
Director DJ’s Message:
Aloha mai kakou to the good people in the learning community of Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School, and I hope this message finds you all enjoying a restful, relaxing, and reinvigorating summer break away from the daily routines of school.
Although there are currently no students on campus during the summer, there is definitely lots of action happening. The hard-working American businessman Steve Jobs might have described this work through his wise words: “The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do.” We are fortunate enough to have countless people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world who work at the school…….and they are.
Our incoming Grade Eight teachers, Ms. Kate and Ms. Brett have unconditionally volunteered their time and energy to change the old Art Room on the lower campus into the Grade Eight classroom. Despite it being only June, you can see from the photo that the room is already in the midst of transformation under their steady work supported by the talents of Dr. Jon and Mr. Adam. Meanwhile, the plans for the soon-to-be-constructed new building that will house both Art and ‘Ike Hawai’i starting next year are currently being processed by the County of Kaua’i, awaiting permit approval. The building will be located mid-campus, allowing easy access for our learners from both the main campus and the lower campus, as this building will serve all the students in our school. We wish to express our gratitude to former Vice Chairperson Rafael and our Dr. Jon for their work in creating the design for this important addition to our school.
We also wish to signal a change in the Monday Message that finds your way each week. As we head into 2024-2025 it might be important to continue to examine our Mission Statement to try and find ways to more closely align the statement to practice. We will be changing the Monday Message name to Wala’au Weekly to embrace perpetuating Hawai’ian cultural traditions, values, and language. There is no need on your end for any adjustments but we wanted to let you know in advance of this change of name.
Best wishes to you all for a wonderful week ahead. Malama pono.
DJ Adams
Po’okumu (Director)
Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School
Koloa, Hawai’i
19
Jun
Director DJ’s Message:
Aloha mai kakou to the Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School learning community. We hope this message finds you all enjoying some happy times together during the Summer Break. We definitely miss the learners on campus and look forward to their return on Monday, August 5th.
The great American civil rights activist Dr. Martin Luther King Junior once wrote, “Unconditional love will have the final word in reality.” I think the brilliant words of Dr. King Jr. do capture the unconditional love and support of our school from Rafael Tapia. We will sadly see Rafael Tapia step away from his duties as Vice Chairperson of our Board of Directors after six transformative years at our school. We greatly appreciate his contributions to Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School.
Rafael and his ohana jumped in and started with the school when we first opened, as you can see from their contributions to our first-ever campus cleanup. Despite all the challenges, obstacles, and issues that come with the opening of a brand new school, Rafael stepped forward with great guidance, vision, and governance at the Board of Directors level to assist with the continuous improvement of our school. Rafael was a key supporter of our work in presenting to the state of Hawai’i Charter Commission, where we received our five-year charter renewal and full expansion up to Grade Eight. Most recently, Rafael happily shared his knowledge, background, and creativity in helping to design the two new buildings that will be constructed on our campus to house both Art and ‘Ike Hawai’i classes going into our bright future. Nobody who enjoyed the Grade Six Koke’e Overnight Trip in 2023 will ever forget Rafael’s boundless energy and enthusiasm. These are just a few examples of the countless unconditional acts of love that Rafael gave to Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School.
Mahalo nui loa e Rafael and both you and your ohana will be deeply missed in our learning community. We extend great gratitude for your contributions to Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School and send warm aloha for continued success in your adventures off-island in the next few years.
At his last Board of Directors Meeting on Monday, Rafael shared some poignant words of wisdom for all in attendance as his parting gift to us. We wish to express our appreciation to Bob Wu, who has graciously agreed to step into the Vice Chairperson position with Rafael moving on.
Best wishes to you all for a continued splendid Summer Break. Malama pono.
DJ Adams
Po’okumu (Director)
Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School
Koloa, Hawai’i
12
Jun
Director DJ’s Message:
Aloha mai kakou to the good people in the learning community of Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School and we hope this message finds you all enjoying your summer break away from the daily routines of being at school. The happy faces and cheerful voices are missed on campus and we look forward to early August when we are all back together in beautiful Kahili Valley.
Mahalo nui e Sean who came to campus this week to help our school transition over all the electronic devices we have on campus over to a new platform. Sean and the dedicated 12 month employees spent many many many (you get the idea) hours working on the hundreds of electronic devices last week and were able to successfully get everything set up for the 2024-2025 school year. We wish to recognize your generosity in supporting our Na Hoa O Alaka’i Parent Teacher Network as we have all worked prudently over the last four years to move our school to one to one devices for our learners.
Mahalo nui kakou for your patience as we worked on building the school leadership team for 2024-2025 school year. Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School is thrilled to share the hiring of two top quality individuals to act as the Vice Principals to support our learning community. Kumu Nouveau is well known to everyone as he worked at our school last year in the dual role of Physical Education teacher and Ike Hawai’i teacher. Kumu Nouveau has extensive experience teaching in the Hawai’i Department of Education schools before joining our staff and has served previously as a Vice Principal on island. Geordan Kanelopoulos is also well known for his excellent work in the Hawai’i Department of Education as both a quality educator and school administrator. Geordan served as the Vice Principal at Waimea Canyon Middle School and brings a great deal of fresh knowledge and experience to our expanding charter school.
It is inspiring to spend time with two such enthusiastic administrators and looking forward to working with them both for the 2024-2025 school year in my continued role as Po’okumu. As you may recall it will be my joyful privilege to serve our learning community until June 2nd, 2025 which will give our dedicated Board of Directors ample time to search for your next Director.
Best wishes to you all for a wonderful week ahead. Malama pono.
DJ Adams
Po’okumu (Director)
Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School
Koloa, Hawai’i
05
Jun
Director DJ’s Message:
Aloha mai kakou to the learning community of Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School and hope this message finds you all in good health and happiness at the start of the summer break away from the daily routines of school. Although the school year has concluded for the learners and much of the staff, the work to prepare for 2024-2025 has already started in great earnest.
“Dr.” Jon (he definitely has a PhD in Fixology) is putting great time, attention, and precision into installing the air conditioning units that were started back on May 14th with the Pure Good Foundation visit to our campus. We are pleased to share that all of the classrooms will finally have air conditioning installed to start the 2024-2025 school year which is greatly appreciated during the hot months on campus. This amazing upgrade will be in all classrooms, including the expansion all the way up to Grade Eight, which will commence in the 2024-2025 school year.
The beautiful gardens on campus continue to thrive long after the students who planted them head off for summer vacation. We greatly appreciate all the 12-month staff members and the volunteers who devote their time and care to looking after all the plants on campus.
We are excited to have a six-member team on campus next week to look after all the electronic devices and get them ready for our students to return in August. Due to the efforts of our supportive Na Hoa O Alaka’i Parent Teacher Network, we were able to achieve one-to-one electronic devices for the first time in the history of the school during the 2023-2024 school year. We are now ordering more devices as our school population approaches our maximum capacity of 250 students as set our in our state of Hawai’i Charter Contract.
The finishing touches for the Hoike condensed video were not quite ready for this week’s message, but we do have the entire event captured here by accessing this link if you are interested.
Mahalo for your support of our unique charter school and best wishes for a wonderful week ahead. Malama pono.
DJ Adams
Po’okumu (Director)
Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School
Koloa, Hawai’i
29
May
Director DJ’s Message:
Aloha mai kakou to the good people in the learning community of Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School. I hope this message finds you in good health and happiness as we conclude the 2023-2024 school year. Sadly, we concluded our on-campus time together last Thursday, and we will miss the joyous sounds of our learners on campus during July and August.
We greatly appreciate the gift of your time as we hosted several events to conclude the school year. The Hoike event was our culminating project-based learning activity, and every student was involved in every classroom at our unique charter school. We greatly appreciate the leadership of Ms. Kate, Kumu Noe, and Kumu Nouveau in helping guide our dedicated staff with this massive project. The stars of the show (as it should be) were our talented learners who clearly shared their learning from the project with all. We hired a professional company from O’ahu to capture the event and hope to share it with you in the coming weeks. Several of the photos for this message came from them.
We also celebrated our fourth annual Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School Talent Show on Tuesday and Wednesday last week. We immensely enjoyed the amazing skills, talents, and creativity of the performers who delighted us during the event. We also appreciate that supportive parents are the backbone that helps our students find the courage and fortitude to step up on a stage in front of hundreds of people.
Mahalo nui kakou to our selfless Board of Directors for the countless hours they invested in the search for the incoming Po’okumu. The Board of Directors commenced the search in mid-February and vetted close to 100 candidates for the position. After narrowing the search to the specific needs of our unique charter school, the Board of Directors then spent four different evening sessions in face-to-face interviews with candidates. We greatly appreciate their diligence and strong governance to ensure continued high-quality education at Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School, especially with the extra hours invested in this months-long journey.
At our Memorial Day Board of Directors special meeting last Monday we closely examined our process and current reality of hiring a new Director with only a week of school left in the 2023-2024 school year. After lengthy discussions about potential alternatives that would best support our school the Board of Directors did come forward with a proposal that we have all agreed in the best interest of our keiki.
It will be my honor to continue to serve our learning community as the Po’okumu again for the full 2024-2025 school year. The Board of Directors will reopen the Director position in January and hire a Hire Resources company to conduct a national search for candidates. In addition, our school will be hiring two vice principals to create greater internal leadership capacity and ensure that the culture of our school remains uncompromised. We will be announcing the incoming Vice Principal individuals in the coming weeks as we finalize the contractual Union contracts. We appreciate your patience as the Board of Directors diligently searched for a new Director, and it will be a privilege to serve the learning community for an additional six months longer than expected.
Please mark your calendars for Saturday, July 27th which will be our annual Campus Cleanup Day where our learning community comes together in collaboration to kick off the 2024-2025 school year.
Best wishes to you all for a happy, healthy, and restful summer. Looking forward to hearing all the incredible adventures that everyone enjoyed when we get back together for first day of school on Monday, August 5th. Malama pono.
DJ Adams
Po’okumu (Director)
Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School
Koloa, Hawai’i
22
May
Director DJ’s Message:
Aloha mai kakou to the good people in the learning community of Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School. We hope this message finds you in good health and happiness as we head into the last week on campus for our students in the 2023-2024 school year.
Mahalo nui kakou to all the supportive people who came to campus last Friday for our school-wide project-based learning activity. It was an amazing display of a project-based learning activity deeply infused with Hawai’ian culture. Our students clearly demonstrated not only their learning but also their creative and artistic talents for all who attended. We had a professional crew come over from O’ahu to capture this wonderful celebration, and we hope to be able to share the video with our learning community this week.
Speaking of artistic talents, we look forward to our fourth annual Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School Talent Show, which runs on Tuesday and Wednesday this week. All parents and community members are warmly welcome to attend, and we start at 9:30 a.m. in the gym.
We express our gratitude to everyone who contributed to the second annual Grade Six Overnight Trip to Koke’e. The students immensely enjoyed the experience, which would not have been possible without your generous support of their weekly Snack Shop on campus.
With the school year’s conclusion coming, there is sometimes the sad news of a valued staff member moving on to new adventures. Our incredibly kind Nurse Jenny has accepted a new position and wishes to share this message with you all:
ALOHA!!! I just wanted to express how thankful I am to have worked with all of you. I enjoyed coming to work every day.
I’ll try my best to keep this short and sweet, but how do I accomplish that if there are just so many wonderful things to say? As some of you may know, I will not return next school year. While I’m excited about the new opportunity ahead of me, leaving AOK is definitely bittersweet. My first year on campus has been nothing but amazing. Thank you so much for welcoming me open-heartedly, and I’m especially grateful that you have allowed me to make my vision of a health room come true.
Thank you for this opportunity. I wish you all the best moving forward and success for the school. Thank you again for making my time here so amazing. I will miss you all!!!
Mahalo Nui Loa,
Jenny
This is a helpful reminder that our campus will be closed on Memorial Day in recognition of the selfless people who serve or have served our country.
Sadly, we share that the last day of school for our students will be Thursday, May 30th, with an early dismissal at 12:30 p.m. We immensely enjoy our time on campus with our learners, and their happy, shining faces and energetic voices will be missed during June and July on campus.
Best wishes to you for a wonderful week ahead. Malama pono.
DJ Adams
Po’okumu (Director)
Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School
Koloa, Hawai’i
15
May
Director DJ’s Message:
Aloha mai kakou to the Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School learning community. I hope this message finds you all in good health and happiness as we sadly approach the conclusion of the 2023-2024 school year. It has been an incredibly successful year of continued growth at our unique charter school, and we will miss the happy voices of learners on the campus during June and July.
Mahalo nui kakou for your support of the recent M C & A Day on campus last Tuesday, May 14th as we appreciate no school on a Tuesday can be challenging for childcare. Close to 200 volunteers from Pure Good Foundation came up the gravel road to volunteer their time and energy to 15 school improvement projects that day. In addition to the massive amount of people’s work hours contributed to the school, the Pure Good Foundation increased their donation from the original number of $125,000 to an amazing $245,000 as they were so impressed with the school. The additional funds will be used to construct two new classrooms to house Art classes and ‘Ike Hawai’i classes on mid-campus next year. We greatly appreciate all the insightful presenters from our school who spoke at their Opening Business Meeting and every single staff member who contributed to the success of this project.
We are excited to share that our school-wide project-based learning activity will be Hoike, and this wonderful event is scheduled for Friday, May 24th. Hoike is the next evolution of our annual Na Kupu Lau celebration, and all members of our learning community are warmly welcome to attend. We greatly appreciate the efforts of all of our students so they can showcase their learnings with you all. We also share our gratitude to our teachers for their guidance and especially both Kumu Noe plus Kumu Nouveau for their leadership in guiding this project-based learning activity.
Best wishes to you all for a wonderful week ahead. Malama pono.
DJ Adams
Po’okumu (Director)
Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School
Koloa, Hawai’i
08
May
Director DJ’s Message:
Aloha mai kakou to the good people in the learning community of Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School. We hope this message finds you all in good health and happiness as we rapidly approach the midpoint of May. This is a happy reminder that the character trait focus for this month is TEAMWORK, and we look forward with great anticipation to seeing that trait on campus on Tuesday, May 14th, during the M C & A Day on campus.
Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School is incredibly fortunate to be the recipient of the M C & A Day generous program as around 220 people will be coming to our rural campus to volunteer their time to help improve our school. “Dr” Jon has been working tirelessly behind the scenes ordering the materials and supplies to keep our kind volunteers busy during the day as you can see in this week’s photos. To ensure that our guests can travel in and out of the school, the road work to improve transportation was started last Wednesday, and we appreciate your cooperation with the traffic snarls that occurred.
We would not have been able to accommodate the program on our campus without the assistance of many others which is a shining example of the TEAMWORK in our learning community. We greatly appreciate our Hawai’i State Teachers Association (HSTA) members under the guidance of Ms. Charton who moved their professional learning day from Monday, May 13th to Tuesday, May 14th. In addition, we wish to acknowledge with great gratitude all the ohana in the learning community for moving this day around, as on Tuesday, May 14th, there will be no students on campus that day. We understand that finding childcare for many on a Tuesday is challenging, so moving the days around was not an easy decision, given the potential impact it may have on some families.
We are all excited to return to campus together on Wednesday, May 15th to see all the improvements that could be made in one short day.
Best wishes to you all for a wonderful week ahead. Malama pono.
DJ Adams
Po’okumu (Director)
Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School
Koloa, Hawai’i
02
May
Director DJ’s Message:
Aloha mai kakou to the good people in the Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School learning community, and hope this message finds you all in good health and happiness as we greet the month of May. As mentioned last week, the character trait focus for May is TEAMWORK, and this important skill is on full display as we create our fully expanded Middle School for the 2024-2025 school year.
Last Wednesday, we were able to find some time for the Middle School teaching team to come together in collaboration to start planning for the student’s arrival in early August. We will be using a hybrid model of teaching with our Middle School where students will be with their homeroom teachers in the morning and then rotate to their classes in Math, Language Arts, Science, and History teacher in the afternoons. In the homeroom times with their homeroom teacher, the students will have their Art, Physical Education, ‘Ike Hawai’i, Socio-Emotional learning, and project-based learning activities. Here are the Middle School teachers featured in the photo from left to right:
Ms. MJ – Grade Six Homeroom and Math teacher Grade 6, Grade 7, Grade 8
Ms. Emily – Grade Six Homeroom and History teacher Grade 6, Grade 7, Grade 8
Mr. Logan – Grade Seven Homeroom and Science teacher Grade 6, Grade 7, Grade 8
Ms. Kate – Grade Eight Homeroom (with Ms. Brett) and Socio-Emotional Lead Teacher for the school
Ms. Brett – Grade Eight Homeroom (with Ms. Kate) and Language Arts teacher Grade 6, Grade 7, Grade 8
We are excited for this next adventure in our unique charter school and look forward to continued success for our learners.
Speaking of success, we wish to share congratulations to our incredibly kind Keiki Nurse, Ms. Jenny, on recently winning the Silver Lining Award at the statewide Keiki Nurse Meetings held in O’ahu last week. Anyone who has had the distinct pleasure of interacting with Ms. Jenny knows that she was a most worthy recipient, as she definitely has a contagious positive attitude toward all who have the opportunity to be around her.
Mahalo for your support of our unique charter school and best wishes to you all for a wonderful week ahead.
DJ Adams
Po’okumu (Director)
Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School
Koloa, Hawai’i
24
Apr
Director DJ’s Message:
Aloha mai kakou to the good people in the learning community, and I hope this message finds you in good health and happiness as we head into the month of May this week. The character trait focus for May will be TEAM WORK and we wish to share a shining example of this trait with you all revolving around Tuesday, May 14th.
Way back in the school year 2020-2021 the good people from M C & A visited our campus and presented a check to help us improve our school. We greatly appreciate Ariane and Spencer who came to campus and presented the money to our learners along with Board of Directors Member Chris Town. Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School was extremely fortunate to accept their kindness, and the monies were used to help us stay open on campus during the challenging times of the pandemic.
Fast forward to a few months ago, and once again, Ariane and Spencer from M C & A visited our campus with a proposal to have a group come to campus to volunteer to work on campus improvements. Mahalo nui e Ms. Patricia, Mr. Jon, and Ms. Jennifer who spent many hours with Spencer and Ariane walking around and working out the larger scope of the potential project. We then approached our dedicated staff and asked them to dream big about improvements they wish to see happen on our rural yet scenic campus. The staff responded with great TEAMWORK and submitted their responses to Ms. Patricia and Ms. Jennifer, who spent 20-30 hours over the weekend finalizing our proposal to M C & A.
Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School then waited in great anticipation to see if our proposal would be accepted and approved. After a short time of joyous anxiety, we had a visit in person from Spencer at M C & A, who met with Board of Directors Chris Town and our office staff. Spencer shared that the project had been approved with a budget of $125,000 and a workforce of 500 volunteers coming to our campus. Talk about TEAMWORK!!!!
As part of this TEAMWORK, we all have a part to play in the success of this project. Our Hawai’i State Teachers Association (HSTA) members under the guidance of the supportive Ms. Charton agreed to move their HSTA Teacher Day from Monday, May 13th to Tuesday, May 14th to accommodate the availability of the people from M C & A. The part to play in our learning community is that we have moved no school for students from May 13th to May 14th and we greatly appreciate your understanding and cooperation. We fully respect that no school for our learners on a Tuesday is challenging as it can create childcare issues for many. We also wish to acknowledge the TEAMWORK of the rest of the school staff who will be on campus on Tuesday, May 14th, to help support the 500 volunteers coming to campus that day.
One of the first areas of this project that will occur long before May 14th will be significant work done on the road past the yellow gate to the school. We realize that the last part of the road is challenge for us all and feel that this work will help transportation to and from our campus. As we gather greater details in the coming couple of weeks it will be shared your way so everyone is updated with the happy news.
Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School could not possibly express our deep gratitude to M C & A for their kindness but we are working with them to hopefully have our students perform at their closing banquet.
Mahalo for your support of our unique charter school. Malama pono.
DJ Adams
Po’okumu (Director)
Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School
Koloa, Hawai’i
17
Apr
Director DJ’s Message:
Aloha mai kakou to the learning community of Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School, and we hope this message finds you in good health and happiness as we move into the last full week of April on campus. We greatly appreciate your last-minute flexibility on Friday, April 12th, when we had to close the school early morning due to the massive amounts of rain that fell on our beautiful island. We hope that our communication system worked and that everyone was notified with a text message at 5:17 am followed by a phone call at 7 am. If you currently have a learner enrolled at our school and were not messaged with these methods on Friday, April 12th then please let us know immediately so we can helpfully rectify the issue.
As promised in last week’s Monday Message, we are excited to share an update on the bees on campus. The adventure of having the bees housed safely on campus actually started in the 2022-2023 school year when the visionary Ms. Charton approached the Board of Directors requesting permission to apply for a Bee Grant to build a transparent bee hive on campus. After meticulously reviewing all the legalities of the request with the state of Hawai’i Attorney General, the green light was granted to apply for the Bee Grant. Once again, the talents of Ms. Charton shone through as she successfully acquired the Bee Grant, and the materials were shipped to the school.
Once we started the 2023-2024 school year the next step was to find an appropriate space for the bees to be housed that protected both the bee colony and our learning community. The ever-talented Mr. Jon and Mr. Adam worked with Ms. Charton and Kumu Chris to search for the perfect place that would meet the needs of all. The bee hive was installed in one corner of the gym, complete with the entrance for the bees on the back side of the building facing the jungle.
Now we have a bee hive……………but no bees. Fortunately, the universe conspired, and a colony of bees decided that they wanted to move into the outside wall of the Art Room on the lower campus. Instead of the sadness of potentially exterminating the bees, it was determined that we would attempt to move the bees from the Art Room on the lower campus to the transparent hive in the gymnasium. As one of his many talents, Kumu Chris is a beekeeper, and over the Spring Break, he attempted to move the bees to the new location. It took great time, patience, and effort, and eventually, the bees decided that they liked the new home, and the move was successful!
We wish to applaud the visionary work of so many people to make amazing project based learning activity come together for our learners. The bee hive has been an incredible addition to our campus and should help us all be educated and supportive of the importance of these helpful creatures.
Mahalo nui e Ms. Shay for spearheading our Wellness Week starting Monday that culminates with our annual Sports Spectacular Showcase scheduled for Friday, April 26th at 11:15am in the gymnasium. We will play in inverse order this year so it will be two boys games followed by two girls games this time around and all community members are warmly welcomed to attend.
Best wishes to you all for a wonderful Wellness Week. Malama pono.
DJ Adams
Po’okumu (Director)
Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School
Koloa, Hawai’i
10
Apr
Director DJ’s Message:
Aloha mai kakou to the learning community of Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School. We hope this message finds you in good health and happiness as we approach the midpoint of April. As we celebrate the character trait focus of ACHIEVEMENT in April, we wish to share a couple of examples of enhancing education on our campus.
Last week many of our learners were treated to Cap’n Mark from Storybook Theatre in Hanapepe who shared his marvelous skills in educating our students about sharks. To assist with the presentation, he actually brought a gigantic inflatable Tiger Shark to share with the students, and our learners were actually able to go inside to listen to some incredible tales about our island. This type of presentation touches the various learning styles of our learners and ignites their imagination to move deeper in ACHIEVEMENT in their education on campus.
The Grade Four students are about to embark on their study of the early Polynesian voyagers who learned to sail from the South Pacific islands to Hawai’i. Mahalo nui e Dr. Jon and Mr. Adam have constructed a scale model of the vessels that were used in these incredible acts of exploration. Kumu Chris officiated over a blessing of the boat prior to the adventure of virtual sailing that our students will take in the coming weeks. Our appreciation to Ms. Kate and Kumu Chris for their ACHIEVEMENT in creating such a fascinating project designed for deep learning.
Next week, we look forward to sharing an update on the great work of Grade One learners under the skillful leadership of Ms. Charton with their Bee Grant.
For advanced planning purposes, please mark Tuesday, May 14th as no day for students on campus as it is Hawai’i State Teachers Association Day. We thought it prudent to let you know as soon as possible in case childcare needs to be arranged in your household.
Mahalo for your contributions and support of our unique charter school. Malama pono.
DJ Adams
Po’okumu (Director)
Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School
Koloa, Hawai’i
04
Apr
Director DJ’s Message:
Aloha mai kakou to the Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School learning community and we hope this message finds you all in good health and happiness as we move deeper into the month of April. A happy reminder that the character trait focus for April is ACHIEVEMENT which works perfectly as we head towards the SBAC (Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium) state assessments later this month.
When we examine our School Mission Statement, one will notice a clear set of ideas for the programs we offer at our unique charter school. An expanding area of growth would be the arts, which would offer greater opportunities for our learners to experience exposure to fresh concepts. Earlier in the school year, we were treated to the talents of Mr. Cary and Ms. Ashiya through an Artists in the School grant that brought drumming and dance to our campus. This amazing program expanded the programs already in place on campus and empowered all the learners to explore these skills in new ways.
Last week, Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School enjoyed the talented people from Kid Pan Alley coming to the school with a focus on music. In one short week, the students composed, practiced, and then performed a song that they had created. We wish to express our gratitude to Mr. Paul and Ms. Melinda for sharing their talents, skills, and expertise with our students in Grade 3, Grade 4, and Grade 5. We certainly would have loved to include every single grade level in the school, but there simply was not enough time in the school day to accommodate this wish. Mahalo nui to all the parents and community members who attended the performance of the songs on Thursday in front of a live audience. There is clearly a vast amount of talent in our learning community and we look forward to our annual Talent Show to showcase these skills during the last week of school.
Best wishes to you all for a wonderful week ahead. Malama pono.
DJ Adams
Po’okumu (Director)
Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School
Koloa, Hawai’i
27
Mar
Director DJ’s Message:
Aloha mai kakou to the good people in the learning community of Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School. We hope this message finds you in good health and happiness as we transition into April. With a new month also comes a new character trait focus, and we will be recognizing ACHIEVEMENT on campus, so we wish to share a shining example with you all.
The American politician Robert F. Kennedy once wrote, “Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly.” These wise words perfectly capture the incredible work of our first Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School Board of Directors Chairperson, Dr. Kani Blackwell, who dared to turn a vision into a reality in helping to create our unique charter school. DrB or “Tutu B” as she is affectionally known on campus worked for several years to get a charter contract approved even before we were able to open our doors to learners.
The idea of creating a high-quality free public education for the keiki of Kaua’i had actually been around for years, but it was the leadership of DrB that brought synergy and life to the notice. As far back as 2012, a group of visionary people came together and submitted an application to the Hawai’i Charter Commission to open the school in the 20213-2014 school year. The application was denied. In 2014-2015, under the steady guidance of DrB, the group came back again to apply to the Hawai’i Charter Commission to open the school. The application was denied. Despite these “failures,” the strength of DrB remained true, and the group came back with an application to open the school again in 2015-2016. On August 16th, 2016, the state of Hawai’i Charter School Commission approved the application, and then the process of starting up a brand new school from scratch commenced.
DrB clearly epitomizes the wise words of Robert F. Kennedy as she achieved greatly in taking the vision of Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School to a reality. She openly shared her talents, expertise, and passion, plus she volunteered countless hours to contribute to building the school that we all enjoy today. We wish to publicly express our gratitude to DrB for all of her amazing work with our learning community and for helping us to become the unique school that we are.
Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School also wishes to express our deepest condolences to DrB with the passing of her husband, Paul Blackwell. Paul was a dear friend of our school and was immensely supportive of our growth of Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School. We share warm aloha with DrB for peace and tranquility in her life and salute her role modeling of ACHIEVEMENT for our learning community.
Best wishes to you all for a wonderful week ahead. Malama pono.
DJ Adams
Po’okumu (Director)
Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School
Koloa, Hawai’i
20
Mar
Director DJ’s Message:
Aloha mai kakou to the good people in the learning community of Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School and we hope your ohana enjoyed a restful and relaxing Spring Break Week. As we head back to campus on Monday, March 25th we find an unusual week ahead with Good Friday on Friday, March 29th so campus is closed. We are also closed on Tuesday, March 26th to recognized the amazing accomplishments of the great leader Prince Jonah Kūhiō Kalaniana‘ole.
Prince Kuhio’s birthday is celebrated each year on March 26. Born in 1871 on our beautiful island of Kaua’i, just down the road from the school, he played an important role in Hawaiian history. Jonah Kūhiō Kalaniana‘ole Pi‘ikoi got his name from his paternal grandfather Jonah Pi‘ikoi and maternal grandfather Kūhiō Kalaniana‘ole but his aunt Queen Kapi‘olani (Kalaniana‘ole’s daughter) took guardianship of him after his parents died.
Prince Kuhio served a year in prison for rebelling against the Republic of Hawai‘i in 1895. Some of his compatriots, Robert Wilcox and Charles Gulick, were sentenced to death for treason, but they were pardoned after serving time in prison.
Prince Kūhiō was made prince under King Kalākaua, along with his brothers, David La‘amea Kahalepouli Kinoiki Kawānanakoa and Edward Abnel Keli‘iahonui. They passed away in 1908 and 1887, respectively. Kūhiō died in 1922 and is known as the last prince of Hawai‘i. Prince Kūhiō was the first prince in U.S. Congress, and he served as a Republican for 19 years until his death in 1922. During his time, he introduced the first bill for Hawai‘i statehood in 1919 and the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act (1920). Prince Kuhio also restored the Royal Order of Kamehameha I, established the first Hawaiian civic club, and got funds to construct Pearl Harbor plus create Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park.
Prince Kūhiō was a proud Hawai’ian and attended Royal School, ‘Iolani, Punahou, Saint Matthew’s School in California, and Royal Agricultural College in England. He was skilled in many sports, including football, wrestling, boxing, track, baseball, rowing, and polo. These skills came to usage as in 1901, Prince Kūhiō threw an American tourist to the ground and punched him in the face after he spat a racial slur at the prince and cut in line at the barber of the hotel in which he was staying in Montreal. The man purportedly said, “I didn’t know, Your Highness. I got all I deserved.”
Although his passing is over a hundred years ago we still still the lasting legacy of Prince Kuhio on the lands that he loved in Hawai’i. Most notably the Hawai’ian Homes Commission Act of 1920 has had a significant impact on the past, present, and future for the people of Hawai’i.
Hopefully, you can take some time to reflect on the accomplishments of the last Prince of Hawai’i and celebrate the life of Prince Kuhio on Tuesday.
Mahalo for your support of our unique charter school and best wishes to you all for a wonderful week ahead. Malama pono.
DJ Adams
Po’okumu (Director)
Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School
Koloa, Hawai’i
13
Mar
Director DJ’s Message:
Aloha mai kakou to the learning community of Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School. We hope this message finds you in good health and happiness as we commence the annual Spring Break. It is hard to imagine that we have completed the first three quarters of the 2023-2024 school year and will be heading into the homestretch when we return to campus on Monday, March 25th.
The wise philosopher and writer George Santayana once wrote, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” These clever words are important for lifelong learners and give us an opportunity to examine the short history of our unique charter school.
Four years ago to the month (March, 2020) the Hawai’i Charter Commission came to Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School and issued an official Notice of Concern that unless drastic changes were implemented the school would be closed at the conclusion of the school year. This troubling news brought about a whirlwind of immediate modifications that were enacted by a dedicated group of people who served on the Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School Board of Directors. Chairperson Indy and Treasurer Ben stepped forward and brought about the necessary changes at both the governance and operational levels and kept the school open so we could start the 2020-2021 school year together. The school stabilized at a population of 92 learners, the budget was balanced, and we headed boldly into the future.
Fast-forward four years to where Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School sits today. We will reach our maximum capacity of 250 learners as allowed under our Charter Contract 4.0, and our waiting list for new enrollments (over 100 and growing) now exceeds our entire school population four years ago (92 students). We have been recognized as the fastest improving public school in Hawai’i over the last three years, have added our Middle School up to Grade Eight next year, and achieved healthy financial status with strong stability of accumulated reserves.
None of this happy success story would have been possible without an engaged plus supportive learning community. The visionary Board of Directors took bold steps to save the school and empower it to grow to its new height. The parents stayed true and trusted a process of continuous improvement that is still in place today. The dedicated staff fully embraced all the unique facts of our charter school, such as project-based learning, socio-emotional learning, Hawai’ian cultural traditions, and the arts. Most importantly, the learners contributed deeply to the culture of our school and improved significantly academically, as verified by the outstanding results on the state of Hawai’i SBAC assessments required yearly.
Mahalo nui kakou to all in our learning community who contributed in great collaboration to create the wonderful success story of Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School. Let’s all continue to work together to push for continued improvement and move our school from the state of Hawai’i notoriety to national prominence, as our learners deserve the best FREE public education we can provide.
DJ Adams
Po’okumu (Director)
Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School
Koloa, Hawai’i
06
Mar
Director DJ’s Message:
Aloha mai kakou to the good people in the Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School learning community, and I hope this message finds you in good health and happiness as we head into our next Spirit Week on campus tomorrow.
Due to the great efforts of collaboration between Mrs. Shay and Ms. Kate, our school will celebrate an infusion of Read Across America and Socio-Emotional Week together to create “Aloha Across America” Spirit Week. This week starts tomorrow and will feature the following events:
- Monday is Akahai (Kindness) Day, and everyone is empowered by kindness to dress up as their favorite superhero
- Tuesday is Lokahi (Unity) Day, and everyone is encouraged to demonstrate unity by wearing a school shirt
- Wednesday is Olu Olu (Agreeable) Day, so everyone is challenged to find a friend to dress up like twins
- Thursday is Ha’a Ha’a (Humility) Day, and everyone is asked to dress up in their talent gear or bring in a picture of their talent
- Friday is Ahonui (Patience) Day, so please wear your best Aloha wear to school
On Friday, we will also hold our annual DEAR (Drop Everything And Read) Event, where everyone on campus stops their current activity and takes out their favorite book for 15 minutes of reading. We do hope that the weather cooperates again this year so we can head outside to read on our beautiful campus.
A helpful reminder that Friday, March 15th is also the last day of school prior to the annual Spring Break where there is no school for students or ten month employees so they can all enjoy a well deserved break.
Mahalo for your support of our unique charter school, and best wishes for another successful Spirit Week on campus. Malama pono.
DJ Adams
Po’okumu (Director)
Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School
Koloa, Hawai’i
28
Feb
Director DJ’s Message:
Aloha mai kakou to the good people in the learning community of Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School, and I hope this message finds you in good health and happiness as we move into the new month of March. With a new month comes a fresh character trait focus for the month, and for March, it is the dual words of EMPATHY and CARING. We are fortunate to see examples of these traits on campus on a daily basis.
We definitely saw a great deal of CARING with a dedicated group of volunteers who came to campus to teach bicycle safety to our students. They created bike obstacle courses in the gymnasium and challenged our student’s abilities to be safe, cautious, and courteous while riding their two-wheelers. In addition, the essential understanding of the importance of a helmet was highlighted for all.
Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School also experienced a great amount of CARING on our recent visit from the Hawai’i Charter Commission Renewal Team who came to campus to work in collaboration on our Charter Contract 4.0. We visited almost all of the classrooms on campus and spent time in deep discussions about the addition of Grade Eight to our school next year. Our guests certainly enjoyed learning from our keiki all about their project-based learning activities currently ongoing at our school.
Speaking of project-based learning activities, we wish to express our gratitude to all who attended the Grade Three Presentation of Learning in the gymnasium last Wednesday. We were blessed with robust attendance from our learning community and the school as we learned about various countries from around the world. The tasty foods that were prepared and served were simply outstanding and certainly added a new level of engagement for everyone in attendance.
Mahalo for your support of our unique charter school and best wishes to you all for a marvelous March. Malama pono.
DJ Adams
Po’okumu (Director)
Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School
Koloa, Hawai’i
23
Feb
Director DJ’s Message:
Aloha mai kakou to the learning community of Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School, and we hope that this message finds you all in good health and happiness as we head into the last week of February.
Mahalo nui kakou for your generosity in the “Change For Change” Maui relief campaign here on campus. You may recall that last August, the tragic wildfires swept through our neighbors on Maui, leaving us all wondering what we could do to help out. We started a simplistic program for our learning community called “Change For Change” to empower our engaged learners to find a way that they could make a difference for others. Although the program was voluntary and never run as a school-wide competition, “Change For Change” quickly grew into an opportunity for our creative students to help other people in need. Some of our students ran lemonade stands, some students did odd chores for extra money, some students emptied their piggy banks at home, and some students even went out seeking donations. We are immensely proud of everyone’s efforts and contributions, whether it was a penny or the bills that found their way into the collection.
Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School thought it important to follow up on this success story and share the outcome with our learning community. “Change For Change” raised just a touch short of $1000 due to the generosity of our learning community. Last week, the money raised was sent to the Hawai’i Community Foundation Maui Strong Foundation, where the funds will directly positively impact our neighbors on Maui with minimal administrative overhead.
We greatly appreciate the kindness, generosity, and support of this program from our learning community. We sincerely hope that our students have learned that even small, simple acts of kindness can quickly multiply into something much more significant and powerful.
Best wishes to you all for a happy end of February. Malama pono.
DJ Adams
Po’okumu (Director)
Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School
Koloa, Hawai’i
14
Feb
Director DJ’s Message:
Aloha mai kakou to the good people in the Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School learning community, and I hope this message finds you in good health and happiness as we move deeper into the year 2024 together.
Last Friday, our school was treated to a top-quality Makahiki Games right here on our beautiful campus. It was our third annual Makahiki Games, and this year was the BEST by far due to the selfless contributions of volunteers from our community. Mahalo nui loa e Kumu Norman and your team for coming to our school and deeply enriching the educational experience for our learners.
In April 2020, it was my great fortune in life to sign a contract to serve as your Director of Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School. In those almost four years together we have been able to accomplish an incredible amount of successes. Some of the high-level feats would include a five-year charter renewal, the addition of a Middle School, financial strength and stability, signing of a lease directly for the school, reduction of education service contracts, greater movement towards autonomy, and safely moving out of a pandemic. Our school population has moved from 92 students in March 2020 to quickly approaching our maximum capacity of 250 learners. It should come as no surprise that Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School has been recognized as the fastest-improving Elementary school in the state of Hawai’i as well as the fastest-improving charter school in the state of Hawai’i over the last three years.
Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School has moved from surviving to thriving, so the time has come for me to pass the torch of stewardship to a fresh Director. My last day of work at our unique charter school will be around ten months from now, on December 31st, 2024. The Board of Directors hopes to have the new interim Director start on July 1st, 2024, so we can spend many months together in collaboration and learning. Mahalo nui kakou to the dedicated people on our Board of Directors who have allowed me to join the Board in an advisory capacity starting on January 1st, 2025, once my employment at the school has ended.
Mahalo nui kakou for all the valuable lessons you have all taught me about life and for gifting me the opportunity to serve in a role that helps benefit our beautiful island for hopefully decades ahead. This school has sincerely been a labour of love for us all who care deeply about the success of our keiki.
My home will remain in Kekaha, where my career will shift over to continued work on improving the quality of education in Hawai’i, the United States, plus the world. In addition, my next adventure in life will also include embracing my newfound role of being Tutu Kane, projected in mid-July.
Our Board of Directors Vice Chairperson was kind enough to create a video message from the Board of Directors about the transition, and the link is included here:
Alakai Transition Video 24.2.9
I am looking forward to seeing how far we can push continued improvement at our unique charter school in the next ten months. Hopefully, my dream to live “E hele me ka pu’olo ” (Make Every Person, Place, or Condition Better Than You Left It Always) has been fruitful as we built Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School together.
Malama pono.
DJ Adams
Po’okumu (Director)
Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School
Koloa, Hawai’i
07
Feb
Director DJ’s Message:
Aloha mai kakou to the good people in the learning community of Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School, and we hope this message finds you in good health and happiness as we move deeper into the month of February. My apologies for the miscue last week with mixing up the months. We are definitely in the month of February, which brings the character trait focus of RESPONSIBILITY.
Mahalo for your support of life long learning as it forms a critical component of our RESPONSIBILITY of working with our students. On Friday, February 16th, the curious teachers will be taking their turn going to school at their annual HSTA (Hawai’i State Teachers’ Association) Institute Day and finding new ways to improve their craft of educating our keiki. Accordingly, there will be no school for students that day, which creates an EXTRA long weekend for our learning community as all schools are closed on Monday, February 19th, in observance of President’s Day.
Speaking of the RESPONSIBILITY of continuous improvement, we have shared a couple of photos of the good work performed by “Dr.” (PhD in Fixology) Jon and Mr. Adam. We now have two full music racks to hold the guitars, mandolins, and ukuleles that were built specifically to house the instruments safely. Dr. Jon and Mr. Adam have also commenced the planning stages for the construction of the ‘Ike Hawai’i and Art Buildings that we plan to use for the 2024-2025 school year. The upcoming addition of the Grade Eight class next year finds us in the happy expansion stages of adding more educational space for our learning community.
Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School is extremely proud of Omar and Tino, who competed at the Kaua’i Spelling Bee on Friday evening, representing our school. They have both spent countless hours improving their skills by participating in the Spelling Bee, and we applaud their diligence.
Best wishes to you all for a terrific week ahead. Malama pono.
DJ Adams
Po’okumu (Director)
Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School
Koloa, Hawai’i
“E hele me ka pu’olo ”
Make Every Person, Place, or Condition Better Than You Left It Always
01
Feb
Director DJ’s Message:
Aloha mai kakou to the most generous people in the Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School learning community, and I hope this message finds you all in good health and happiness as we commence the fresh month of December.
Mahalo nui loa for your outstanding support of our annual Jog-A-Thon, which was held on Friday, January 26th, under near-perfect conditions on campus.
Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School, due to your amazing kindness, raised $15,023.12 in donations to this fun event! WOW!!!!! This amount set a brand new record on campus for the highest amount donated to the running portion of Jog-A-Thon. In addition, due to the efforts of Mrs. Shay, an additional $6000.00 was raised in advertising support for the event teeshirts for a grand total of $21,023.12 raised altogether for the 2024 Jog-A-Thon.
Last Friday, we came together at the first annual Jog-A-Thon School Wide Prize Assembly to celebrate this incredible success together and to distribute the prizes. We will share those results in our learning community in a ParentSquare message as we had class winners, lap winners, and top fundraiser winners.
Our great appreciation to the Na Hoa O Alaka’i Parent Teacher Network for their tireless efforts in supporting the “running” (pun intended) of the Jog-A-Thon again this year. Their work is a shining example of tremendous collaboration between all parts of our learning community.
Please accept our sincere gratitude for your generosity and kindness in supporting not only this event but our unique charter school. We will continue to prudently use these funds to provide financial support for supplies for our Enrichment classes, open opportunities for all classes to take multiple Field Trips, and continue to purchase electronic devices so we stay one to one ratio on campus.
Best wishes to you all for a fabulous February. Malama pono.
DJ Adams
Po’okumu (Director)
Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School
Koloa, Hawai’i
“E hele me ka pu’olo ”
Make Every Person, Place, or Condition Better Than You Left It Always
28
Jan
Director DJ’s Message:
Aloha mai kakou to the good people in the learning community of Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School, and we hope this message finds you well as we conclude the month of January. As we head into the month of February, on Thursday of this week, we will turn our character trait focus over to RESPONSIBILITY.
When we talk about Alaka’i O Kaua’i (leaders of Kaua’i) in our learning community, it should really include all the members of our learning community. We are pleased to share that our dedicated staff has lived up to that name with their work in “The Thinking Classroom Hawai’i” over the last few years. This program has been brought to our campus from Harvard University with some generous financial support from the Hawai’i Charter Commission, and we are one of only a handful of schools that participated in the state of Hawai’i.
The program was scheduled to conclude with the Culminating Event last November in Honolulu, where our school presented our learnings. Last week the staff at Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School continued the program independently with a full on-campus “Snapshot” organized by the diligent Mrs. Shay. A “Snapshot” involves a group of teachers heading into another teacher’s classroom and observing the lesson. Afterward, everyone comes together and debriefs the experience to discuss best practices witnessed by visiting another classroom. We were extremely fortunate to have Board of Directors member Kumu Chris Town be part of the debrief last week, as he has decades of successful educational leadership that he shares with our school. As lifelong learners, we have also incorporated “The Thinking Classroom Hawai’i” protocols into our staff meetings so we can continue to “See, Think, Wonder” on how to improve education at our unique school.
Mahalo nui for your support of our annual School Choice Spirit Week on campus. We enjoyed all the fantastic events, creative costumes, Hot Lunch Day, the Board of Directors public meeting, the Na Hoa O Alaka’i Parent Teacher Network Meeting, and the Jog-A-Thon as a few ways that we celebrated our unique approach to education on Kaua’i. A friendly reminder that the Intent To Re-enroll forms are now due so we can start planning our school enrollment for the 2024-2025 school year.
Best wishes for a wonderful week ahead. Malama pono.
DJ Adams
Po’okumu (Director)
Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School
Koloa, Hawai’i
“E hele me ka pu’olo ”
Make Every Person, Place, or Condition Better Than You Left It Always
17
Jan
Director DJ’s Message:
Aloha mai kakou to the learning community of Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School, and we hope this message finds you in good health and happiness as we move deeper into January. We are excited to be celebrating School Choice Week on campus starting tomorrow and wish to express our appreciation to Mrs. Shay for her work in organizing this year’s events. Please check the ParentSquare messages for the Spirit Week activities that culminate with our annual Jog-A-Thon on Friday, January 26th, rain or shine at first recess.
School Choice Week is a perfect time to share one of the areas that make our unique charter school unique. In our School Mission Statement, one would find information stating that our school “teaches the whole child by combining academics, project-based learning, social-emotional learning, and the arts.” Social-emotional learning is taught in lessons on campus and displayed in the classrooms.
Our students and staff use Zones of Regulation to help communicate how each person is feeling at school each day. We all understand and respect that the world can cause various emotions and responses for individuals. By having the learners plus staff members clearly communicate how they are feeling by placing their name tags on the classroom Zones of Regulation Boards, we can determine the best course of support for each individual. This program is also a great tool for the school counseling staff, plus school administration, to do a daily check-in on each classroom and assist people when it is needed. You have even heard a learner from our school speak about being in a specific Zone of Regulation, so sharing this information helps build another important connection between the school and the home.
Best wishes to you all for a splendid School Spirit Week, and we hope to see you on campus for many of the festive events we will celebrate. Malama pono.
DJ Adams
Po’okumu (Director)
Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School
Koloa, Hawai’i
“E hele me ka pu’olo ”
Make Every Person, Place, or Condition Better Than You Left It Always
11
Jan
Director DJ’s Message:
Aloha mai kakou to the Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School learning community and hope this January message finds you in good health and happiness as we rolled back to campus this week with our learners.
Mahalo nui kakou for your support and assistance in making the transition back to school smooth and seamless last week. We were filled with joy to hear all the stories of student activities over the Winter Break and to see the campus come alive with their energy. We definitely did see many shining examples of RESPECT which is the character trait focus for the month of January.
Tomorrow (Monday, January 15th) is a day aside to remember the work of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. On this day that campus is closed for all students and staff let’s please all pause and reflect on his remarkable contributions to our society. Dr. King once wisely said “The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character – that is the goal of true education.” When we examine the core values that sit within our charter contract of project based learning plus socio-emotional learning we sincerely hope that Dr. King’s words lives on our campus today. Both project based learning and socio-emotional learning do require all of our creative students to think intensively and critically, and we have seen tremendous outcomes above state standards on performance assessments that indicate we are building both intelligence plus character. We appreciate your support in this journey of quality education that we all walk together.
In our bright future we all realize that our Grade Eight class addition is rapidly approaching in 2024-2025. As the Grade Eight class moves into lower campus it will cause displacement of the Art program. Mahalo nui e Board Vice-Chair Rafael, Mr, Jon, and Mr. Adam for meeting and creating a visionary plan for our bright future. We have included photos from mid-campus where we are planning to build a multi-use facility that will house both the Art and the ‘Ike Hawai’i programs. We are extremely excited about this addition and will share photos as the construction goes forward.
We also see continuous improvement on campus with facilities that connect directly with project based learning. Ho’omaika’i e Ms. Joeanne who successfully acquired a grant to grow food on campus which was quickly followed by the construction of a new garden area for the Kindergarten class. Mahalo nui e Mr. Jon and Mr. Adam for your work in putting this together for our learners.
Best wishes to you all for a wonderful week ahead. Malama pono.
DJ Adams
Po’okumu (Director)
Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School
Koloa, Hawai’i
“E hele me ka pu’olo ”
Make Every Person, Place, or Condition Better Than You Left It Always
04
Jan
Director DJ’s Message:
A belated Hau’oli Makahiki Hou to the learning community of Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School and we hope the first week of 2024 is off to a splendid start for you and your ohana. As we eagerly await the return of our learners on Monday, January 8th, we will take this opportunity to remind everyone that our character trait focus for January is RESPECT. Let’s pause in reflection to RESPECT the great improvements made to our campus by the talented duo of Jon and Adam.
Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School is proud that our roots are deeply embedded in project-based learning and over the last six years we have all witnessed significant improvements in the quality of the projects. In many of these circumstances, the quality of the learning improved in these projects due to strong RESPECT for the commitment to continuous improvement to support our learners. Jon and Adam have consistently built infrastructure on campus at the request of our creative staff to expand the depth of the learning that occurs during the projects. They have built numerous garden beds for several grade levels that have direct connections to project-based learning activities.
Jon and Adam have continued to expand our learning spaces on campus with the building of outdoor classrooms for almost every grade level now. In the coming months, they will commence the construction of our ‘Ike Hawai’i and Art classrooms that will be used in the 2024-2025 school year due to our expansion into Grade Eight next school year. Rafael (our current Board of Directors Vice Chairperson), Jon, and Adam met and planned the new building and we wish to express our appreciation for their efforts to move us forward into our bright future.
Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School is pleased to share that the friendly and familiar Ms. Jynatha will be taking over the Grade Two class for the remainder of the school year due to the unexpected resignation of Ms. Andra over the break. It is GREAT to have Ms. Jynatha return to us as we greatly RESPECT her knowledge, expertise, professionalism, and support of our learners. Please join us in welcoming back Ms. Jynatha to our learning community. We will also be welcoming back Ms. Whitney on a part-time basis to help support the emerging needs of our growing school.
Best wishes to you all for a joyous January and Mahalo Nui for your support of our unique school. Malama pono.
DJ Adams
Po’okumu (Director)
Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School
Koloa, Hawaii
“E hele me ka pu’olo ”
Make Every Person, Place, or Condition Better Than You Left It Always
29
Dec
Director DJ’s Message:
Hau’oli Makahiki Hou (Happy New Year) to the good people in the learning community of Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School, and we hope this message finds you enjoying the fresh start to the new year of 2024. We look forward to welcoming back our learners on Monday, January 8th to commence the second semester of the 2023-2024 school year.
The character trait focus for January is RESPECT and it connects perfectly with some upcoming school events, including the School Choice Week and Jog-A-Thon. This will be our 5th annual Jog-A-Thon and it is our primary fundraiser for the school. As you might know, charter schools in Hawai’i are funded at half the level of the public schools. This means that we have to pay for unfunded costs such as our facility lease, bus transportation, and campus cleaning. The annual Jog-A-Thon helps us shrink the gaps in finances and allows Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School to continue to offer a high-quality FREE public education for the keiki of Kaua’i.
We appreciate the leadership of Mrs. Shay who is taking on the lead in several endeavors on campus including the Jog-A-Thon. She is examining approaches in the theme of continuous improvement and shares this message with us today: “Our 5th annual Jog-a-Thon is coming up in January and we are offering business owners a $500 sponsorship opportunity. In appreciation of your generosity, we will promote your business by printing the logo on the back of our 250 Jog-a-Thon shirts. If you own a business or know someone who does, please email Mrs. Shay at the school to donate.”
The start of the new year always brings some changes and our school is no different this January. We wish to express our deepest appreciation to Ms. Andra who has worked at our school for the last 1.5 years. Ms. Andra has resigned from her position effective today. We are fortunate to share that Ms. Jynatha who is extremely well known in our learning community for her excellent work as a substitute teacher will be taking over Ms. Andra’s class effective January 8th.
Best wishes to you all for a happy, healthy, and prosperous 2024. Malama pono.
DJ Adams
Po’okumu (Director)
Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School
Koloa, Hawaii
“E hele me ka pu’olo ”
Make Every Person, Place, or Condition Better Than You Left It Always
