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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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:
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
We hope this festive message finds everyone in the Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School enjoying the start of the annual Winter Break. In this season of giving we wish to express our gratitude and appreciation for your support of our unique charter school which is nestled away in a remote location in beautiful Kahili Valley.
We concluded the month of December with an abundance of CARING and festive school spirit on display. We were treated to several Presentations of Learning to conclude the first semester of the 2023-2024 school year that were well attended by our learning community. We also enjoyed a school spirit week with various Dress Up days and concluded with a marvelous set of performances from our Drama Club.
Best wishes for a wonderful Winter Break filled with food, fun, and festivities. We hope everyone enjoys their time away from campus. We look forward to welcoming back our learners on Monday, January 8th, 2024 to start the second semester. Malama pono.
Mele Kalikimaka kakou and best wishes to each of you for a Happy Holiday!
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
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 during this festive season. We greatly appreciate your support of our unique school, especially in those times when there is such an abundance of activities on campus.
In the theme of our character trait focus for December which is CARING, the Holiday Hamper program will continue until Thursday, December 21st when the hampers will then be distributed within our learning community. The program allows those with more to share with those with less by dropping a non-perishable food item on the table located at the Main Entrance to the Main Campus.
The school-wide Spelling Bee champions were crowned after another grueling challenge for our talented spellers. Ho’omaika’i to Tino and Omar who will represent our school at the Kaua’i Complex Area Spelling Bee coming up in the New Year. We wish to express our appreciation to Ms. Giselle who started the program at our school and to Ms. Kelly Ann for carrying the program forward for our learners this year.
Despite all the wonderful additions to campus these days, it is refreshing to share that the importance of education is still the primary focus of our daily lives on campus. A wonderful example of this learning at work is the Kindergarten project-based learning activity on worms. Check out the fantastic display of their learning from the bulletin board posted outside their classroom below and enjoy this videothat highlights their work with the worms.
This is a cheerful reminder that the annual Winter Break, a time when everyone in our learning community can enjoy time together with their ohana, is just a few days away. We will have an early dismissal on Thursday, December 21st to commence the Winter Break and students will return on Monday, January 8th, 2024 to greet the New Year.
Mele Kalikimaka kakou and best wishes to each of you for a Happy Holiday!
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
Aloha mai kakou to the learning community of Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School and we hope the start of December has greeted you with happiness and health in this festive season. Mahalo for your support of the abundance of activities during the last few weeks before Winter Break begins on December 21st at 12:30 pm.
We are so incredibly fortunate to be part of a learning community that lives our character trait focus of CARING for December. Mahalo nui e Ms. Kelly Ann who spent numerous hours finalizing all the bills and coins that were graciously donated to the Maui relief program on campus called “Change for Change.” The program raised an amazing $977.62 that will be sent to our brothers and sisters in Maui so that they can help rebuild their lives.
We have now started another program of CARING called Holiday Hampers where people in our learning community with abundance can share with those in our learning community with less. Please feel free to drop off a non-perishable food item on the table in the Main Foyer at the entrance of the school. The items collected will be distributed anonymously within our learning community. If you or someone you know could use a little assistance then please let us know.
Mahalo nui e Na Hoa O Alaka’i Parent Teacher Network for their creative efforts in building our school’s entry in the “Lights on Rice” parade. We greatly appreciate your sharing of talents and resources to make another opportunity for our learners to enjoy a fresh experience on our island.
Ho’omaika’i to the “Flying Lemurs” who were named the Bandwagon “Battle of the Bands” Champions at the finals held in Lihu’e. All the members of the “Flying Lemurs” are students of Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School which is probably another reason that our year-end Talent Show is so amazing.
The school-wide Spelling Bee Championship was held last Friday and our profound appreciation to Ms. Kelly Ann for organizing and running this year’s event. We are all greatly saddened that the Spelling Bee marked the end of Ms. Kelly Ann’s on-campus employment as she is moving off the island. Ms. Kelly Ann knows that a job at the school awaits her when she returns to beautiful Kaua’i and we wish to express our deep gratitude for her work at our 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, Hawaii
“E hele me ka pu’olo ” Make Every Person, Place, or Condition Better Than You Left It Always
Aloha mai kakou to the learning community of Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School and welcome to the month of December. As we shift to a new month, we introduce the new charter trait focus, which is CARING. We see countless acts of unconditional kindness on campus daily but we would like to highlight two recent examples of our generous learning community.
Last Friday we concluded the “Change for Change” Maui relief program which started with the aim to empower our keiki to make a difference in the tragedies on our neighbor island of Maui. During the course of several months we consistently saw our learners donate monies and we witnessed great creativity by our keiki to actually RAISE money for Maui. Totally on their own initiative and off campus, there were several learner-led fundraisers such as selling lemonade in neighborhoods and soccer tournaments where the collected funds were donated to help our neighbors. All of which are clear actions of these inventive young people being “Alaka’i O Kaua’i” and living up to the name of our school.
Another great demonstration of CARING is the Holiday Hamper program that is now entering its fourth year at our school. Those in our learning community who have plenty are encouraged to share with those how have less by leaving non-perishable food items on the table at the front of the school. All of the donated food items are then distributed within our learning community. Please let us know if you or someone you know could use a little extra food assistance during the holidays.
As the Winter Break approaches, we thought it would be important to share with you now that school will end on Thursday, December 21st at 12:30pm (early dismissal time) which is an unusual start day to the holiday. Although we follow the Hawai’i Department of Education calendar, we realize that some of our learning community members have learners in different schools and so the congruence of dates is important to support the ease of families being together.
Mahalo for your support of our unique charter 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
A belated Hau’oli La Ho’omaika’i kakou to all in the learning community of Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School, and we hope you all enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving break. We look forward to seeing our learners back on campus this week as we step towards the month of December.
The American author Tammy Cohen once wrote “A great employee is like a four-leaf clover, hard to find and lucky to have.” In this season of gratitude, we wish to express our deep appreciation for the work of Ms. Kelly Ann at Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School. Sadly, Ms. Kelly Ann will be leaving the island and she wanted to share this message with our learning community:
Dear Alaka’i Learning Community: It is with sadness that I have to inform you of my departure from Alaka’i. Unfortunately, my family is relocating to the mainland in mid-December due to my husband’s new job contract. I will greatly miss everyone so much! Please know you have some amazing keiki, and I have enjoyed watching them grow over the years. Many of you have left a special imprint on my heart that I will take with me no matter where I go! I will deeply miss our school, the community, and this island very much. Sending each of you aloha always!
Ms. Kelly Ann was truly a four-leaf clover and contributed significantly to the success of our unique school. Ms. Kelly Ann has faithfully served as the Vice President for our Na Hoa O Alaka’i Parent Teacher Network for the past two years. She has worked extensively as a substitute teacher on days when we had last-minute absences. She has invested countless hours in coaching basketball and Cross Country, supporting the success of many participants. She was a valued member of our “The Thinking Classroom Hawai’i” project and recently did an outstanding presentation at the culmination event on O’ahu. These are just a few examples of Ms. Kelly Ann’s outstanding work that speaks directly to her willingness to drop everything to help others.
We were fortunate to have Ms. Kelly Ann as a dedicated member of our team here at the school and she will definitely be missed. We wish her continued success in her bright future and Ms. Kelly Ann is keenly aware that a job awaits her back at the school should she ever return.
Please do consider spending some time in the coming weeks to share some aloha with Ms. Kelly prior to her departure from beautiful Kaua’i.
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, Hawaii
“E hele me ka pu’olo ” Make Every Person, Place, or Condition Better Than You Left It Always
An early Hau’oli la Ho’omakika’i to the good people in the learning community of Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School and we hope that all preparations for a splendid Thanksgiving are going well in your lives. In this season of gratitude please accept our deep appreciation of your support of our unique charter school. Over the last six years, we have moved from a dream to a reality. This would not be possible without your engagement in continuous improvement at Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School. We have opened the registration process for the 2024-2025 school year. Thanks to your kind support, we will reach our maximum capacity of 250 learners as per our charter contract.
In the shortened week ahead due to Thanksgiving Break, we look forward to hosting our fourth annual Turkey Trot on campus. The event has grown from modest beginnings in 2020 when masks and social distancing were the norm into a festive run that our learners look forward to each year. Enjoy the photos below from previous Turkey Trot events:
The 4th Annual Turkey Trot will be held on Wednesday, November 22nd during the first-morning recess. The event forms part of our curriculum taught on campus and all learners will participate, whether they walk, jog, or run. The 2023 Turkey Trot will feature a new course this year! Many thanks to Mr. Jon for his assistance in creating a new path through the grass.
The campus will be closed from November 23rd to November 26th. We hope that everyone enjoys their Thanksgiving Break away from school and we look forward to welcoming back our learners for a full day on campus on Monday, November 27th.
Best wishes to you all for a wonderful week ahead and best wishes for safe travel for anyone visiting people elsewhere. 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
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 in good health and happiness after a long weekend. Hopefully, you were able to spend some time in respect and gratitude to all of our veterans last Friday as the campus was closed for Veterans Day. We greatly appreciate the service and sacrifice of many people so that we can enjoy this amazing country.
Last weekend a team of people who work at Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School traveled to Honolulu for The Thinking Classroom Hawai’i culminating event entitled REIMAGINING EDUCATION. The Thinking Classroom Hawai’i is a project that examines excellent teaching and is co-sponsored by the Hawai’i Charter Commission and Harvard University. Ms. Andra and Ms. Kelly Ann, two of our staff members, presented at the event on their findings and experiences at our school. Their presentations were outstanding and once again demonstrated that this school lives up to our name “Alaka’i O Kaua’i”.
Mahalo nui to Ms. Claire for starting a Drama Club at our school. They had their first session on Tuesday and the group is already at capacity which speaks highly of the engagement of our learning community. We are optimistic that this group, under steady guidance, will put together a performance for our school.
Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School continues to see a wide variety of project-based learning activities ongoing at our campus. In the theme of continuous improvement, sometimes these project-based learning activities also end up in facility improvements. Mahalo to Mr. Jon and Mr. Adam who are currently constructing a garden area for the Kindergarten class which will be a key part of their project-based learning activity infused with a grant opportunity.
Unfortunately, we have witnessed several incidents on campus this year with some of our younger learners making extremely inappropriate comments to others at school without them comprehending the severity of their words. To try and decipher the genesis of such outrageous statements, Ms. Miranda, our Graduate Counseling student, conducted an investigation and discovered a common denominator: the video game Roblox. We appreciate and respect that leisure activities at home are none of the business of our school, but we want to share these valuable learnings for parents from Ms. Miranda:
Roblox contains adult content. Roblox is a user-generated game platform, which means that users/players can create and play games with other users/players. These kinds of games can pose a risk for children as it is an open-world platform and anyone can create an account and play.
Parents can protect their children by making restrictions and monitoring children’s chats, followers, and game history. Roblox also offers a feature that allows parents to limit the ability to chat, and the types of experiences their children can access.
In case you are searching for other options, Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School has an i-Ready learning platform in place that features safe and appropriate learning games.
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, Hawaii
“E hele me ka pu’olo ”
Make Every Person, Place, or Condition Better Than You Left It Always
Aloha mai kakou to the learning community of Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School and we hope that this first Monday Message of November finds you all in good health and happiness to start a new month. The character trait focus for the month is ACHIEVEMENT and we were thrilled to celebrate the achievement success of many of our learners at the school-wide assembly held on campus last Friday.
Last week it was my good fortune to virtually attend the National Summit on School Safety and Security from Washington, DC. This helpful annual summit focuses on current issues facing schools in keeping our learning community safe plus shares best practices that have worked across our vast nation. One of the critical key areas for student success and safety at schools is forming a strong connectivity between the learners, the home, and the school.
Last Tuesday on Halloween we all witnessed this important practice of connectivity in action with our annual Trunk or Treat event in the field on campus. We were overwhelmed with the generosity, kindness, and creativity of our learning community as we set a new record of 34 vehicles for our learners to enjoy. We loved watching the Halloween Parade of our learners as they circled about the field to stop and be part of the Trunk or Treat stations. This event brought our learning community of parents, school, and students together and helped build a critical bond between us all in the best interest of our keiki. Mahalo for your contributions and support of this worthwhile event at Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School.
One key learning from the event in the theme of continuous improvement is the recognition that not everyone in our learning community may have the financial means to afford a costume. We are asking anyone in our learning community who wishes to donate a used Halloween costume to please drop it off in the office in the coming weeks. We will use the costumes from our emerging Drama Club and store the costumes for next October’s Halloween celebrations to ensure inclusion for all in our learning community.
Please feel free to share your thoughts on the Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School Mission Statement using the information sheet that was distributed via ParentSquare and the Green Folders on campus last week.
Best wishes to you all for a beautiful week ahead. 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
Aloha mai kakou to the good people in the learning community of Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School and hope this last Monday Message of October finds you all in good health and happiness as we conclude the month on Halloween.
Mahalo for your generous response in supporting our fourth annual Truck or Treat happening on Halloween. The event will be held in the field on campus, rain or shine. We greatly appreciate the time, effort, and creativity that comes with this special event and we know that it contributes significantly to a positive culture for our keiki here on campus.
It has been my good fortune to have numerous discussions during the daily visits to the classrooms about Halloween costumes. A reminder that any fake weapons should be left at home. In addition, we ask that the Halloween costumes equate to a “scare factor scale” of Kindergarten as we do not wish to have any of our learners upset that day. A friendly reminder that October 31st will be an early dismissal day at 12:30 p.m. to ensure that everyone can be home in time to enjoy Halloween activities together.
Congratulations to Coach Kelly Ann and our Middle School Cross Country team on their outstanding success at the meet held in Lihu’e on Friday, October 20th. We appreciate the efforts of all the team members and here are the award winners from the meet:
6th Grade Boys: Nathan Bennor – 2nd Place
7th Grade Girls: Orah McGee – 1st Place
7th Grade Boys: Koa Shay – 2nd Place and Max Israelsen – 3rd Place
It has been GREAT to witness study buddy classes working together on campus and this week we wanted to share an example from the Grade Three and Grade Seven classes working together. Under the skillful guidance of Ms. Chock and Mr. Logan, the learners from both classes came together to try and scientifically predict the amount of seeds that could be found inside a pumpkin. The three-day event concluded with the students working together to decorate the pumpkins which were used as decorations for the Grade 5-7 Halloween Dance last Friday. GREAT work by all involved and wonderful to see connections made between the different grade levels at school.
We also wish to share the incredible experience that occurred in the Grade One class as they concluded their project-based learning activity on the human brain. It was inspiring to see so many community members come to campus for the presentations of learning. We also had some special guests from the Queen’s Hospital on O’ahu visit the class. Our guests presented about the importance of wearing a helmet and donated a helmet to the students in the class. Mahalo nui for their generosity and a helpful reminder to everyone in our learning community to always wear your helmet when enjoying activities outside on bikes, skateboards, and all other items that could put your head at risk.
Best wishes to you all for a Happy Halloween. 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
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 happiness and health as we made our return to campus last week after the Fall Break.
Mahalo nui kakou for your support of the smooth transition back to school life. The learners quickly adjusted to the routines, schedules, and culture of the school with minimal issues. We fully respect that this important collaborative relationship between the home and school makes this return to school positive and productive thanks to everyone’s efforts.
On Wednesday, October 18th Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School celebrated Unity Day on campus for the first time in our short history. This annual event encourages people to wear orange to school to unite in kindness, acceptance, and aloha while rejecting the unacceptable act of bullying. We were overwhelmed with the positive response from our learners and staff with all the orange clothing on campus. In addition, we distributed an orange bracelet to any learner or staff member at our school who wished to take one as a deeper level of support for this day.
Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School has become the fastest-improving charter school in the state of Hawai’i based on several key pillars in our charter contract. Socio-emotional learning is a key component of our school and we are extremely proud of the significant positive changes in the culture of our school. Unfortunately, we also understand that the action of bullying still occurs at Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School, and we request the gift of disclosure. Bullies will not change their actions without proper correction, education, and support so please let the school know if your keiki is experiencing this issue at our school.
The highly anticipated Trunk or Treat is rapidly approaching on Halloween morning on campus. Please feel free to connect with our Na Hoa O Alaka’i Parent Teacher Network should you wish to be involved.
Best wishes to you all for a wonderful week. Malama pono.
Po’o Kumu (Director)
Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School, Koloa, Hawai’i
“Ua ola no i ka pane a ke aloha.” There is life in a kindly reply.
Aloha mai kakou to the Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School learning community, and we hope this message finds you rested, relaxed, plus ready to return for the second quarter of the 2023-2024 school year. We look forward to welcoming back our learners on Monday, October 16th for a full day on campus after Fall Break.
As you may know, the character trait focus for the month of October is EMPATHY and we have clear examples of how empathy shines on our campus. To take this character trait a touch deeper, we wish to let you know that October is National Bullying Prevention Month across our country and we will celebrate a special day on campus this week.
Wednesday, October 18 is set aside as United Day to unite for kindness, acceptance, and aloha across the state of Hawai’i. We are encouraging everyone to wear orange to school on Wednesday to show support that all people in our society, including our talented learners, deserve to be safe at school and in our community. Each learner and staff member will also be given an orange plastic bracelet as a happy reminder that we can all make a difference in addressing bullying.
Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School is already incredibly fortunate to have aloha in action on campus, as seen in the photos this week. An anonymous donor from our parent community donated a microwave oven to the school to help shorten the line-ups at lunchtime. Our learning community continues to give generously to the “Change for Change” Maui relief program. Our Grade Three class just completed a food drive with over 100 pounds of food collected for those in need. Every Friday we take the time to honor those people on campus both learners and staff who demonstrate kindness to others through our weekly “Kindness Matters” draw.
Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School also acknowledges that we may have people on campus who do not treat others with kindness, acceptance, and aloha from time to time. Should you or any of our learners be experiencing bullying, please connect with school staff. The only way to stop bullying is to address it directly. We embrace a practice of zero avoidance in which we will address the problem if we are aware of the problem. Sadly many individuals with bullying behaviour may do so in secret. Please let us know of any issues so that we can assist everyone involved.
Mahalo for your support of our unique charter school and best wishes for a wonderful week ahead.
DJ Adams
Po’o Kumu (Director)
Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School, Koloa, Hawai’i
“Ua ola no i ka pane a ke aloha.” There is life in a kindly reply.
Aloha mai kakou to the Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School learning community and hope this message finds you all in good happiness and health as we enter our annual Fall Break. A helpful reminder that our school is closed next week and we look forward to happily greeting our learners back on campus on Monday, October 16th.
The character trait focus for the month of October is EMPATHY and a clear example of this important practice can be found in our main office. The “Change for Change” program was introduced to empower everyone in our learning community to support our fellow citizens on Maui after the devastating wildfires destroyed many people’s lives. As you can see from the photo, the generosity of our learning community is amazing and we greatly appreciate your kindness. We will formally conclude this program at the end of October to ensure that the donated funds find their way to people on Maui. In addition, our Grade Three class ran a Food Drive as part of their project-based learning activity and donated 151 pounds of non-perishable food items thanks to their leadership and your kindness.
Mahalo nui e Ms. Anne who is volunteering her time and expertise to offer our learners a French Club. The French Club is held on Mondays after school in the Learning Commons and is free to learners. No previous understanding of the French language is required and the French Club is open to all students whether they are bus riders or ohana pickup. We are deeply appreciative of Ms. Anne offering this opportunity to our learners.
The Grade One class continues to work on their bee project-based learning activity. Ms. Charton successfully acquired a grant last year and we have installed a fully observable bee hive in the gymnasium…but it does not have any tenants yet. Last week Kumu Chris, Ms. Charton, and the Grade One class started building bee boxes to help attract bees that could move into the observable hive. We love seeing the creativity and leadership of our learners under the steady guidance of our talented staff members.
Best wishes to you all for a festive Fall Break and we look forward to welcoming back our students on October 16th.
DJ Adams
Po’o Kumu (Director)
Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School, Koloa, Hawai’i
“Ua ola no i ka pane a ke aloha.” There is life in a kindly reply.
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 happiness and health as we enter the month of October. The character trait focus for the month will be EMPATHY. The kindness of our learning community is currently on full display with the “Change For Change” Maui relief program on campus.
Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School opened six years ago with the promise of bringing project-based learning to the island of Kaua’i. There has been a steady growth and evolution in the quality of the project-based learning activities over these years especially as some of the learners are now in their sixth year at our school. For the 2023-2024 school year, we did not start with a school-wide project-based learning activity as was the practice in the two years previous. Our staff energetically commenced projects in their classrooms during the opening weeks and we now see some classes already doing their first Presentations of Learning. In my daily classroom visits, it is refreshing to witness the engagement and enthusiasm that our learners are bringing to their education in the vast array of talents that they possess.
The creativity demonstrated by our curious learners is matched by the talented staff who help guide this journey of education in project-based learning activities. We wish to express our appreciation to our staff for their work with our learners daily as it certainly requires a special set of skills to successfully support project-based learning activities. In project-based learning, the star of the show is always the learner. We hope that many of you can make the journey to campus over the 2023-2024 school year to be part of their Presentations of Learning. A happy reminder that we will conclude the school year in late May with a school-wide project-based learning activity of Na Kupu Lau and once again all people in our learning community are warmly welcomed to attend.
A helpful reminder that we are rapidly approaching the conclusion of the first quarter of the school year and there will be no school for learners during Fall Break from October 7th to October 15th.
Best wishes to you all for a wonderful week ahead. Malama pono.
DJ Adams
Po’o Kumu (Director)
Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School, Koloa, Hawai’i
“Ua ola no i ka pane a ke aloha.” There is life in a kindly reply.
Aloha mai kakou to the Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School learning community and we hope this message finds you well as we sail into the last school week of September. Mahalo nui loa kakou to all who could make it to campus or “visit” virtually as we hosted our annual Individual Learning Plan meetings on Thursday and Friday. We immensely enjoyed hosting our Enrichment Day on campus complete with the 4th annual Ninja Warrior competition. As always, we appreciate the collaborative relationship that exists between our school and your homes.
Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School was excited to offer another fresh program to our school this year for the first time in our short history. We secured an Artists in the School grant last year which enabled the introduction of music and dance to our learners. E komo mai e Mr. Cary and Ms. Ashiya to Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School and we have already fully enjoyed your classes. The lessons started last week with an introduction to global music infused with the playing of the drums for our learners. This is an eight-week program and we are incredibly pleased to see a more significant expansion of fine arts for our learners.
We also began the first week of Cross County practice with our Middle School students. Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School is excited to take our Cross Country team to a meet in Lihue on Friday, October 20th. Practices run at lunchtime on Tuesdays and all Middle School learners are encouraged to join.
Mahalo for your support of our unique charter school and best wishes for a happy plus healthy conclusion to the month of September.
DJ Adams
Po’o Kumu (Director)
Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School, Koloa, Hawai’i
“Ua ola no i ka pane a ke aloha.” There is life in a kindly reply.
Aloha mai kakou to the good people in the learning community of Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School and we hope this September message finds you all in good health and happiness. Mahalo for your unconditional support of our unique charter school.
We have a shining example of our incredibly generous learning community to share. Last Wednesday morning, just as the Morning Oli began, a parent showed up at the school and dropped off two microwaves as a donation to Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School. This wonderful act of kindness resulted from their learner sharing at home that one microwave needed repair and that one classroom was without a microwave. Unprompted and not seeking attention, the parent brought the microwaves, which both helped the school and shortened the lunch lineup to heat food. Wow!! Our school is fortunate to have parents like this supporting our school unconditionally. This is just one example of the countless acts of generosity from our learning community. Mahalo nui loa kakou.
On Monday, September 18th there will be no school for our students as we will be holding one of our Hawai’i State Teachers Association Union professional development days. The staff will be on campus that day to improve our school and work on the art of teaching. As Henry Ford once suggested “Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young” and we are fortunate to have facilitators who role model the importance of lifelong learning for our keiki. The day will be dedicated to learning more about I-Ready, our new e-learning platform, in the morning, while the afternoon will be spent preparing for your visits to campus for the Individual Learning Plan Meetings on September 21st and September 22nd. As you can see from this week’s photos we have embraced lifelong learning on our campus even in the early pandemic days. This philosophy forms a cornerstone of school continuous improvement.
The fourth annual Alaka’i O Kaua’i Ninja Warrior Contest will return to campus on Thursday, September 21st and perhaps the greatest challenge might lie in my feeble brain to construct another creative course. Please be assured that our amazing learners have improved year by year in this fun event and we look forward to hosting again outdoors, rain or shine.
Best wishes to you all for a wonderful week and we look forward to seeing many of you on campus for Individual Learning Plan Meetings. Malama pono.
DJ Adams – Po’o Kumu (Director)
Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School, Koloa, Hawai’i
“Ua ola no i ka pane a ke aloha.” There is life in a kindly reply.
Aloha mai kakou to the learning community of Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School, and we hope the new month of September is treating you with kindness and respect.
Mahalo for your continued support of our unique charter school. We are pleased that as promised, we started further enrichment classes after the Labor Day weekend. We appreciate your patience as we were using the multi-talented Kumu Nouveau to support the transition to the new school year with our Grade Six class.
This week Kumu Nouveau started the ‘Ike Hawai’i classes on campus and utilized the outdoor classroom located between Lower Campus and Main Campus. There were some beautiful songs of both music and laughter coming from the classroom this week as our learners practiced their participation parts of the daily Morning Oli.
This week Kumu Nouveau also commenced the Physical Education classes on campus under warm conditions. Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School is excited to bring back Physical Education to our school as we have not had this program consistently since March 2020. A helpful reminder to please check ParentSquare messages to ensure that your keiki are properly attired for these classes.
Mahalo nui loa to our learning community for your generosity in purchasing Loofah Soap as part of Ms. Shay’s Grade Two class project-based learning activity. The students raised over $300 and we are happy to share that part of the proceeds will be donated to the Maui relief efforts.
Under the steady guidance of Ms. Charton, the Grade One class continued to work on their project-based learning activities about bees. This week the class shared honeycombs filled with honey for all the learners on our campus to taste if they wished. Their project will continue forward and we hope to move a hive of honey bees to a safe special place on campus with a transparent window so that all learners can look inside the bee hive.
We also wish to share our gratitude for the strong improvement in school attendance thus far in the 2023-2024 school year. We perfectly understand the challenges of getting our learners to campus each and every day and your work is recognized and appreciated.
The next virtual No Hoa O Alaka’i Parent Teacher Network meeting will be coming up next Wednesday, September 13th at 5 p.m. All parents are warmly welcome to attend. The Zoom link and agenda will be shared via ParentSquare in the coming days.
Best wishes to you all for continued health and happiness. Malama pono.
DJ Adams – Po’o Kumu (Director)
Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School, Koloa, Hawai’i
“Ua ola no i ka pane a ke aloha.” There is life in a kindly reply.
Aloha mai kakou to the Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School learning community, and we hope that this message finds you all in good happiness and health as we conclude the month of August last week.
Mahalo for your support of our unique charter school and we will welcome the month of September by announcing the character trait of the month- RESPONSIBILITY. We see numerous examples of responsibility on campus each and every day and wanted to share this project-based learning activity from Grade One as an example.
The Grade One class has been studying bees and their positive impact on our environment. Ms. Charton has done an outstanding job of sharing all of our RESPONSIBILITIES to keep this important population of pollinators healthy. Last week, a special guest, complete in a beekeeper’s suit visited the class. The guest was our very own Kumu Chris. We greatly appreciate the good work of our dedicated staff to continue to provide a top-quality education for the keiki of Kaua’i.
Speaking of dedicated staff, we greatly appreciate the patience in our learning community as we searched for a new Grade Six teacher. Our former Grade Six teacher transferred to Kaua’i High School in late July and a search immediately commenced for a replacement. After weeks of work of diligent Human Resources work in vetting 27 candidates Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School is thrilled to announce that Ms. MJ will remain in the role of the Grade Six teacher for the remainder of the 2023-2024 school year. Ho’omaika’i e Ms. MJ!
As we explore the importance of RESPONSIBILITY this month we are moving into some old but new shifts after the Labor Day long weekend:
We will continue to operate as usual at drop-off in the mornings with the exception of requesting all parents to please leave your keiki at the Main Entrance and no more walking them to classes. This will assist with the unloading of the buses and also build the confidence of our learners to walk to class by themselves.
For pick-up procedures after school, we will continue to use Upper Campus for buses only. Main Campus will be for all learners in Kindergarten to Grade Five and we once again ask all parents to remain in their cars to keep the traffic flowing.
Lower Campus pickup is only for Grade Six and Grade Seven solo learner riders and no other grade, please.
Any Grade Six or Grade Seven students with younger siblings please walk up to Main Campus and join in the pick-up line there.
We wish to avoid having our younger keiki walking through traffic on Main Campus so we appreciate your spirit of aloha. Let us kokua!
Best wishes to you all for a wonderful long weekend and we will see everyone back on campus on Tuesday, September 5th. Malama pono.
DJ Adams – Po’o Kumu (Director)
Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School, Koloa, Hawai’i
“Ua ola no i ka pane a ke aloha.” There is life in a kindly reply.
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 happiness and health as we begin the last week of school in the month of August.
Mahalo nui for your support of the smooth transition thus far into the 2023-2024 school year. We understand and respect that adjusting to new schedules, routines, and procedures can be difficult for young people and we appreciate your work with your ohana in these changes. In particular, getting up early to head to school can sometimes be challenging so we greatly appreciate your efforts as attendance thus far in the month of August has been extremely positive.
Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School will approach our school-wide project-based activity in 2023-2024 beginning with the end in mind. In the last two years, we have started the school year with a school-wide project-based learning activity but in 2023-2024 we will conclude with our annual Na Kupu Lau celebration in May. As you can see from the photo below, many of our classes have already commenced their first project-based learning activity. The Grade One class along with their “study buddies” from the Grade 4/5 class worked on revamping the garden area on campus last week. The Grade Two class started planting the loofah seeds at the beginning of last year. They plant, weed, and observe the loofahs. When the loofahs are dried on the vine, they harvest, peel, and “de-seed” them. They then cut the loofahs, create the soap, and pour it into molds that are later sold in our learning community. Amazing!!
Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School continues to expand our team to best meet the needs of our learners. We are pleased to share that our staff has now grown to more than 30 employees who all come from a variety of backgrounds, experiences, ages, and cultures.
E komo mai e Ms. Jess (pictured below with the ever-helpful Makoa) who has joined our team as a full-time Educational Assistant in the Special Education department. Ms. Jess has years of experience in the human service industry which is a perfect fit in her role to support our learners.
E komo mai e Ms. Jenny and Mr. Kahi who will support the Hawai’i Keiki Nurse Program. This is a pilot project across the state for the next two years. Ms. Jenny will be starting on campus in person in the coming weeks and will work in the office and look after the health needs of our keiki. Mr. Kahi is the supervisor of the Keiki Nurse Program here on Kaua’i and he will be on campus every several weeks to ensure that the program is meeting the needs of our learners.
Our first school-wide assembly is scheduled for 9 am this Friday, September 1st in the gym. All parents and community members are always warmly welcome to attend and celebrate the successes of our learners.
Mahalo for your support of our unique charter school. Malama pono.
DJ Adams – Po’o Kumu (Director)
Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School, Koloa, Hawai’i
“Ua ola no i ka pane a ke aloha.” There is life in a kindly reply.
Aloha mai kakou to the good people in the Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School learning community and hope this message finds you in good health and happiness during these challenging times on the beautiful islands of Hawai’i.
Mahalo for your support of our unique charter school which features socio-emotional learning as one of the cornerstones of our state of Hawai’i Charter Commission contract. As the great civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King once said during a speech in Washington DC in 1968 “We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.” At our school, we are extremely fortunate to have amazing people who keep infinite hope despite the sorrowful tragedies that have unfolded in Maui. We know that the research is quite conclusive that building positive paths of empowerment for our learners is essential to reduce feelings of helplessness during a crisis.
We greatly appreciate all the items that were dropped off at the school early last week. Due to the vision of an ohana in our learning community, these items were quickly sent off via boat to make their way over to those in need on Maui. We trust that the prompt response allowed the donated items to find new owners swiftly.
Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School implemented a coin donation program entitled “Change for Change” to empower everyone to donate financially to the people of Maui. This non-competitive event will see all the collected monies donated to the American Red Cross efforts to support those people on Maui in crisis. We sincerely hope that our learners gain the understanding that an act as simple as donating spare change to others can have a profound impact on those people in need. Due to the overwhelming response on campus, we actually needed to add an additional collection jug to hold all the coins that have been pouring in.
Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School will be opening our school and classrooms to accept displaced students from Maui on a temporary basis. Unfortunately, we do not have space at all grade levels but will work closely with those needing a high-quality free public education here on campus in those spaces where there might be some vacancies. If you know of any students that were displaced and are looking for a school to attend then please do contact the school so we can work together on making this happen.
Ms. Nicole has commenced a beautiful art project with the Grade Seven students. They are drawing the lokelani (Damask Rose), the official flower of the island Of Maui, as a measure of support and aloha to send directly to schools on Maui.
We all understand that this recovery will be years to complete and Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School will keep infinite hope in this journey to support our brothers and sisters impacted by this tragedy long into the future.
Please be safe, stable, and strong in these challenging times. Malama pono.
DJ Adams – Po’o Kumu (Director), Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School, Koloa, Hawai’i
“Ua ola no i ka pane a ke aloha.” There is life in a kindly reply.
Aloha mai to the learning community of Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School, and we hope this message finds you in good health and happiness at the conclusion of the first week of school.
Mahalo nui kakou for the incredibly smooth transition back to campus that we have enjoyed over the last week. The learners quickly adjusted back to the routines, expectations, and schedules that we follow here at Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School. We also wish to express our gratitude to our dedicated staff who helped build a path for success for our learners to easily return to our school after the summer break. As mentioned previously Mr. Jon significantly renovated vast amounts of our campus assisted by Mr. Adam, Kumu Nouveau, and Ms. Barb to make sure that the school was prepared for many new keiki. The twelve-month staff of Ms. Jennifer, Ms. Patricia, and Kumu Nate also worked hard over June and July to build the infrastructure for everyone to be successful at our unique school.
We also wish to share our appreciation to our learning community for your unconditional support in this smooth transition as well. Our school recognizes the deep commitment that it takes for students to attend our school and love the collaboration that we enjoy together in the best interest of our keiki.
Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School is pleased to be working with Akita Transportation again this year complete with an additional third bus to serve our wide geographic area as we currently have students from Kapa’a to Kekaha. Mahalo for your patience as the new schedules, stops, and timings are all worked out with the addition of another bus. A helpful reminder that our school does not know the location of the buses once they leave campus so please contact Akita Transportation directly with your questions, concerns, or comments in these circumstances.
A happy reminder that the state of Hawai’i has set aside Friday, August 18th as Statehood Day, and in accordance with the state holiday Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School will be closed that day.
Best wishes to you all for a wonderful week ahead. Malama pono.
DJ Adams – Po’o Kumu (Director), Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School, Koloa, Hawai’i
“Ua ola no i ka pane a ke aloha.” There is life in a kindly reply.
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. Our staff joined us on campus last week and we eagerly await the arrival of our learners on Monday, August 7th. We have missed their infectious zest for life on campus over the summer.
The annual Campus Cleanup on Saturday, July 29th was a MASSIVE success due to the kindness and generosity of each of you. Although we do not have an official number of volunteers that showed up, we did see a record number of people volunteer to assist through SignUp Genius. Mahalo nui loa for your contributions to this annual event and for making the campus shine for our keiki.
Mahalo for your patience and understanding in the process to find a new school counsellor to replace the ever-energetic Ms. Giselle. Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School is pleased to share that Ms. Malissa will be the new school counsellor at our school. Ms. Malissa is well known in our learning community for her outstanding teaching plus strong academic support in her role as Assessment Coordinator. Ms. Giselle has kindly agreed to remain in place in a transition phase for the month of August as Ms. Malissa moves into this new role. As an added level of support, it will be my pleasure to work directly and mentor Ms. Malissa in her new duties as a Middle School Counsellor which was part of my journey in life.
Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School is thrilled to welcome Ms. Madison James to our staff for the 2023-2024 school year. Ms. “MJ “as she is known to our learning community has roots in Koloa and joins our team as a teacher in our Special Education program assisting Ms. Cara. Ms. MJ has a friendly and outgoing personality which is a natural fit for our culture and she is a former NCAA Division One softball athlete. Wow!!!!
Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School is happy to reintroduce both Mr. Logan and Ms. Claire to you again as they join our team for the upcoming school year. Mr. Logan comes to us from Colorado and has been nominated for the state of Colorado Teacher of the Year a remarkable five times. Mr. Logan will be teaching the Grade Seven class this year in the newly created classroom on the lower campus. Ms. Claire rejoins Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School and was actually one of the original people who worked at the school so she fully understands all the changes that have happened at our school in the last six years.
There have been numerous news reports swirling about the island about the significant lack of bus drivers which has caused many school bus routes to be canceled. Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School is pleased to share that Akita Transportation will once again be able to service our school this year PLUS add a third bus to our existing routes. The third bus will serve the Lihue area and hopefully eliminate the need for the Kapa’a bus to make stops in Lihue thus shortening their travel time.
Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School is also facing higher contract prices for these bus services that need to be passed on to the consumers. Last year our school subsidized $79,000 out of our school budget to offset the losses on the bus routes as charter schools are not state-funded for transportation like our HIDOE colleagues. After much deliberation at the operational and governance level, our school will charge $98 for the first rider and $73 for additional riders for the 2023-2024 school year. Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School will continue to lose monies from our budget to run these buses as we feel a strong philosophical commitment to all of our learners to be able to enjoy a high-quality free public education regardless of geographic location on Kaua’i.
Mahalo nui kakou to everyone who attended the Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School Open House last Friday, August 4th from 9 am to Noon. This festive event is a perfect opportunity for everyone to come to campus, drop off their school supplies, and gain comfort and confidence for the upcoming school year. It was GREAT to see so many people come to campus and help orientate the learners to the new school year.
School will start for our learners on Monday, August 7th, and a cheerful reminder that the first day is early dismissal at 12:30 pm. We all understand that the transition back to school can be tiring for our younger learners so a shorter day helps everyone adjust to the new schedules.
Mahalo nui for your support of our unique charter school. Malama pono.
Best wishes to you all for a wonderful week ahead. Malama pono.
DJ Adams – Po’o Kumu (Director), Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School, Koloa, Hawai’i
“Ua ola no i ka pane a ke aloha.” There is life in a kindly reply.
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 happiness and health as we happily approach the start of the 2023-2024 school year.
A sure sign that school is about to commence again was the annual Campus Cleanup that occurred last Saturday, July 29th. Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School welcomed our learning community to campus for this festive event to help with the setup for the 2023-2024 school year. We have hosted this happy event for numerous years and once again we were blessed with an overwhelming response of unconditional support from our generous learning community. After Campus Cleanup concluded on Saturday, we also had an additional layer of preparation in place for both Sunday and Monday in anticipation of the return of our dedicated staff members on Tuesday, August 1st. Mahalo nui loa kakou to everyone who donated their time, expertise, hands, and hearts at the Campus Cleanup and you did a spectacular job of preparing the campus for our learners.
Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School wishes to share our public appreciation to Waimea Canyon Middle School for their generous donation of 12 full-sized cafeteria tables to our school. The tables are placed in the gym and will provide greater flexibility for our school to host even more people at festive events such as Na Kupu Lau.
Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School was informed on July 18th that Ms. Donna has resigned and will not be returning to our school for the 2023-2024 school year. We wish to thank Ms. Donna for her work with our Grade Six students over the last several years. The school immediately commenced a search for a high-quality teacher for the Grade Six class and completed the first round of interviews last week. In the short term, we are pleased to share that Kumu Nouveau will serve as the interim Grade Six teacher to start the 2023-2024 school year and ensure stability for our learners.
Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School will postpone the start of Physical Education and Hawai’iana classes until Tuesday, September 5th when we intend to have the Grade Six teacher in place which will allow Kumu Nouveau to return to these duties. We greatly appreciate the flexibility of Kumu Nouveau to accommodate the best interest of our learners.
Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School is disappointed to announce that Ms. Tessa Paillette has removed her agreement to join our school as the new School Social Worker, as communicated in a ParentSquare message last Monday. Ms. Tessa and her partner Ryan who had accepted a position at Kaua’i High School, need to stay in Oregon closer to their teenage daughter. We fully respect the importance of ohana. Having the best interests of our keiki in mind, we are working on both a fresh set of interviews for a new candidate and a transition plan from Ms. Giselle for the new counselor.
As a unique charter school that features socio-emotional learning as one of our charter mandates, we fully understand the importance of a smooth start to the new school year. Once again we will be hosting a Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School Open House on Friday, August 4th from 9 am to Noon. This joyful event allows parents to come to campus with their keiki and physically walk the learners to their classrooms. The Open House is also a perfect opportunity to drop off the school supplies to avoid bringing them on the first day of school.
A helpful reminder that the first day of school will be Monday, August 7th and it will be an early dismissal day to help our learners transition back to school life smoothly.
Best wishes to you all for a wonderful week ahead. Malama pono.
DJ Adams – Po’o Kumu (Director), Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School, Koloa, Hawai’i
“Ua ola no i ka pane a ke aloha.” There is life in a kindly reply.
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 happiness and health as we move through the summer break.
Mahalo for your support of the fastest-improving charter school in the state of Hawai’i. It may be summer break but much has been happening at Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School as we prepare for the return of our staff and learners in August.
Last Monday at our public Board of Directors Meeting, the ever-dedicated DrB presented her work on writing the rich story of Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School. Dr. Blackwell who is also known as Tutu B was a co-founder of our school plus is a Past Chair of our Board of Directors. DrB created a beautiful book of over 100 pages entitled From Vision to Reality and many of you contributed to her work by sending back school surveys. Mahalo nui for your excellent work, DrB. Hard copies of the book are available for viewing in the Main Office.
The resignation of Ms. Giselle from her position as school Social Worker was also announced at the public Board of Directors Meeting. Ms. Giselle has been part of our school for five years and has worked tirelessly to improve Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School. Here is Ms. Giselle’s exit statement that was shared last night:
“It was with great ambivalence that I formally submitted my resignation from my position at Alaka’i. There were many factors that led to this decision, but foremost is the need to reprioritize, putting my family first, spending more time with my children, and working with my husband to get his business operational.
I am hopeful that someday funds will be available for me to work part-time at Alakai to help push the boundaries and raise our ceiling. Until then, I will do my best to make time to volunteer as much as I can. Every single one of these keiki are special to me and I am grateful to have been given the opportunity to be a part of their life journey.”
We wish to express our appreciation to Ms. Giselle for her dedication to our school and wish her all the best in her new adventures ahead. We sincerely hope that our learning community will come together to support Ms. Giselle and the school with this transition. Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School is committed to continuing with a full-time counselor for our keiki. We are in the final stages of the Human Resources protocol to hire a new person in this role and plan to announce this information soon.
Speaking of hiring, the Hawai’i Keiki Nurse program intends to place a full-time keiki Nurse here on campus for the upcoming school year but they are currently suffering from a lack of applications. If you or anyone you should know might be interested, please contact the school and we can connect you with this program administration.
Mr. Jon and Mr.Adam worked magic this week and installed a new sound system in the gym. As we all know, the previous sound system was inadequate to support the overwhelming response from our learning community to participate in Na Kupu Lau. Mahalo nui Mr. Jon and Mr. Adam for this upgrade. With the newly installed Wifi in the gym, we look forward to improving the quality of events on our campus. In addition, the finishing touches are in place so the new Grade Seven classroom will be ready for Mr. Logan and the learners for the upcoming school year.
Friendly reminder that the annual Campus Cleanup on Saturday, July 29th is rapidly approaching. Shifts are from 9-10:30 am and again from 10:30 am to noon. A SignUp Genius will be coming out soon via ParentSquare providing an opportunity for our learning community to come together in both work and celebration for the upcoming school year that starts for students on August 7th.
Best wishes to you all for a wonderful week ahead and hope to see you on Saturday. Malama pono.
DJ Adams – Po’o Kumu (Director), Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School, Koloa, Hawai’i
“Ua ola no i ka pane a ke aloha.” There is life in a kindly reply.
