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 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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Aloha mai kakou to the learning community of Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School, and we hope this message finds you all in good happiness and health during the last few weeks of your summer break from school.

Mahalo for your support of our unique charter school and for being patient during the last five years of tremendous growth plus improvement that we have created together. One of the potential changes that may come forward is a shift from the current platform that is being used to distribute the Monday Message to a new one in the coming weeks. Please contact our school if the Monday Message no longer finds your inbox and we will rectify the issue. Once again, we wish to publicly acknowledge Faith and Brian and their good work and the sharing of their talents to support our Monday Message and make it all possible.

The outstanding preparation work on campus continues as we look forward to the return of our learners on Monday, August 7th. This week we can share that the desks and chairs for the newly added Grade Seven class are now assembled in their classroom under some helpful feedback from Mr. Logan, our Grade Seven facilitator. As we continue to expand our Middle School, Mr. Jon, Mr. Adam, and Kumu Nouveau, our ever-diligent work crew, have constructed a new breakout and conference room on the lower campus.

Even though our keiki have not been on campus since May, we are pleased to share that several helpful staff members have continued to look after the garden area and garden beds. Mahalo e Kumu Nate for ensuring that this area continues to thrive and stay relatively weed-free.

A helpful reminder that you will have the opportunity to see this work yourself plus share your skills of improvement during our annual Campus Cleanup, scheduled for Saturday, July 29th. A SignUp Genius complete with specific tasks and times will be shared in the coming weeks for your planning purposes.

Best wishes to you all for a wonderful week. 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 in good happiness and health as we move into the month of July.

The start of the new month is a cheerful reminder that the start of the 2023-2024 school year is just around the corner. We look forward to the return of our learners on August 7th to kick off the new school year which will include the addition of our new Grade Seven grade level. In preparation for everyone’s arrival, there have been several key employees who have worked all summer to help ensure that everything is ready to roll.

Ms. Patricia has done a magnificent job supporting our school since her arrival in the dual role of looking after Human Resources and Finances. Under her steady guidance, the school has moved into financial stability and currently exceeds all the monetary expectations of the state of Hawai’i Charter Commission. In addition, Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School has also moved into a high percentage of staff retention. This is a true credit to her work with our valued employees. Mahalo nui, Ms. Patricia.

Ms. Jennifer who is well known to all in our learning community also works tirelessly behind the scenes to keep our school moving upward in a positive direction. Ms. Jennifer fills far too many roles to mention but a few key supports include School Registrar, purchasing plus invoicing, communication, phone messaging, and school tours. One of the key people who helped move Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School from surviving to thriving is the ever-helpful Ms. Jennifer and we are greatly appreciative of her work.

A little over a year ago, our school added a Learning Leader position to our staff and welcomed Kumu Nate to Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School. Kumu Nate has been busy over the summer working on staff schedules, curriculum design plus ordering, technology, and student programs to mention just a few of the many highlights of his contributions. Mahalo nui for your work, Kumu Nate, and for raising the benchmarks of programming expectations at our unique charter school.

A helpful reminder to mark your calendars for Saturday, July 29th for the festive annual event of Campus Cleanup. A ParentSquare invitation will be distributed with a SignUp Genius in the coming weeks so you can sign up for specific tasks at the Campus Cleanup.

Lastly, please enjoy this preview of the newly created Grade Seven classroom with the desks being assembled by Mr. Jon:

Best wishes to you all for a safe and restful summer break. 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 this message finds you in good health and happiness as we move into the month of July.

Mahalo to our dedicated and talented employees who are working hard on campus to make the necessary renovations to prepare for the 2023-2024 school year. You may recall that last summer under the skillful guidance of Mr. Jon, the old Library, Meeting Room, and Storage area was converted into a Counsellor Suite and Learning Commons. This summer much of the effort is focused on preparation for the addition of another grade level to our school plus improving areas already in use.

Ms. Barb, Kumu Nouveau, and Mr. Jon have already significantly improved our campus. A former storage area that was unused on the lower campus has now been converted into a teaching space for our Hawai’iana classes. The need for this new teaching space is a result of the addition of Grade Seven who will move into the former Hawai’iana Room on Lower Campus. We will eventually house all of our Middle School students on the lower campus while the elementary section of Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School will remain on Main Campus.

The Grade Three classroom transformation is also ongoing with the removal of the old Science cabinets, the painting of the space, and the installation of new flooring. Mr. Jon has steadily, inch by inch, improved the school over the last five years to the point that he is now changing out the old flooring and replacing it with new. We will continue to work on this transition step by step, board by board, over the coming years.

We wish to acknowledge and thank Ms. Barb, Kumu Nouveau, and Mr. Jon for their work on improving our school. Mr. Adam will be joining this team in July to ensure we have as much completed by the end of the summer as possible.

Next week we will shift our focus to the other amazing twelve-month employees who work tirelessly behind the scenes to continuously improve our school, even during the summer break.

Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School may be transitioning to a new Monday Message platform. In the coming weeks, should the Monday Message not arrive on a Sunday evening, please send me an email indicating the issue and we will correct the error.

Best wishes for a joyful July and see you at Campus Cleanup on July 29th. 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 in good happiness and health as we breeze through the month of June. We trust that your summer break is filled with fun plus enjoyment. We look forward to everyone returning to campus for classes on Monday, August 7th.

Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School wishes to spend this week’s Monday Message in appreciation for all the support behind the scenes that we have received from the Maker Learning Network. Most people in our learning community might not know that our modest beginning five years ago would not have been possible without the assistance of iLEAD/Maker Learning Network. Since that time, iLEAD Schools and Maker Learning Network have branched out in fresh new areas and we currently work with the Maker Learning Network only.

We have greatly appreciated the knowledge that has been shared with our school by Ms. Linda, Ms. Nicole, and Ms Kendra. They have all come to our campus and worked directly with our staff on helping to support high-quality project-based learning. In addition, in our early history, Ms. Linda MOVED to Kaua’i and assumed the role of Director when the school was without one. Ms. Linda skillfully guided the school forward into our bright future and we would not be the fastest-improving charter school in Hawai’i without her leadership.

Behind the scenes is the excellent work of Brian and Faith who support our website, social media, and Monday Message. Both of them are as skillful as they are friendly and all of us in our learning community enjoy the fruits of their labors. Brian and Faith have implemented changes in the 2022-2023 school year to improve the website plus make the Monday Message much easier to access.

As mentioned a few short weeks ago, we also wish to acknowledge the outstanding service that Sean provides to our school. You probably recognize a picture of Sean and Jon from early June where they pulled HUNDREDS of feet of fiber optic cable to help improve technology on our campus. Sean consistently works remotely on keeping our technology functioning which can be especially challenging as we moved to one-to-one technology at our school this year.

We wish to share our appreciation to DrB, our former Board of Directors Chair. She forged this relationship together to get Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School opened. DrB collaborated closely with Ms. Dawn, the iLEAD leader at that time, and Ms. Amber, the Maker Learning Network leader to help us become what we are today.

Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School shares a hearty mahalo nui loa to both iLEAD Schools and the Maker Learning Network for their support and service to our school.

A helpful reminder to mark your calendars for Saturday, July 29th for the annual Campus Cleanup which essentially marks the first event of the 2023-2024 school year.

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 kākou to the Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School learning community, and we hope this message finds you all in good happiness and health during the summer break.

We greatly appreciate your support of our unique charter school, which has grown from a dream to a reality in the last five years. During that time, we were fortunate to be recognized in 2022-2023 as the fastest-improving charter school in Hawai’i (there are 37 charter schools in our state), and one key area that drives this data is test results. As promised, we will disclose the results from the latest State of Hawai’i SBAC (Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium) assessments that we wrote in April and May.

Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School had another impressive set of results in 2023, as verified that we were above both the state of Hawai’i and the complex area of Kaua’i in 16 out of 18 categories. In almost every case, our unique charter school was DOUBLE DIGIT results above our colleagues in both the island of Kaua’i and the state of Hawai’i. We are incredibly proud of our exceptional learners and congratulate them on this outstanding success.

We also wish to recognize that none of this incredible success story would be possible without the efforts of so many individuals to support our students. Our diligent Assessment Coordinator, Ms. Malissa, has spearheaded the work in our school to create a cultural value that writing assessments can be fun. The dedicated staff and knowledgeable teachers have deeply supported learning at our school and infused the state standards into project-based learning activities. Let’s not forget the essential role that the ohana plays in creating the value that education is vital to success in life. Mahalo nui loa to you all for your work in helping our students to be their best.

Here is the breakdown of the results from the 2023 SBAC assessments for our school:

Language Arts

• Grade Three Language Arts
+11% higher than the state;
+20% higher than the complex area of Kaua’i

• Grade Four Language Arts
+18% higher than the state;
+24% higher than the complex area of Kaua’i

• Grade Five Language Arts
+16% higher than the state;
+19% higher than the complex area of Kaua’i

• Grade Six Language Arts
+39% higher than the state;
+42% higher than the complex area of Kaua’i

Math

• GradeThree Math
+5% higher than the state;
+10% higher than the complex area of Kaua’i

• Grade Four Math
-6% LOWER THAN THE STATE;
+4% higher than the complex area of Kaua’i

• Grade Five Math
-5% LOWER THAN THE STATE;
+1% higher than the complex area of Kaua’i

• Grade Six Math
+35% higher than the state;
+42% higher than the complex area of Kaua’i

Science

• Grade Five Science
+17% higher than the state;
+20% higher than the complex area of Kaua’i

Going forward into our bright future, we have closed the gap in our Math results at the complex area of Kaua’i, but in the theme of continuous improvement, we still have much work ahead in those results at the state of Hawai’i level. These two deficiencies are identified in CAPITAL LETTERS ABOVE and will form part of our preparations for the upcoming school year.

Best wishes to you all for a wonderful summer break, and I look forward to seeing you in August. Malama pono.

Aloha mai kakou to everyone in the learning community of Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School, and we hope this message finds you all in good health and happiness as we settle into the month of June.

Mahalo for your support of our unique charter school and we are currently in full-on preparations for the start of the 2023-2024 school year on campus. We have over 20 projects that we will focus our time, attention, and expertise on in June and July as we explore the exciting additions to Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School including 7th grade next year.

We were fortunate to have the talented Sean from Maker Learning Network join us this week on campus to help improve our technology. Sean and our own Jon pulled hundreds of feet of fiber optic cable and we now have internet in the gym plus improved service on the lower campus. The phone system was upgraded to better ensure top-level communication on campus between all classrooms. Mahalo for your excellent work, Sean and Jon.

The ever-artistic Ms. Barb was on campus adding a fresh coat of bright school-colored paint to the benches, tables, and picnic tables that are found in great abundance on our campus. It is wonderful to see many of the drab colors removed and revitalized with vibrant new additions that go along with our school colors. Mahalo Ms. Barb for sharing your talents with us.

Our newly hired Hawai’iana and Physical Education instructor Kumu Nouveau also was on-site power washing away the remnants of the 2022-2023 school throughout the campuses. It is a massive task, especially considering that we use all three campuses daily and have an ever-expanding school population. Mahalo for helping us out on campus, Kumu Nouveau.

One of the major projects going forward will be the transition of the Grade Three classroom. The classroom currently is set up for a Science Lab but with expanding classrooms we now find the need to fully convert this space. The Grade Three classrooms will have all the old Science Lab stations removed. This change alone will double the learning space in this room.

We will continue to post updates throughout the summer and share completed projects with you. We look forward to seeing everyone on campus in late July for the annual Campus Cleanup as well.

My apologies for the delay in sharing the SBAC results with you this week. We are simply awaiting the last of the state results outside of our school to be uploaded in order to share the most current data. The plan is to disclose the SBAC results with you next week in the Monday Message.

Best wishes to you all for a restful summer break. 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 we hope this message finds the summer break for our learners off to a splendid start.

Mahalo nui for your support during the extremely successful 2022-2023 school year as verified by the recent outstanding success that learners had in the state of Hawai’i standardized writing assessments. Next week we will outline the specifics of the SBAC (Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium) results with you in the Monday Message but we can openly share that our school performed over double digits ABOVE the state and complex area results in 14 out of 18 categories. That is correct and not a misprint-DOUBLE digits above, but we still have much work ahead in the theme of continuous improvement.

Speaking of continuous improvement, it may be summer break but it never slows down here on campus. Summer break is a busy time as the twelve-month employees work through June and July to ensure that our campus is ready for everyone to return in August.

Two cornerstones of school improvement are Mr. Jon and Mr. Adam. They take on projects to improve our school while everyone is away. This summer they have an extensive list of over 20 projects that they will work on to help make our unique school even better for our learners. Mr. Jon has been the key figure in transitioning the school from surviving to thriving as he alone came to campus five short years ago and reclaimed the vacant school back from the jungle. We wish to share our appreciation for their work and hope you all understand that we could not be where we are today without their efforts.

We have included the 2023-2024 school year calendar below for your planning purposes. We are excited to add a School Nurse on site next year who can help monitor student health and track student attendance for us.

Lastly, we fully respect that “life happens” but humbly request that you please book major trips away from school during the natural breaks of the school year. One area that our school needs to improve in is the state of Hawai’i tracking of chronic attendance issues which starts at 15 absences or more as we are currently above the state average in this metric.

Best wishes to you all for a wonderful weekend 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 welcome to the summer holidays for our creative learners and much of our dedicated staff.

Mahalo nui for your support of our unique charter school during the 2022-2023 school year. It was a noteworthy year in the short life span of Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School as our five-year charter and the addition of our middle school were both unanimously approved by the state of Hawai’i Charter School Commissioners.

Although the significance of these accomplishments are important, the real work at our school always revolves around our inquisitive learners. We immensely enjoyed some wonderful events last week to conclude the school year. The third annual Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School Talent Show once again showcased the amazing array of skills, talents, and abilities of our students over and above their classroom work. We successfully ran the first-ever Grade Six Overnight Trip to Koke’e and it was magical to watch our Grade Six leaders blossom in an alternative learning environment.

On Friday at the Grade Six Farewell Ceremony, our Grade Six students performed some poignant speeches that they wrote reflecting back on their school year which marked a perfect way to culminate the 2022-2023 school year.

We hope that everyone enjoys a well-deserved summer vacation after all the wonderful growth we witnessed in our school since last August. We look forward to sending out an invitation to our annual Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School Campus Cleanup on Saturday, July 29th which usually signals that school will be starting soon. For your planning purposes, please note that our ten-month employees return to campus on Tuesday, August 1st and our students return to class on Monday, August 7th.

There are a number of us who are twelve-month employees who will be on campus during the summer break. The office will be open during June and July on somewhat reduced hours. Please feel free to contact the school with inquiries.

Best wishes to you all for a happy, healthy, and safe summer break filled with food, family, and fun. 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 and hope this Monday Message finds everyone in the Alaka’I O Kaua’i Charter School in good health and happiness as we head into the last week on campus for our learners in the 2022-2023 school year. We greatly appreciate all the support our school received during last Friday’s Na Kupu Lau celebration on campus. This week we look forward to the first-ever Grade Six Koke’e Overnight Trip, the third annual Talent Show, and the third annual Grade Six Farewell. Those are only a few of the events coming up.Recently our school cheerfully signed our five-year charter renewal with the state of Hawai’i Charter Commission which solidifies our future from Kindergarten to Grade Eight. In recognition of this historic expansion, Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School has reached into our past rich history to find a high-quality educator to capture our fascinating history.It is our sincere wish that you have been fortunate enough to meet DrB (or Tutu B as she likes to be called by the keiki) as she has been a driving force that turned our school from a dream to a reality. DrB was recently contracted to write a historical narrative that will chronicle the humble beginnings of the most improved charter school in the state of Hawai’i. DrB has a deep passion for the success of the school including spending significant time as Board Chairperson trying to get our first charter application approved. Most people do not realize that the dream of our school started well before we were granted our first charter contract five years ago and there were actually several attempts that were not approved by the state of Hawai’i Charter Commissioners.
DrB will write the history of our school and then many decades in the future when someone ponders the origins of the school, the answer can be easily accessed. Those of you with greater experiences with the school over the last five years may be asked by DrB to be part of her research on Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School.We greatly appreciate the efforts and passion of people like DrB who spent countless hours volunteering to create a top-notch FREE public education for the keiki fo Kaua’i. Mahalo nui e DrB for your work on this written history of our school and we look forward to sharing the results in the future.Best wishes to you all for a wonderful last week of classes on campus in the 2022-2023 school year!

Mahalo nui 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 learning community of Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School, and we hope his message finds you all in good health and happiness as we reach the mid-point of the marvelous month of May. There is no question that May is marvelous on campus as we enjoy so many diverse experiences during the last month of the school year.

We wish to start with gratitude to everyone who volunteered their time and energy to the annual Kaua’i Charity Walk event. Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School has been the top Not For Profit fundraiser on the island in this event in 2021 and again in 2022, due to your efforts. In 2023, the school set new benchmarks for stations served, volunteers that stepped forward, and points that our school accumulated. The final number will not be announced for quite some time but in 2022 our school received over $27,000 from the helpful people at the Kaua’i Charity Walk. We wish to acknowledge Ms. Kalina, our No Hoa O Alaka’i Parent Teacher Network President who signed up for shifts OVER AND BEYOND the school’s commitments and earned even more points for the school.

We also just completed our annual Penny Wars on campus and really enjoyed the fun we all experienced with the event. It is with great appreciation that we share that this year’s edition raised over $1,700.00 for the school. That is a LOT of coins. Mahalo nui to Ms. Kelly Ann, our No Hoa O Alaka’i Parent Teacher Network Vice-President for running this event this year.

The third annual Na Kupu Lau is this Friday, May 19th on campus. We recently completed the anonymous voting by the staff to select the Royal Court of King, Queen, Princess, and Princess who are pictured below. These fantastic young leaders were chosen based on academics, integrity, leadership, respectfulness, kindness, determination, open-mindedness, and generosity. We hope to see you all on campus to celebrate with us on Friday.

The Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School Talent Show will run the last week of school on Monday (K, K/1, 1), Tuesday (Grade 2 and Grade 3), Wednesday (Grade 3/4 and Grade 4), and Thursday (Grade 5 and Grade 6) which is May 22-May 25 inclusively. A sign-up sheet and flyer will be coming home soon but a slight change is that our keiki are limited to only ONE performance please due to overwhelming entries and enthusiasm last year.

We look forward to the Grade Six Farewell Celebration on Friday, May 26th to conclude the school year. The Grade Six students will be preparing and then delivering a speech that day to share their learnings about the school.

Mahalo nui 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 we hope this message finds you in good health and happiness as we conclude the first week of May.

Last Monday, May 1st was Lei Day in beautiful Hawai’i and we were pleased to see many colorful leis on campus to celebrate the day. Being the unique charter school that we are, Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School did not host any Lei Day celebrations again this year as we focus our attention on a slightly different presentation.

Our third annual Na Kupu Lau celebration is scheduled for Friday, May 19th here on campus. This creative event has grown significantly from some humble beginnings three short years ago right in the middle of the pandemic. We look forward to welcoming any and all members of our learning community to attend and enjoy the artistic work of our talented keiki.

Once again, each of our classrooms will give a presentation during the celebration. We have included some photos from last year’s events so that those people new to our learning community can have a quick view of Na Kupu Lau. The celebration will include a post-event social with light lunch for all the participants and guests that join us.

We want to share this invitation with you a touch early as we understand that prior planning might be essential in your busy lives to be able to attend the event here on campus with us. More details will be shared via ParentSquare Messaging for those who currently have learners enrolled in the school.

Mahalo nui 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 the Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School learning community and we hope this message finds you all in good health and happiness as the calendar turns over to May tomorrow. Hard to imagine we are just about to start the last month of the 2022-2023 school for our learners.

As we conclude the month of April, it is a perfect time to reflect on the character trait focus of the month which was ACHIEVEMENT. Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School is currently engaged in the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC) state of Hawai’i assessments which is a perfect way to celebrate achievement in our school. The SBAC assessments are administered in Grades 3-6 in our school are one of many areas of the data collected that helps guide future educational planning at Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School. As you probably know, our school was recognized as the fastest-improving charter school in the state of Hawai’i. One of the sources of data for rankings of schools comes from the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium assessments.

Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School embraces the opportunity to discover the quality of the education we are providing for our learners. Writing the SBAC assessments is celebrated at our school and this involves all the keiki on campus and not just the learners in Grades 3-6. We philosophically enjoy coming together to support the learners and intentionally attempt to diminish any phobias of writing assessments or tests. The ability to write assessments without great fear is a lifelong skill that is important for success in life. This is demonstrated by the reality that even getting a Driver’s License involves testing.

Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School wishes to recognize the incredible efforts of Ms. Malissa in supporting our learners’ success through her role on campus as the Assessment Coordinator. Ms. Malissa works tirelessly to ensure that each and every learner is supported not only during SBACs but also during the entire school year. We continue to see our learners perform much higher on state assessments in most categories compared to other schools and much of this happy news is built on the efforts of Ms. Malissa. We greatly appreciate your incredible work, Ms. Malissa, and we know that you believe in all of our learners.

Mahalo nui kakou 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 learning community of Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School, and we hope this late April Monday Message finds you all in good health and happiness.

As we roll into the last week of April, we are pleased to share some behind-the-scenes work in Human Resources and share some upcoming staff changes for the 2023-2024 school year. We appreciate all the people who applied to join our team and also wish to extend our gratitude to the people who worked with Ms. Patricia and me throughout the hiring process.

Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School congratulates Ms. Whitney who will be moving from an Educational Assistant at our school into a substitute teacher role for the 2023-2024 school year. Mahalo for your work with our keiki and we look forward to continued work with Ms. Whitney, albeit in a different role.

Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School warmly welcomes back Ms. Claire to our school to replace the vacant Educational Assistant position. Ms. Claire knows the school well already. She helped open the school five years ago while working in the office and currently serves as a substitute teacher at our school. It is wonderful to have you return to our school in a full-time role, Ms. Claire.

Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School wishes continued success to Kumu Kali who will be moving back to Moloka’i and rejoining his former school there. Mahalo nui for your contributions to our learning community and for helping us discover in a much greater depth, the incredible culture of where we live, Hawai’i.

Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School is pleased to announce we will be expanding our offerings on campus next year and filling the vacant Hawai’iana teaching position with the same individual. A warm welcome to Kumu Nouveau who will join our team in the dual position of Physical Education teacher and Hawai’iana teacher for the 2023-2024 school year. Kumu Nouveau is already well known at our school as an excellent substitute teacher on campus and joins us full-time from the Hawai’i Department of Education where his last posting was at Chiefess Kamakahelei Middle School.

Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School is thrilled to introduce our new Grade Seven teacher to our learning community. After an extensive search, we can now share that Mr. Logan Hamzl will be joining our team to educate the newly offered Grade Seven at our school. Mr. Logan is currently teaching in Colorado and is moving to the island this summer along with his ohana which will include two new learners at our school. Mr. Logan has an impressive resume complete with years of outstanding teaching in project-based learning settings which includes nominations for the state teacher of the year a remarkable five times. We will arrange in the coming weeks a virtual meeting with the current Grade Six students and their ohana so everyone can “meet” Mr. Logan in advance.

We anticipate that there are potentially more announcements in the coming weeks as we all understand that hiring GREAT employees is a global challenge even on beautiful Kaua’i.

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 learning community of Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School, and we hope this message finds you well as we head into the last six weeks of the 2022-2023 school year. We greatly appreciate your support of our unique charter school and we have enjoyed a great variety of events on campus in the last ten days that enhance the quality of the educational experience for our keiki.

As mentioned last week, we were successfully able to host our second annual Makahiki Games on campus on Thursday, April 6th. Enjoy a photo from the fun event below. We wish to once again express our gratitude to the selfless volunteers who made these activities possible. Over a dozen individuals, under the guidance of a parent volunteer (mahalo nui Norman), helped us all learn much more about the games. Dreaming into the future, we hope that some of our learners will participate in the annual Makahiki Games on Moloka’i.

Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School was honored to host crew members from the Hokule’a to speak to our Grade Four and Grade Six students last Tuesday. They shared incredible stories of the bravery, courage, and fortitude needed to sail this ship in respect of the original Polynesian explorers. We look forward to their return again later in the school year to share more stories with our keiki.

Captain Mark visited campus this week and shared his talents of storytelling with the younger grades. He brought a “whale” for the keiki to sit inside while he shared a “whale” of interesting stories. Creativity and imagination were on full display for all involved in this exciting addition to our classes.

Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School is fortunate to be part of Hard University’s “The Thinking Classroom Hawai’i” sponsored by the Hawai’i Charter Commission. This incredible opportunity empowers our staff to examine the delivery of education at our school and to search for new lenses in the world of learning.

As you probably know, Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School was recognized as the fastest-improving charter school in the state of Hawai’i in the 2021-2022 school year! As we roll toward the conclusion of the 2022-2023 school year, our collected data shows steep growth, with the exception of one area. Student chronic absenteeism (which consists of 15 or more days of school missed) has increased this year and is projected to exceed the state average. Student chronic absenteeism negatively impacts not only the school’s STRIVE HI metrics but is also detrimental to the learning that occurs for our keiki. We respectfully ask everyone to be mindful of the importance of regular attendance at school.

Best wishes to you all for a terrific week. 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 we hope this message finds you in good health and happiness this Easter Sunday.

Mahalo for your support of our unique charter school and it is wonderful to share all the various activities happening with our learners to start the month of April.

Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School participated in our first-ever attempt at the Mayor’s Track Meet last weekend. We are proud of our participants and look forward to distributing the ribbons for the top finishers at our next school-wide Assembly on Friday, April 14th at 9 am in the gym. Parents and community members are warmly welcome to attend.

We held our second annual Makahiki Games on campus last Thursday. Mahalo nui to the dedicated community volunteers spearheaded by one of our parents (Norman) who came to campus to run the events. In preparation for the event, some of our Grade Five students volunteered their lunchtime to make leis for our guests.

The second annual Keiki Rainbow Wellness Challenge is still ongoing and our learners have until Tuesday to return their sheets to win a shoe sack backpack. Our learners could also earn the right to sign their name on the window in the Main Office. We wish to share our gratitude to the Grade One class and Mrs. Shay for bringing this event to campus again this year.

The next No Hoa O Alaka’i Parent Teacher Network Meeting will be virtual this Wednesday, April 12th at 5 pm. All parents and community members are encouraged to attend so please watch for a Zoom link that will be distributed in a ParentSquare message on Tuesday.

The Hawai’i State Teachers Association (HSTA) Collaboration and Planning Day will be tomorrow. Accordingly, while the staff is at school there will be no school for learners on Monday, April 10th. We look forward to seeing everyone back on campus on Tuesday, April 11th.

Best wishes to you all for a festive Easter Break. 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 to the good people in the Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School learning community, and we hope this message finds you healthy and happy as we enter the new month of April. The character trait focus for the month of April will be ACHIEVEMENT and we are fortunate to see countless examples of this trait on daily on campus.

Our keiki had a marvelous experience with the talented Captain Steve on campus in our Hawai’iana classes during the last two weeks. Captain Steve volunteered his time and expertise to teach our learners about the Hokule’a, a performance accurate wa’a kaulua as he has experience working on the crew. We greatly appreciate him sharing his knowledge so that we could all learn about the early brave Polynesian voyagers.

Ms. Nicole, our talented Art teacher, continues to offer high-quality classes to our learners. Anytime anyone wanders into her happy classroom, they are instantly overwhelmed with the ACHIEVEMENT and engagement of our learners.

Mahalo nui e Kumu Nouveau and Ms. Kelly Ann for supporting ACHIEVEMENT at the Mayor’s Track Day(s) that were held over the weekend. It was wonderful to see our unique charter school participate in this event on Saturday (Kindergarten to Grade Five) and Sunday (Middle School) and we will share out the results in an upcoming Monday Message.

This week we will also celebrate ACHIEVEMENT with the second annual Makahiki Games that will be held on Thursday, April 7th. We are fortunate to have a local group of volunteers who will come to campus and run the event with our learners. Parents and community members are welcome to attend to event and learn more about the activities.

This a helpful reminder that there is another long long weekend coming up around the holiday of Easter. On Friday, April 7th the campus will be closed due to Good Friday and Monday, April 10th is a Hawai’i State Teachers Association (HSTA) Collaboration Day with no students at school. We look forward to welcoming our learners back to campus on Tuesday, April 12th for the stretch run of the 2022-2023 school year. There are no other planned breaks from school for the remainder of the school year which concludes on Friday, May 26th.

An update to a miscommunication on our Instagram and Facebook accounts-we have NOT hired a Grade Seven facilitator for the 2023-2024 school year yet. We are still collecting resumes to fill the position and we will be vigilant and make sure that we have high-quality educators working with our keiki.

Mahalo for your support of our unique charter school and malama pono.

Mahalo for your support of our unique charter school and 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.

Happy almost Prince Kuhio Day to everyone in the Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School learning community! We hope that this message finds you in good health and happiness as we prepare to celebrate his holiday tomorrow.

Known as the citizen Prince for his life of dedication to the people of Hawai’i, Prince Kuhio was instrumental in fighting for the homelands of the native Hawai’ians. He diligently lobbied US Senators, once writing to them “After extensive investigation and survey on the part of various organizations organized to rehabilitate the Hawaiian race, it was found that the only method in which to rehabilitate the race was to place them back upon the soil.”

Prince Kuhio was born just down the road from our school in Koloa and the impact of his life of service is still felt today long after his passing. Due to the persistent efforts of Prince Kuhio and a group of advocates, President Warren G. Harding signed the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act, of 1920. The Hawaiian Homes Commission Act intended to return native Hawaiians to the land while encouraging them to become self-sufficient homesteaders on the leased parcels of trust land.

We hope everyone spends a moment or two on Monday to reflect on the incredible person that Prince Kuhio was and his impact on our lives in beautiful Hawai’i.

Last week on campus we were blessed to have a special guest in our Hawai’iana classes. Captain Steve will be working with Kumu Kali and all the learners in our school on building model replicas of the boat Hokule’a which holds a prominent place in the history of Hawai’i. Please watch for further details as Captain Steve will be visiting us for the next two weeks.

We look forward to sharing further details on our upcoming Makahiki Games in April and Na Kupu Lau in May in upcoming editions of the Monday Message.

Please enjoy the scenic photo below captured by Ms. Barb. Notice the heart shape in the valley created by the shadows of the sun on the trees. It’s a splendid photo and it clearly speaks of a school that wishes to live aloha daily.

Mahalo for your support of our unique charter school and 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 this message finds you enjoying the last few hours of a festive Spring Break. We look forward to welcoming everyone back to campus to commence the last quarter of the 2022-2023 school year and would like to share some shifts coming on campus.

As most of you know already, Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School was unanimously granted approval by the state of Hawai’i Charter School Commissioners on March 9th to add Grade Seven (2023-2024) plus Grade Eight (2024-2025) so that we will become a full K-8 school. We are now working to ensure that we meet the expectations of highly qualified educators leading each of our classes. We have been advertising for a Hawai’i Teacher Standards Board-certified Hawai’iana teacher for several months now and can share that we internally found our candidate!

Kumu Kali will be moving from being the Grade Three/Four teacher to becoming the Hawai’iana teacher for the remainder of the 2022-2023 school year. Kumu Kali has a Master’s Degree in Hawaiian studies from the University of Hawai’i and extensive teaching on several islands in Hawai’i. Kumu Kali spearheaded the introduction of the Makahiki Games to our school last April, so it is a perfect fit for all!

Ms. Emily (pictured below with Ms. Chasa) will remain as the Grade Three/Four teacher for the remainder of the school year to fill this vacancy left by moving Kumu Kali to the Hawai’iana teacher. Ms. Emily is already well known in our learning community for her warm smile and attention to detail with our learners.

Kumu Chris will shift from Hawai’iana teacher to Educational Assistant with Ms. Kate and the Grade Four class. Kumu Chris has already been in this role on Wednesdays and we plan to use his background knowledge in preparation for Na Kupu Lau in late May.

We also wish to introduce Kumu Nouveau (my apologies for the lack of a photo) to our learning community. He will be providing Physical Education to our learners in Kindergarten to Grade Six. We have asked Kumu Nouveau to please work with our keiki to assist with the preparation for the upcoming Mayor’s Track Meets on April 1st and April 2nd.

Mahalo for your support of our unique charter school and 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.