Aloha mai kakou to the Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School learning community and we hope this message finds you all in good health and happiness as we enter the back half of October.

We greatly appreciate your support of our unique charter school which features socio-emotional learning as one of the core components of our state of Hawai’i Charter Commission contract. We wish to express our gratitude to Ms. Kate who has stepped into the newly formed role of Socio-Emotional Coach on campus in addition to her halftime duties of teaching Middle School.

Last Wednesday, October 16th was Unity Day in the state of Hawai’i. This annual event is set aside for all of us to stand together in unity against bullying behaviors. We celebrated Unity Day on campus and were thrilled to see so many students, staff, and community members wear orange in support. We wanted the day to be an opportunity to more deeply explore the importance of uniting against bullying. After our Morning Piko the entire school came together in a large circle and pledged to stand together to address this issue in our society. Ms. Kate reinforced the significant impact that we can all have on one another in her Socio-Emotional classes this week. She also introduced a poster and poem contest to ensure that Unity Day will live far beyond a one day school event.

A happy reminder that with Halloween right around the corner also comes our annual Trunk or Treat event. This extremely fun activity will be held on Halloween, Thursday, October 31st on campus, in the field. Last year we had over 30 vehicles participate! As Halloween is an active day on Kaua’i, please plan for early dismissal that day to make sure everyone can complete their fun before dark.

Best wishes to you all for a wonderful week ahead. Malama pono.

DJ Adams
Po’okumu (Director)
Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School
Koloa, Hawai’i