April Showers…?
To everyone that was affected by the devastating rains in April, we send our heartfelt wishes for the strength, determination and unification necessary for responding in times of disaster. Families lost their homes, cars, and beloved pets. Such trauma can make you feel isolated and helpless, while those unaffected mobilize out of compassion to dig in, literally, with friends and neighbors on the road to recovery. It appears that our island community is chock full of caring, hard-working citizens. We are so proud to be part of a community that in the hardest of times can join hands to rebuild and give support to what we all cherish.
This is exactly the type of school ohana we aim to build. It requires dedication, time, and resources from each of us to not only get us started and become operational, but also to maintain our vision and grow towards bigger dreams through the future.
Knowing that Alaka`i will be made up of families who have proven community service, it is inspiring to imagine what we can all do for our children’s school.
Parent and Child Fair
On April 14, Alaka`i had a table set up at the Parent and Child Fair in Kukui Grove Shopping Center. It was a great turnout with many families attending. There were lots of community organizations set up who serve the family and keiki populations sharing their information and also providing activities to engage the keiki, all while being entertained by incredible young performers on the main stage. Showing up at events like this helps to raise awareness, boost our enrollment, and answer questions people have who heard about us and want to know more.
Marketing & P.R.
This is a crucial time for raising awareness of Alaka’i O Kaua’i. As you may already know, our school funding is predicated on how many pupils are enrolled. It is our mission to fill all 165 available seats with happy keiki. Look out for our ad in Kaua`i Family Magazine (p.54), articles in the Garden Island Newspaper, and other local digital sites. If you see them, please share them and tag us on your facebook and social media pages; let the community know you are looking forward to your children attending! If you are a blogger, vlogger, or know others who are, please contact us! We would love to work with you on content about our school.
On The Air
A huge Mahalo to George Hochman of H. Hawaii Media for their generous donation to our school of a complete advertising package with H.Hawaii Media radio stations. You might hear our ad played twice a day on all 5 of their stations: Jamz 98.1, Island 98.9, Rooster Country 99.9, Oldies 101.3, and Hawaiian 107.9. This example of donorship is a true testament to our Kaua`i Aloha Spirit!
Team Alaka`i: Outreach
DrB will be at Kukui Grove Shopping Center on April 28, 29, 30 Sat-Mon, 12-5pm, to help get the word out about our school. Anyone who would like to meet our Board Chairperson and ask your questions, even submit an application, she will be happy to meet and work with you. DrB has been a UHM professor since 2003, training future teachers. She loves to talk story and share how Alakai O Kauai Charter School is going to transform education. And your learners will benefit from this new way of teaching, teaching to the whole child with academic rigor, informed social-emotional learning, and an Individualized Learning Plan. No child will be overlooked or will fall through any cracks. Their individual needs will be met and the potential of each child will blossom.
Our next outreach table will be at the front entrance of Wal-Mart on Saturday May 5th, 12pm to 5pm. We will have flyers for handing out and a donation basket. Inviting everyone to visit our website is an easy way they can get a good introduction to who we are.
Are you a member of an organized group who has regular meetings? If you would like for a school representative to attend your group meeting to share information about our school and the benefit of this school choice on Kaua`i, please email us and we can arrange that!
Team Alaka`i: Transportation
On April 10, the Transportation Team met in Kapa`a to discuss the best options and how they might be able to organize bussing for students. Focusing primarily on East side families, we hope a bus service will help gain more enrollment from that side. Research is still in progress on the issue; please stay tuned or email us if you would like to join that effort.
Team Alaka`i: Fundraising
Although they are state funded public schools, charter schools are still under-funded and they are not funded equitably. Until legislation is passed to improve this simple fact, all charter schools have a big responsibility to raise money to pay for amenities many people don’t realize. Whose responsibility is it to ensure we raise enough money to accommodate the ideals we aspire to provide? EVERYONE’S! Especially our parent volunteers who have the tangible motivation to get to work for their kids.
On Thursday, April 26th, the fundraising and community outreach teams met at the Koloa Neighborhood center
There are also great people working on the state level to get new bills passed that will secure more equitable funding for charter schools. You may receive notification of these and requests for more letters of support to our representatives on behalf of charter school funding bills.
Also, to remind everyone, we have created a “Founders Club” for donors who can make tax deductible contributions starting at $1,000. Special recognition and gifts will be offered at various levels of support. Please request our Founders Club invitation letter if you can pass it on to your friends, family, and others who can help.
Our Director, Denise Trentham, DrB, and a grant writer who volunteered, Rozetta Williams, have submitted a federal grant to assist the school as we open a new charter school. We will know July 2018 if we are one of the fortunate 40 recipients of this grant. The grant is specifically for new or charter schools just opening, so we definitely qualify and will look forward to receiving financial assistance from the Federal government.
Amazon Smile
Who on Kaua`i doesn’t shop on Amazon? Living on a remote island, it can be hard to find exactly what we need sometimes. Well, now you can feel really good about your Amazon purchases when you shop through Amazon Smile. The Amazon Smile Foundation will donate 0.5% of the purchase price of eligible products to the charitable organization of your choice. Every item available for purchase on www.amazon.com is also available on AmazonSmile (smile.amazon.com) at the same price. On your first visit to AmazonSmile (smile.amazon.com), you are prompted to select a charitable organization from their list of eligible organizations. You can change your selection at any time, so if you are already using Amazon Smile for another organization, consider including Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School as your first choice or into an alternating schedule with another organization.
6th Grade Update
The State Charter Commission has been deliberating on whether to approve our request to add 6th grade this year. We asked for letters of support and had a great response, thank you! These letters were read and noted at the Commission’s Application Committee meeting on Thursday April 26th. Despite the support, the Application Committee deferred their vote to May 3rd. They may be trying to outlast us, but we will persevere and keep advocating for 6th grade this year (Fall 2018)
Enrollment Update
Every month we submit an enrollment update to the State Commission. Although we have received nearly 140 applications, half of them have not completed enrollment/registration forms. The state does not recognize our applicants until their registrations are complete and we have been on a mission to get all applicants through to completion. If you have received a notification about this, please respond ASAP to help boost our enrollment numbers. Little by little, we are approaching our goal of 165 learners. However, our enrollment target is much more than that; we need to also see a strong wait list. We know that a new school like ours may not be for everybody, and there may be scheduling or transportation conflicts that result in student withdrawal. So to be sure there are keiki ready to fill every open seat, a waitlist will be necessary. Please tell all of your friends, post on your facebook page, about Alaka’i O Kaua’i and why you want your kids to attend, or why we are a great addition to Kaua`i!
Before and After School Service
There has been a great deal of questions about whether or not, Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School will have before and after school care. The answer is “YES!” We have had strong interest in the service and also have had people contacting us wanting to apply for this position. We will be advertising this position soon and will select the best possible candidate to care for your child or children before and after school.
