School news and events for the week of {date}

Aloha to the good people in the learning community of Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School, and hope this message finds you in good health and happiness.

As we see the number of active COVID cases on Kaua’i decrease, it gives us hope and an opportunity to refresh understandings of the revised school opening plan. We review the County Of Kaua’i COVID page daily to check the active cases on the island. We understand that hopping back and forth between education delivery models is extremely disruptive to our families, so we carefully examine active COVID numbers on Thursday and Friday each week. If the active COVID cases on Kaua’i are ten or fewer for two consecutive days on a Thursday and Friday, then the following week will be green level, which means on-campus face-to-face education daily. If the active COVID cases are eleven or higher for either of those days, the following week would be yellow level, which means the hybrid delivery model of education. When there is a change from one level to another, then an email from the school will be sent to our learning community on Friday so everyone can prepare properly.

The American author Heidi Catherine Culbertson once wrote, “Your abundance is not measured by what you have. It is created by what you share.” These wise words are a great reminder of the vast amount of sharing that goes on within our learning community.

The “Sharing Program” canned food drive got off to a positive start as over 50 canned items were donated in the first two days alone. We will continue to collect canned goods to distribute to those in need through local charities until Thursday, December 17. For each 70 of these anonymous donated items, we will randomly draw one classroom to win an enrichment class of physical education. If we reach the magic threshold of 500 items, then each class in our school will receive an enrichment class of physical education after the winter break.

We are blessed to have nature share its wonders with us here on campus on a daily basis. Once in a while we see Mother Nature’s lawn mowers and tree pruners — feral goats — wander through the grounds happily munching away on greenery. The feral pigs do visit the campus daily, but with modifications made to garbage pickup times, they pretty much just move through quickly now. Anyone who has been up the valley to the school also knows that the famous chickens of Kaua’i share their personalities with our learning community.

We see sharing of experiences, talents, and passions on campus daily as well. A good example of this sharing is the recent introduction of Pickleball to some of our keiki here on campus by our very own staff member Barb. This interesting activity gives an opportunity to play a lifelong sport that people from five to 85 can participate in. We hope as we move back to green level in the future that we can initiate a Pickleball Club here at our school.

Excellent driving questions that have grown into project-based learning activities are also found on campus. Two examples from last week are the 4th grade outdoor classroom, which continues to develop, and the 2nd grade tree painting, which has more depth and color. We look forward to our keiki sharing their projects at upcoming Presentations of Learning.

Mahalo to you all for your support of our unique charter school, and best wishes to all for a festive last week of school prior to the winter break.

DJ Adams
School Director