Monday message 07.31.2023

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.