Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 20, Number 04, 1 ʻApelila 2003 — LEKA Kālele [ARTICLE]

LEKA Kālele

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Kūpuna program under attack in public schools

The kūpuna program is made up of educators who teach "nā mea Hawai'i" (things Hawaiian) in our public schools, servicing kindergarten to grade six. This has been a successful program for over 20 years statewide. We are kūpuna (grandparents), and in the last few years have added mākua (parents) to the program. We usually service the schools ffom October to May for the school year. In past years we received training sessions and workshops ffom different sources to build our skills. We also were placed in available positions in the schools eaeh year. Now we have less training and must individually apply to the school and be interviewed by the principal. Some of the main questions asked: Do you do May Day? Do you do music? Do you do

hands-on crafts? This shows us that the schools are not really concerned with the intellectual part of Hawaiian studies, whieh have been mandated to be taught in our schools. Yes, I ean do all that and more, but as a Hawaiian educator, this offends me because that is not all that we are. Most of us are not kumu hula, music teachers or musicians. President Bush's No Child Left Behind requires all part-time teachers to have an associate's degree by a certain time ffame. Why do we need this to do May Day or teach music? This presents difficulties for our generation. Our program is unique to Hawai'i and we should be exempted. This past February presented a new eoneem for us. Three kūpuna in one of our schools were given a few days notice of termination

due to the depletion of kūpuna monies for their salaries. This was a total shock to them and caused the rest of us to wonder about our positions. Why did this happen? Why wasn't there enough money allocated to last until May? Why aren't these three kūpuna receiving support from higher-ups in the piogram? Why are they left to fend for themselves? This is not Hawaiian. There must be other monies that ean pay their salaries at least till Apiil. Get the money ffom somewhere. Parents and teachers, we need your voices to speak up for us. Joyce Pu'u, kupuna Mōkapu Elementary School