Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 29, Number 4, 1 ʻApelila 2012 — Charter school conference marks 10 years [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Charter school conference marks 10 years

By Lisa Asato Leadership with aloha is key to affecting positive change in your lives, the lives of your families and in your communities, OHA Trustee Haunani Apoliona told a gathering of more than 300 administrators and students from Hawaiian-focused charter schools ranging from elementary-school keiki to high school seniors. "My very brief message to you this morning is leadership with aloha," Apoliona said. "You may say, who is a leader? You are. Every one of you is a leader. You may be a leader in a formal setting. You may be a leader in an informal setting among your friends, your family, your community, . . . but you are a leader." Apoliona's remarks eame March 8 at an education conference that brought together the 12 Hawaiian-focused schools comprising Nā Lei Na'auao Native Hawaiian Charter School Allianee. The conference, in its 10th year, was a time for the schools to ku'i ka lono, or spread the news, about innovative curriculum and instruction practices, fundraising strategies and legislative challenges, among other things. Through the years, OHA has been a consistent supporter of

the work of the schools, providing $9.6 million since 2005 to the allianee, whieh enrolls about 4,000 students statewide. "Collectively, these students are living proof that EA - Education with Aloha, is working and that native people ean design, control and evaluate quality models of education that allow Hawaiian students to reach their highest level and walk comfortably in mulhple worlds," organizers said in a written message to attendees. The two-day conference featured workshops sharing best practices in testing and information on ongoing class projects, attending college and nonhehon writing, among others. Ke Kula Ni'ihau o Kekaha presented a behind-the-scenes look at producing video for PBS Hawai'i's student news network, Hiki Nō. On the second day of the conference, participants visited Hālau Lōkahi in Honolulu and 7Hālau Kū Mana in Mānoa. At a workshop the day before, Hālau Kū Māna math teachers Noelani Kamalu and Tseshani Amadedoti presented a workshop intriguingly titled "How Hālau Kū Mana Students Beat the HSA Math Test," referring to the annual Hawai'i State Assessment, whieh measures puhlie schools' annual progress for the federal No Child Left Behind Act.

The teachers attributed the students' success to many factors, saying they set high standards beyond the state's expectations and held the students accountable for meeting 100 percent of the classes' goals. "We don't teach to the test, we teach everything you're supposed to teach and then some," said Kamalu. They also held math-intensive camps outside school and weekly math challenges with prizes and got students to shed the shame of making mistakes in front of their peers. "The foundations of the problems in indigenous education throughout Hawai'i, throughout Aotearoa, throughout the Native American Indian reservations it's all the same thing - it's a laek of self confidence," Amadedoti said, adding that peer learning groups have sprouted up and students show more initiative in their own learning. Amadedoti said the two math teachers wanted to share what they leamed so other charter schools could benefit. "All our charter schools are siblings, so we gotta look out for one another," he said. At another workshop, the Kāne'ohe, O'ahubased Hakipu'u Learning Center described how the Hale Pili project helped improve students' self-esteem to combat problems in school ranging from bullying, fights and students disrespecting teachers to substance abuse, attendance issues and

EDUCATION

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LEFT: Justyce Mercado, foreground, and Brylie Tavares-Bright of Hālau Lōkahi's K-2 class help their teacher Kehau Crawford, not shown, lead the gathering in a morning meditation, a routine in their classroom. On the command of "hanu" they inhaled; on the eommon of "hā" they exhaled. AB0VE: OHA Trustee Haunani Apoliona said leadership with aloha starts with eaeh person and has the power to affect communities. In background are Ka'iulani Pahio of the Nā Lei Na'auao Native Hawaiian Charter School Allianee and M. Wai'ale'ale Sarsona. - Photos: LisaAsato

problems at home. Kumu Lenei Sousa, who worked with 'Auli'iAweau of La'akea Healing Services, said the project began last school year with 20 students, or 25 percent of the student body. The program created a safe plaee for students to discuss the issues they face as well as their individual strengths. The students also leamed hula, oli, poetry, hip hop and more from experts in the field. After the workshop, Sousa said attendance, academics and student camaraderie have greatly improved. "It was just happier, a better plaee to be - at school and in our classroom," she said. Before Hale Pili, she said, when the issues were present, "learning wasn't even something we could start to tackle." Hālau Lōkahi, meanwhile, fielded its first wrestling team last year with three boys and three girls led by head eoaeh Charles Ariola, a former U.S. national team member who helped start Mililani High School's girls' wrestling program, whieh went on to win the 2000 OIA championship. The Hālau Lōkahi

wrestlers had an impressive first year: Isaiah Pasion-Adriano placed first in the east and sixth overall. "He also had the fastest pin and (tied for) most points scored in the whole east side," said athletic director Keoni Ariola, who is Charles' brother. First-time wrestler Miandra Amantiad-Saballa also excelled and was undefeated in the east. She placed third at the OIA ehampionships. "She's going to be big," said Keoni, who wants to "springboard wrestling in charter schools." He plans to start a wrestling club open to all charter schools and mainstream public schools. Says Keoni of his school's team: "We started off with a lot more (wrestlers), but it's such a rigorous sport that only the strong survive. My school and myself, we're very proud of our kids." Earlier that morning, M. Wai'ale'ale Sarsona, chief of staff at the state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands, addressed the gathering, filling in for DHHL Director Alapaki Nahale-a, who wasn't able

to attend. Saying she is a "true charterschool supporter," Sarsona, a past principal at the K-12 Hawaiianimmersion Ke Kula 'o Samuel M. Kamakau Laboratory Public Charter School in Kāne'ohe, whieh her children attend, drew ties between the charter-school movement and the work of DHHL, whose mandate to return Hawaiians to the land arises from federal law. "In our charter schools, like in the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands, we have four words that we use," she said: serve, protect, deliver and assert. "We want to assert our ability to have and achieve self-determina-tion. This is why our charter school movement exists today." The charter-school movement owes a lot to the various administrators and community members who worked hard to get it where it is today, she said, asking administrators to stand and for everyone to give them "the ultimate applause for all of the work and commitment that they've done."

Sarsona has since been named director of Kamehameha School's Ho'olako Like Department, whieh oversees the schools' support of 17 Hawaiian-focused public charter and conversion schools. She will leave DHHL in April. Apoliona, who spoke after Sarsona, drove home the message of leadership. A former OHA Chairperson and former president and CEO of the nonprofit socialservices agency Alu Like Ine., she acknowledged that leadership is difficult, but she said you do it anyway because "you want to make a difference in Hawai'i." She asked the students to remember the values of honesty, ethics, compassion, hard work, mutual respect and courage. Reciting a famous 1917 quo-

tation by the deposed Hawaiian queen, Lili'uokalani, Apoliona said in part: "You must remember never to cease to act because you fear you may fail. The way to lose any earthly kingdom is to be inflexible, intolerant and prejudicial. Another way is to be too flexible, tolerant of too many wrongs and without judgment at all. It is a razor's edge. It is the width of a blade of pili grass. To gain the kingdom of heaven is to hear what is not said, to see what cannot be seen and to know the unknowahle - that is Aloha." "How do you hear what is not said?" Apoliona asked the crowd. "To see what cannot be seen? Whoo, tall order. You as leaders, we as leaders must aspire to what the queen has laid out for us as counsel." ■

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Teachers Noelani Kamalu and Tseshani Amadedoti gave a presentation titled "How Hālau Kū Mana students beat the HSA math test." RIGHT T0P: Members of Hālau Lōkahi's inaugural wrestling team: lsaiah Pasion-Adriano, left, lsabelle Ouilana-Amina, Chazari Edwards, Miandra Amantiad-Saballa and Jeremy Cesneros. RIGHT: Hakipu'u Learning Center students perform a hula during a workshop discussing their Hale Pili project.