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I agree with Dreaming of Hawaii... that would be a better decision.
I wouldn't hold out much hope for a charter school in Ocenview. I don't think the population can support it. Naalehu School pulls from all over the area and it only has about 400 students. And remember, a charter school would be subject to the exact same hiring challenges as Naalehu has now.
For perspective... Volcano School of Arts & Sciences PCS is a community public charter school which is well rated, 7 out of 10 on Great Schools, with about 150 students, plus a waiting list, operating in a community where a lot of professionals live who place a high value on education. The census shows the average adult educational attainment in Volcano as "some graduate school." Its students consistently become top achievers in high school. I understand there was some private wealth behind its initial organization. So the VSAS folks are motivated.
But it is held in rented WWII quonset huts with tarps over them to stop the leaks, and tents and a portable building, and they need to vacate the property soon. Plus for the last two years they are leasing an old public school building with a few classrooms that had been closed since the school consolidations of the 70s and some classes are held there now. So for now the campus is split.
The school needs to raise something like $6 million to build out that new property to current standards. Unless my math is off that adds up to $40,000 per student to set it up, before even considering lease payments on the land, operating costs and salaries, etc. I've been to several community meetings about it, and the preliminary plans all look fine, but everyone has pretty much the same question... "where is the money supposed to come from?"
At the heart of the issue is that the state allocates far less money per student to charter school students than they do to public schools, so the charter schools are literally doing more with less. But then a while back the highly respected director of the school, who played a key role in getting the initial plans rolling, resigned to take a new job on the mainland. Neighbors are optimistic, but I personally saw that as a big setback, because he was exceptional.
There is a community org called Friends of the Volcano School of Arts and Sciences. This update on the situation from last December spells out the challenges they are facing, dealing with the state, and might give a clue to anyone who micght be interested what any organizers in South Ka'u could face in trying to open one down there.
I have one friend who drove her son to Volcano every day for the charter school (45 minutes one way).
I've definitely considered it! But I think that might drive us (no pun intended) as crazy as attending such a troubled school. Thanks, DOH for the encouraging words.
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Have you talked to anyone at the school yet? Have you checked out the school's website, or the websites that rank schools? Sorry to say, I think you need to lower your expectations.
Yeah, I have...which is what depresses me so about this aspect of moving ! And I'm grasping and hunting for any and all solutions. Apologies for quoting this in an out-of-order reply!
Side note, if I make it there and start the farm, I will do everything in my power to help out the community keiki. I'd love to have a kid's program that emphasizes mahi'ai farming while teaching kids science, math, reading/writing, and history. Oh, excuse me, my loftiness is showing
Just out of curiosity, why are charter schools given less money? I live in a city with a charter school, and it is far superior to many other schools nearby to it.
This is really grinding my gears - the fact that (aside from physical security) education is the single most important obligation that we as a community have to our keiki, yet a properly funded and functioning system seems like a hopeless scenario. I'm bet a 0.5% "education tax" on hotel guests would start pumping in some much needed funds. Just sayin'...
Very informative, OpenD, as usual I found a short update here.
Interesting. I didn't know Pahala was considering a charter school. At least a couple of kids from Pahala come up to Volcano, which isn't as long a haul as from Naalehu, and just the cost of gas alone makes it challenging for their parents. But the brief article explains the conflicts well... each charter school student pulls funding from the public school they would otherwise attend, but only half of that allowance is allotted to the charter school. And it's interesting to me that as an alternative in Pahala they are considering a facility to serve home-schooled kids. I think there's some real possibility for small communities in that idea.
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Just out of curiosity, why are charter schools given less money?
The only answer I can give is "Just because." The State Constitution allows it, but the legislators just won't approve it. Maybe they are afraid of a mass drain from the public schools if charter schools get too popular?
I've definitely considered it! But I think that might drive us (no pun intended) as crazy as attending such a troubled school. Thanks, DOH for the encouraging words.
Yeah, I have...which is what depresses me so about this aspect of moving ! And I'm grasping and hunting for any and all solutions. Apologies for quoting this in an out-of-order reply!
Side note, if I make it there and start the farm, I will do everything in my power to help out the community keiki. I'd love to have a kid's program that emphasizes mahi'ai farming while teaching kids science, math, reading/writing, and history. Oh, excuse me, my loftiness is showing
~Corinne
And now you know why the frequent posters on this forum keep saying over and over how bad the schools are in Hawaii. We are not being negative or discouraging to newcomers, we are stating the facts of life.
Yes we all agree it is bad, but there is no easy solution. I think that those of us who live in the rural areas are all trying to come up with alternative solutions in our own small ways.
Maybe they are afraid of a mass drain from the public schools if charter schools get too popular?
Indeed, I can see how they might think that way. But if they do, they should realize that parents obviously need more from the system. I wonder what county budget areas they could shift funding from and over to the schools. I'm sure THAT'S a big 'ol can of worms! LOL!
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And it's interesting to me that as an alternative in Pahala they are considering a facility to serve home-schooled kids. I think there's some real possibility for small communities in that idea.
I agree - I would be much more comfortable home-schooling if there was a support system, and a place where the kids could interact. Right now, we have no neighborhood kids, and with our work schedules (one of us is always home, the other drives our 1 car to work) we don't need childcare. So I know first-hand the difficulties of having a vibrant child who so desperately wants to be with other kids. I don't want to subject her to that for years to come.
I wonder how feasible it is to organize a kind of education/school co-op run by parents. Parents agree to share duties such as office work, teaching, providing meals, cleaning, buying snacks, etc., which keeps costs very low because of the volunteer workforce. Any tuition collected goes to paying for the building, materials, and the handful of certified teachers (which of course are a legal requirement). There's a co-op preschool near me that pretty much operates this way, and the tuition is extremely affordable at $150 per month for the 2-day/week. By comparison, there is a conventional preschool nearby that charges $650/month for the 2-day program. After hearing that, I politely ended the phone call!
Maybe my theoretical facility could also be a co-op where older students who are using the online learning options offered by the state can all meet up together to do their work, and work on projects together.
I'm willing to bet there's some kind of grant money out there for something like that.
Maybe my theoretical facility could also be a co-op where older students who are using the online learning options offered by the state can all meet up together to do their work, and work on projects together.
As long as we're going to blue-sky this, check out what "Educationalist" Sugata Mitra, winner of the $1 million TED prize has to say about Self-Organized Learning Environments (SOLE) and how current education standards are based on skills from the past which are no longer needed in the Google era.
Sure, you have to meet current legal standards, but thinking about homeschooling and charter schools, you might as well look to what you can do in addition to enrich your child's education for the future.
sillylilybaby, you have to ask the question what exactly is making the local public schools so bad in folks eyes?
It is not necessarily for the will of the parents, or teachers, or lack of funds that they are 'bad'. It's an amalgam of problems which turn the children & teenagers at the end of middle, but certainly in high school to sex, drugs, violence and absenteeism.
It's in the interest of parents, teacher unions, and school officials to give students their graduation even if the teens haven't been at school half of the times. Nobody addresses the bigger issue of college readiness. Meaning a real college career preparing you for a decent wage job (not comparative literature, women's studies, journalism, theater, etc).
That's also the reason why UH Manoa is going down the tubes fast. They in turn lower their standards to get enough funding and tuition money to finance the ever growing apparatus and sports venues. Once the young folks come out of that behemoth with huge student loans to pay off, they realize that companies often smirk when they see a UH degree. And those are the lucky ones who made it so far.
A teacher does not need to be physically present, she could be a projected, life-sized image on the wall. A "Granny Cloud" of such volunteer teachers have been operating out of the UK and a few other countries into schools in India and South America for more than five years, using a combination of the internet and admiration to provide a meaningful education for children.
Quoted from OpenD's link...would work well in a place where they can't pay teachers enough to physically go there. Something similar has been happening in the nursing industry as well.
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It's an amalgam of problems which turn the children & teenagers at the end of middle, but certainly in high school to sex, drugs, violence and absenteeism.
Thanks for your take on this, Kara. I grew up outside of Washington DC, in a very affluent county, but our particular town quickly became one of the poorest as I went through the grades (probably because of poor people like us coming in!). I definitely know that for my friends and me (we were a serious minority), it had everything to do with our parents just not accepting anything less than the best from us scholastically and personally, despite their own issues with sex, drugs, and violence, and the fact that we were surrounded by those vices every day. We somehow (for the most part) avoided getting involved in any of that.
So continuing the blue-sky theme, maybe a parent/caregiver center for gathering could be just as useful! Perhaps a Tutu and Me program for older keiki.
It is not necessarily for the will of the parents, or teachers, or lack of funds that they are 'bad'.
Certainly the overall funding level is not the problem. People who are new to this discussion are often surprised to find out that Hawai'i is ranked in the top third of all the states for per-pupil spending. The problem, as the last 5 Governors have all said at various times, is that the money is spent in the wrong ways, by the wrong people, and until recently there's really been no accountability for anything. For over 40 years the Board of Education, which was elected, was ineffective and made many mistakes. Two years ago the voters supported the necessary changes to allow the Governor to appoint the Board members, and he accepted accountability for making improvements. There's been some progress, but the new board has a big mess to clean up.
If I were appointed Czar of Schools I'd do some serious house cleaning at the DOE, give more autonomy and accountability... and funding!... to the principals of the schools.
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It's an amalgam of problems which turn the children & teenagers at the end of middle, but certainly in high school to sex, drugs, violence and absenteeism.
Tis thus all over the country, and it has been for a long time. Parental involvement (or not) is a key factor. But one of the things I see different about Hawai'i is an embedded culture of bullying, and a lot of staff who just don't want to get involved. Interested and involved parents need interested and involved teachers and staff to partner with.
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Nobody addresses the bigger issue of college readiness. Meaning a real college career preparing you for a decent wage job (not comparative literature, women's studies, journalism, theater, etc).
I strongly believe in college education, but I recognize that it is not for everyone. For many kids a good trade school training is a better choice. And I know this is an old argument, but I personally don't think the primary goal of an undergraduate college education should be to train people for a career, as much as it should be to teach people to think and to lead a rounded and productive life. Many of the best careers of their futures haven't even been invented yet.
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! And I'm grasping and hunting for any and all solutions. Apologies for quoting this in an out-of-order reply!
I found a short update here.
