Posted on: Thursday, May 17, 2001

Hakipu'u charter school to open

By Eloise Aguiar
Advertiser Windward Bureau

KANE'OHE — Students wishing to attend Windward's newest charter school, the Hakipu'u Learning Center, must be willing to get their hands dirty.

The school, named after the Hakipu'u Ahupua'a, located between Waikane and Kualoa, will be based at Windward Community College, but its classrooms will be at He'eia Fishpond and in Hakipu'u mauka and makai, for instance.

Hakipu'u is the first charter school to have numerous learning sites and the only one on a college campus, according to Chuck Higgins, head of the Department of Education's charter school program.

Angela Meixell, interim provost at Windward Community College, said she's excited about Hakipu'u setting up at the college.

"There's a lot of overlap with what our strengths are: Hawaiian studies, natural science, fine arts, voyaging," she said. "Lots of things we consider our strengths are curriculum focus at Hakipu'u."

Not only will Hakipu'u be able to share in some of the college's resources, but Windward's students will have an opportunity to be involved with the younger students as tutors and during in-service projects, and at other learning environments such as the taro loi and fishpond, Meixell said.

Hakipu'u, which received its charter May 3, is one of 13 charter schools that the state Board of Education has approved since 1999.

The BOE was to approve four more today at its meeting on Maui.

Charter schools were launched as a means to reform public schools, free them from red tape and generate innovative methods and improvements within the public school system.

They manage their own money and experiment with curriculum, but are still bound by collective bargaining and must open their doors to all students.

The Hakipu'u Learning Center will focus on Hawaiian culture and sciences, both contemporary and traditional, to educate 30 seventh- and eighth-graders in its first year.

Classes begin Sept. 4, and recruitment for students and teachers has begun.

Teachers who apply have to be open-minded, said Charlene Hoe, chairwoman of the committee that developed the curriculum for the school.

"We need someone who's not afraid to get their hands into the mud or utilize the scientific tools available to us to engage the student," Hoe said.

Ideally, Hoe said, the school would like to attract students who want to learn but who are not learning in the traditional classroom environment.

"There's no other determining criteria," she said. "We're not looking at grades or for certain ethnic background."

If more than 30 students apply, selection will be made by lottery, Hoe said.