Ho'ala's character-driven principles spreading
By Scott Ishikawa
Advertiser Central O'ahu Writer
WAHIAWA — One of the co-founders of Ho'ala School in Wahiawa is now spreading the school's successful philosophy on the Mainland.
Linda Inlay, who was Ho'ala's vice principal at the time the private school opened in 1986, has incorporated Ho'ala's character education philosophy into the curriculum of River School, a charter school in Napa Valley, Calif.
Inlay, using a California school grant, flew two of her River School teachers to Hawai'i this month to learn more about Ho'ala's philosophy from the school administration and faculty.
"I had a chance to come back to Ho'ala last year, and wanted more River School teachers to have the same opportunity," Inlay said from her California office.
Ho'ala, which means "Awakening of the Self," was founded in 1986 by Sister Joan Madden. Its educational philosophy is based on the work of Alfred Adler, which maintains that people need to have a strong sense of significance and belonging. The school tries to provide an environment in which students flourish by developing habits of personal dignity, cooperation for the good of the whole, and effective action.
"We have a similar curriculum as other schools, but with a non-authoritative teaching style," said longtime Ho'ala instructor Jef Fern, who said students under the philosophy are provided decision-making powers with certain limits.
"Rather than sitting on kids to make them do their homework," Fern said, "what we will do is give them time and space to do the work and leave them alone.
"If they don't do their homework, then we have to set up the ramifications. But they learn the consequences of their own choices if they make bad ones. What we want to encourage is they take more initiative on their own."
Inlay left Ho'ala in 1988 to work on the Mainland and took over River School in 1994, in which enrollment at the time for the middle-grade school was struggling with only 75 students. Parents sending their children there had become dissatisfied with the previous curriculum, which they felt relied too much on the arts, according to River School faculty member Alan Little, who visited Ho'ala with fellow teacher Mary Lynn Bryan.
"It took some time, but we've found families that believe in the system and have since come aboard," Little said.
After instilling the character development philosophy at River School, enrollment has since increased to about 160 students. Plans call for expanding to 300 students over the next two years.
Both Ho'ala and River schools require students, parents and school staff to sign a contract committing themselves to the school philosophy and to participate and assist with school events and operations. Both campuses also have small enrollments, which probably helps school staff in implementing the character-driven philosophy. Hoala has 125 students in Grades K-12.
Today, the school's K-8 grades attend classes at Wahiawa Hongwanji Mission, while its high school students are taught at the Wahiawa YMCA. A new Wahiawa campus on Lehua Street is tentatively scheduled to open this fall.
