OUR SCHOOLS • HALAU LOKAHI PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOL
Lessons held outdoors — rain or shine

By James Gonser
Advertiser Urban Honolulu Writer

You'll never see students at Halau Lokahi Public Charter School staring out the windows longing for the outdoors. That's because Halau Lokahi doesn't have any windows or even a schoolhouse; all of their classes are taught outside.

Halau Lokahi Public Charter School students rehearse for a performance. Learning is based on Hawaiian values at the Kalihi school, and classes are held outdoors and at various sites in the community. Deborah Booker • The Honolulu Advertiser

The school has only an office and computer lab under roof. Everything else is held outdoors, rain or shine.

June Nagasawa, a public school teacher with decades of classroom experience, is in charge of curriculum at Halau Lokahi. Nagasawa said although charter schools are part of the public school systems, neither textbooks nor facilities are provided by the state.

"People are just amazed when they ask to visit our school and we tell them we don't have a building but we have a site," Nagasawa said. "They see these kids out in the sun on picnic benches doing their lessons or doing the hula on the field. They (the students) have to squeeze close to the walls when it rains, but they survive."

The school also makes use of public parks, beaches, gardens, museums, libraries and farm lots for research to teach its students.

"We use outdoor sites," said school director and founder Laara Allbrett. "They learn to swim, learn to grow taro and about medicinal plants. We try to use resources in the community, people who are willing to share their knowledge. Hawaiians know knowledge does not stop with you. Whatever you know, you pass it on."

Allbrett said the students seem to enjoy being outside rather than being in a stuffy classroom.

A typical day at the school begins with hula and oli, or chanting, followed by a period of meditation to focus on the day. The school's students are divided into six groups or hui by grade levels, and each day ends with more hula and oli.

Christine "Kini" Gora, 16, is in ninth grade and did not pass enough courses to be promoted to the tenth grade before transferring to Halau Lokahi. Gora said she has found the support she needs to learn at Halau Lokahi, even working on an award-winning science project and traveling with other students to Arizona to make a presentation on their work involving the effects of kava on microscopic life forms.

"It's easier for me here," Gora said. "The teachers help more. They don't just say 'See me after school' and then are too busy and say 'go home.' As long as you need them, they are there."

Gora, who is part Hawaiian, said the school's emphasis on the Hawaiian culture makes her think she may want to pursue an education in Hawaiian studies.

The school just completed its second year and will hold its first graduation tomorrow, a 24-hour ceremony that incorporates Native Hawaiian sites and beliefs, including stops at the Royal Mausoleum and 'Iolani Palace.

And it's all for the school's first two graduating seniors.

Allbrett said the school's focus is student-centered, using a self-directed inquiry approach to learning and the research investigation process.

The school's goal is to integrate traditional learning practices with 21st-century science and technology methods to create a balanced learning environment, Allbrett said.

"The kids can go from the taro patch to the computer terminal as we prepare them to walk successfully in both worlds," Allbrett said. "It's going back to their roots and culture, which opens up within them a hidden treasure, reigniting a spark that has gone dormant for too long in the Hawaiian people."

Allbrett said after two years she is seeing that spark every day in her students as they find their place in the world and develop the confidence needed to achieve success in academics.

• What are you most proud of? Putting students in touch with their Hawaiian ancestry and teaching them to be proud of it. "It is not about just being Hawaiian; it's about the commitment to support the Hawaiian language and culture. That is what we are all about," Allbrett said.

• Best-kept secret: That students can excel in a public school without a schoolhouse or textbooks.

• Our biggest challenge: Finding a permanent site. Their lease at Palama Settlement expires Dec. 31. "We would love Palama to adopt us and keep us forever," Allbrett said.

• What we need: A school bus. "Because we are interested in outdoor learning and being able to take them to the mountains or the ocean, we need a bus to take them there."

• Projects: Award-winning student project "Anatomy of Daphnia," which examines the effects of kava on the heart rate of a microscopic insect.

• Special events: The school's first graduating class of two students tomorrow night.

To get your school profiled, contact education editor Dan Woods at 525-5441 or dwoods@honoluluadvertiser.com.