Immersion students likely out of options at Hau'ula

By Eloise Aguiar
Advertiser Windward O'ahu Writer

HAU'ULA — With five Hawaiian immersion students at Hau'ula Elementary School set to graduate this year, parents are seeking to expand the program at the school to seventh and eighth grades on an interim basis to ensure continuity in their children's education and that they are taught in the Hawaiian language without having to travel far outside the community.

"We're trying to expand the program out here fully realizing that there is really no money," said parent Ka'umealani Walk. "So we're trying to approach this in a different way and see if we can find public and private entities that could support an expansion in other, more creative ways."

Parents even hope to have enough students in the program in two years to persuade the school district to create an immersion program at nearby Kahuku High and Intermediate School. That will require the Department of Education and the community to look outside the box, Walk said.

Hau'ula principal Bradley Odagiri said that while he supports the immersion program he does not have the resources, teachers or space to open another grade at the elementary school. Plus, the school faces mandates to improve under the No Child Left Behind program and next year he will lose 3.5 teaching positions, Odagiri said.

"It will be impossible for Hau'ula," he said. "We don't have a science lab. We don't have a P.E. locker room. We don't even have the curriculum for seventh grade because we're elementary."

The students — the school's first Hawaiian immersion graduating class — have other options, including attending an immersion school in Kailua or Palolo Valley, Odagiri said.

There are also Hawaiian language classes at King Intermediate and at Kahuku, but students would have to attend English-taught courses as well.

Puanani Wilhelm, DOE administrator for Hawaiian Studies and Language Section, said the lack of resources to continue and expand immersion programs is common. Money is fixed and so is the number of teachers, even though there may be a need for expansion, Wilhelm said.

The immersion program, which has 19 sites statewide, also suffers from requirements imposed on all schools including granting positions according to a specific teacher-student ratio. It is difficult to justify a teacher position for five students when the ratio at that level may be 27 to 1, she said.

"In the fixed pot you have to stretch it as far as you can, and there's no more stretch," Wilhelm said.

Zeni Iese, a Hawaiian immersion teacher at Hau'ula, said immersion teachers are willing to make concessions to retain the five students and that two classrooms being used by resource personnel could be made available.

"The kumu are willing to work with combination classes," Iese said, adding that other concerns are easily resolved and older students would add a new dimension to the campus, becoming the caregivers, leaders and role models for younger student. These values, she said, are taught as part of the immersion program that includes lessons in culture as well.

Iese also is the chairwoman for Hau'ula's School Community Based Management Council. The council is attempting to bring all interested parties together to discuss the issue.

Iese said less than 50 percent of the people who have spoken out so far support the expansion but she expects the council will hear from more people at its next meeting at 2:30 p.m. March 11 in the school library.

The Hawaiian immersion program has been at the school since 1998 and parents who have children in it are pleased with their progress.

Some parents said the situation is frustrating because for years they have asked about future programs after their children leave Hau'ula but nothing has been done.

Anuenue Kamakaala, who has two children at the school, said they have the same right to an education in their community as other students.

Kamakaala said she's tried to get answers from Odagiri, but he seemed unwilling to bend or listen to what can be done. Still, she and others remain positive.

"I have faith something will happen," she said.

Reach Eloise Aguiar at 234-5266 or eaguiar@honoluluadvertiser.com.