honoluluadvertiser.com
Sponsored by:

Comment, blog & share photos

Log in | Become a member
The Honolulu Advertiser
Future charter schools helped | The Honolulu Advertiser | Hawaii's Newspaper
Posted on: Thursday, September 27, 2007

Future charter schools helped

By Dennis Camire
Advertiser Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON — Three organizations in Hawai'i have been awarded about $496,000 in federal grants to help plan, design and create new charter schools, U.S. Education Secretary Margaret Spellings announced yesterday. The organizations are:

  • Kona Pacific Public Charter School in Kealakekua, which plans to use its $164,105 grant for educating students in kindergarten through fifth grade in its first year of operation and eventually expand its classes through the 12th grade.

  • Hawai'i Technology Academy in 'Ewa Beach, which wants to use its $173,715 grant for a teaching system that combines face-to-face instruction with Web-conferencing and small group sessions in various locations. The academy expects to enroll 250 students in kindergarten through 10th grade during its first year and to expand to about 1,000 students in kindergarten through 12th grade in two years.

  • Hau'ula Public Charter School in Hau'ula, which plans to use its $158,500 grant to offer an education alternative to children from a community dealing with violence, poverty and high drug use.

    The program would include Hawaiian culture and use traditional Hawaiian methods of teaching through mentoring and student-driven projects.

    The grants are part of $3.5 million in awards the Education Department issued yesterday.

    In Hawai'i, there are 6,657 students enrolled in public charter schools, compared with 5,678 students last year. Overall, state public school enrollment dropped by a half-percent this year, to a total of 178,369 students, according to the state Department of Education.

    "By acting as laboratories for best practices, charter schools are helping to break apart the myth that some children can't learn, changing attitudes about education and getting great results for students," Spellings said.

    Reach Dennis Camire at dcamire@gns.gannett.com.
    • Advertisement
    Advertisement