New charter schools offer different strokes

Erica Lenentine tapped rhythm sticks together to mark time as her second-graders used their small bodies to bring to life the big things they are learning at Kamalani Academy.

Scrambling into small groups, they acted out concepts like “plateau,” “continent” and the ever-popular “volcano.” As an “arts integration” school, the public charter school weaves drama, music and visual arts into the fabric of the curriculum in hopes the lessons will resonate better for students.

Kamalani opened its doors in August on the grounds of the former Our Lady of Sorrows School in Wahiawa and was full from the get-go, with 300 students in grades kindergarten through eight. It has a waiting list of parents eager to enroll their kids.

“They believe the ability to experience learning in a different way is what their children need,” said school Principal Jeffrey Vilardi. “We have a lot of parents who are very hopeful that our environment will be able to change things for their child, who might have struggled, or kids who were well behaved but were not able to get the education they deserved because of so many interruptions.”

Kamalani is one of two charters to open this year, and the first ever in the Central Oahu District. About half of its students come from the Wahiawa area, but it is also drawing pupils from as far as the North Shore and Ewa Plain. Enrollment at Our Lady of Sorrows School had dwindled to 67 students before it shut down in 2003.

Charters are supposed to offer innovative approaches to education. In this case, Kamalani is modeled on a regular public school, Pomaikai Elementary in Kahului, Maui, which pioneered the arts integration concept a decade ago.

The other new school, Kapolei Charter School, was launched by Goodwill Hawaii and aims to reach students who may have struggled in traditional schools. It offers an alternate, intimate approach that includes workplace readiness. Starting with 47 freshmen this year, it plans to add another 50 next year when the entering class moves up to 10th grade.

Everyone at the school has a “life coach” and will graduate from Kapolei Charter with some kind of industry certification, said Wanda Villareal, the school’s director. That’s part of Goodwill’s plan to bridge the gap between education and employment. Most of its students come from the west side of the island.

“I wanted to see how it would be with a smaller school,” said Zeth Akau, 14, as he and his classmates pieced together diagrams of atoms and their electrons to learn about ionic bonding. “It’s hard to comprehend in a big school. I felt I would be able to get a better education one-on-one.”

Administrators at both new charters had expected to attract a needier population than actually turned up. At Kamalani, only 20 percent of the student body qualifies for subsidized lunch based on family income, compared to a statewide average of about 50 percent, but its special education enrollment of 10 percent is on par with the norm.

At Kapolei Charter, many students who enrolled are on the college track, although a handful came to the school when they were on the verge of dropping out.

“We did want the students that are at risk and would require the smaller environment,” Villareal said. “I think what happened was parents, even though their child isn’t at risk, they wanted them to come to the small environment.”

She expects that as the school adds grade levels, it will attract more of its original target audience.

Sione Thompson, executive director of the state Public Charter School Commission, says the commission aims to open charter schools strategically, working in concert with other public and private schools, to meet population growth or offer creative instruction that isn’t otherwise available.

“We want to be sensitive to the need and meet the need,” Thompson said, “and not be competing just because we’re schools of choice.”