At least seven of Hawaii’s 37 charter schools are switching to distance learning or delaying the start of instruction, and another closed its middle-school classrooms today as schools nationwide struggle to cope with an unprecedented COVID-19 omicron variant surge.

Kamaile Academy Public Charter School in Waianae sent 100 middle-school students home to quarantine after a positive test was confirmed during the school day, principal Paul Kepka said.

“We are erring on the side of caution,” told the Star-Advertiser. The earliest that group will come back is Monday.

In all, 130 students out of Kamaile’s nearly 1,000-student enrollment so far are quarantined or isolated, after five new positive cases were confirmed this week among those on campus.

Kamaile is the largest of Hawaii’s in-person public charter schools.

All Kamaile students staying home are equipped with laptops to continue learning online, Kepka said. He credited school faculty, staff and families for making extra efforts to cooperate and ensure that in-person instruction continues as much as possible, and that students who must learn from home don’t have their learning greatly disrupted.

“We are doing our best to keep our kids in school and keep our school community healthy,” he said.

University Laboratory School in Manoa had started the new semester this week with in-person learning, but today announced it will switch to virtual instruction starting Friday, after two new cases were confirmed among students, according to Yvonne Lau, interim executive director of the Hawaii State Public Charter School Commission. Lab School students will be virtual learning through at least Jan. 14.

Meanwhile, DreamHouse ‘Ewa Beach is conducting virtual learning for at least its first two weeks of the new semester.

“We love our kids and we can’t wait for them to come back to us. But health and safety have to come first,” said Alex Teece, DreamHouse founder and school leader. “We just did not feel comfortable putting 300 kids in a building and just telling them to keep their masks on and be safe and healthy.”

DreamHouse already provides mobile internet connectivity for its 300 students, and all are given iPads.

The school’s tentative plan is to resume in-person learning on Jan. 18, but that could change depending on the state of the overall omicron surge and the DreamHouse school community, Teece said.

Three charter schools on Hawaii island also are using distance learning for now, Lau said. They are:

>>Kua o ka La New Century Public Charter School

>>Na Wai Ola Public Charter School

>>Ka Umeke Kaeo

Malama Honua Public Charter School in Waimanalo is extending their winter break by at least another week, Lau said.

Hawaii Technology Academy, which normally offers a mix of online and in-person instruction on multiple islands, has opted this week to go only online this week, Lau said.

Hawaii’s charter schools are public schools that are independently run, so they do not fall under the state Department of Education’s current approach of opening all schools to in-person learning.