Scores of Kamalani Academy students, teachers, parents and supporters demonstrated Thursday outside the state Department of Education, chanting, “Save our school!” to protest a decision by the state Public Charter School Commission that the Wahiawa school must close after its contract expires June 30.

About 75 keiki and adults poured out of two buses to protest on the lawn between the Queen Liliuokalani Building and Punchbowl Street. Dressed in royal-blue school shirts and waving metallic blue and gold pompoms, they sang their alma mater, yelled school cheers and carried hand-painted signs with such messages as “We love Kamalani Academy” and “Our keikis = future.”

The emotional scene rendered Kamalani parent Jessica Gellert briefly speechless. Through tears she explained that she can’t imagine losing Kama­lani’s caring community and that she has two daughters in the school and hopes to enroll a third daughter in 2024. “I see how hard the staff works,” she said. “I love how this school is so close — the students are always saying, ‘You can’t get lost.’”

Kamalani is still operating for now, but on Feb. 22 the Charter School Commission voted 5-1 to not renew Kamalani’s charter contract, which marks the school for closure after the school year ends and its contract expires June 30. The campus at 1403 California Ave. has operated since the 2017-2018 school year and serves about 160 students in kindergarten through grade 8. The school emphasizes arts integration and Hawaiian culture, and calls itself the only public charter school in Central Oahu.

In a letter dated Wednesday, the commission issued a written notice to Kamalani laying out the “five material and substantive violations” that were the basis for the nonrenewal decision:

>> Kamalani ran a new virtual-learning program without obtaining an amendment to its charter contract.

>> Parents and/or guardians were asked to surrender or pay for technology in exchange for the release of student records upon student disenrollment.

>> Kamalani Academy failed to follow its commission-approved admission policy.

>> Student records were not maintained properly.

>> Instruction was not conducted by a licensed, certified teacher.

Now that the commission has issued the written notice, the school has 21 days to file an appeal with the state Board of Education. The board must make a decision within 60 days of the filing.

Kamalani Academy Principal Amanda Fung said the school is preparing its appeal. She said school leaders believe the commission’s decision was heavy-handed and unfair, especially since Kamalani no longer offers virtual learning, and once state counsel had advised the school that it could not pause disenrollments over financial obligations, the school released the students.

After the demonstration, Fung and some teachers and students walked into the DOE building to take an opportunity to appear at a state Board of Education committee meeting focused on the Public Charter School Commission and its work plan to remedy findings in its own 2022 performance evaluation. Among concerns raised in the past are that the commission does not properly respect the autonomy of the 37 charter schools it oversees and is not adequately holding schools accountable.

Lynn Fallin, chair of the Commission Outcomes Committee, said in a memo that her committee had asked the commission to provide a work plan to address concerns, but the document provided by the commission “lacks a timeline and rationales for the opportunities for improvement.” The commission will be required at the committee’s next meeting to “come back with the required details for improvement,” Fallin said after the meeting.

The Kamalani nonrenewal was not on the committee’s agenda for Thursday, but Fung spoke during the public-testimony portion to urge the board as it evaluates the Public Charter School Commission to look closely at how it handles school autonomy. “It is super important to look at the lack of understanding and the lack of taking student voice — as you see all of our students in this room — to understand how important these evaluations are,” Fung said.