Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 2, Number 8, 1 August 1985 — Big lsland Program Evaluated [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Big lsland Program Evaluated

Big Island Kupuna — some four dozen strong — met with school principals, vice principals, district and state personnel and the Office of Hawaiian Affairs for a hard-nosed program evaluation conference May 23 at the Hawaii District Annex in buildings whieh onee were known as Hilo Standard School. They gathered to evaluate the Hawaiian Studies Program in Big lsland public schools the past year and they also met and heard from OHA Trustee-at-Large Gard Kealoha and OHA Kupuna Coordinator Betty Jenkins.

Following introductions by Hawaii District Resource Teachers Kau'i Billups and Mailt Yamanaka, District Educationa! Specialist Naomi Morita cited accomplishments of the past school year, noting the "outstanding work of our kupuna."

Robert Lokomaika'i Snakenberg, State Educational Specialist, followed with an overview of the program and some of the new directions anticipated for the 1985-86 school year. The assembly then broke into three groups to evaluate themselves and to eome up with recommendations and suggestions to improve the program. Group I consisted of principals and vice principals with Mrs. Morita as the group leader. Snakenburg was in charge of Group II whieh consisted of kupuna and Mahealani Pescaia and Noelani Mahoe of Snakenberg's staff led resource teachers in Group III. The three groups met separately and rapped freely in their respective sessions, providing input, citing problems and offering suggestions. Kealoha met with Group I and Mrs. Jenkins met with Group II. Eaeh provided valuable input. Following a solid one and one-half hour evaluation session, the full assembly reconvened and eaeh group submitted verbal reports before breaking for pa'ina awakea. Many of the so-called problems were of the "in-house" variety and kupuna were assured they would be resolved without any more hangups.

After the pa'ina, there was group singing and a brief address by Mrs. Jenkins who told kupuna that "we eame from a culture of excellence; there was no room for error. We're just like the niu — we stand tall and strong." Certificates of appreciation from the Department of Education were presented by Mrs. Morita and Snakenburg. This was followed by ho'ike and kupuna sharing with many of them relating some humorous and serious incidents during the past year.

Maile Vargo, kupuna resource person who also served as mistress of ceremonies for the day, sang "Aloha No Na Kupuna," a song she composed. She also led the group singing preceding the ho'ike presentation. For the editor of Ka Wai Ola O OHA, the full day session was an opportunity to renew acquaintances with a number of kupuna who were young mothers raising their families while we were growing up in our beloved aina ho'opulapula of Keaukaha. It was a heart-warming feeling not to have been fnranttpn

Kupuna went home that day secure they accomplished many things and that they ean look forward to a better year, especially in the area of communication. The experiences some of them related were also noted with all seriousness. Many of the points brought out by principals, kupuna and resource teachers were well taken and will be incorporated in the 1985-86 program.

Robert Lokomaika'iokalani Snakenberg, educational specialist with the Department of Education's Hawaiian Studies program, and Office of Hawaiian Affairs Kupuna Coordinator Betty Kawohiokalani Ellis Jenkins, extreme right, discuss Big Island kupuna evaluation concerns during year-end meeting at Hilo district office complex.