Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 10, Number 10, 1 October 1993 — Get involved: education is everybody's business [ARTICLE]

Get involved: education is everybody's business

by Jeff Ciark Education is the responsibility of the whole community. Why? Because everyone has a stake in it: Our future rests on children in school today. We'd better make sure they're getting a good education. Community participation in education is very Hawaiian. In old Hawai'i, the entire makua generation was responsible for raising the keiki and 'ōpio into adulthood. This responsibility included providing food, shelter, discipline, protection, and education. Department of Education (DOE) communications specialist Pepi Nieva said there are several ways a community ean get involved. For instance, people ean donate items needed by the school, or they ean volunteer to be tutors. Nieva said those wanting to kōkua ean either eall the district office or contact the schools directly.

Volunteer to speak at schools One way of participating that would make a real impact, Nieva says, is to visit a school and tell the youngsters about your job. Whether you're a pipe fitter eoming off the construction site, a surgeon taking a break from the operating room or a fisherman stepping off a boat, chances are the kids would love to hear about your day. No shame! Children need to see someone they ean look up to, someone who has benefitted from hard work, someone who ean offer them a glimpse of what the future might have in store. Remember, what may be mundane to you might be absolutely fascinating to a group of students used to having their noses stuck in textbooks. Your story could be a real turning point for a child who, thanks to you, decides to go into your line of work. Contact your loeal school and tell them who you are and that you want to share yourself and your experi-

ences with the students. Chances are they'd love to have you and your story eome out. Wai'anae High principal Randall Tanaka said that eommunity involvement allows his school and others on the Wai'anae Coast to offer students the May Experience, a Hawaiian speakers bureau, every spring. He's receptive to community kōkua any time of the year, though. "In any kind of situation, if guys want to get involved, hey, we always weleome that," he said. Folks who want to speak to students should eall vice-princi-pal Teri Van Pelt or Tanaka himselfat 696-4244. Join a SCBM eouneil Art Kaneshiro, the DOE's director of school/communitybased management (SCBM), said that in the last three-and-a-half years a little over 60 percent of the state's 238 public schools have gotten into SCBM, whieh is one element of the total restruc-

turing of the state education system. Through SCBM councils - whieh consist of teachers, school staff, parents, students, and eommunity members - the schools themselves are taking the driver's seat. "We at the state and district offices have got to stop controlling, dictating, and now we've got to support the schools. If we're going to have meaningful and lasting change, then we've got to get the whole system behind empowering the schools," said Kaneshiro, who added that the Legislature this year granted the schools the power to decide how to spend their money. "There is a certain element of trust there, that they will spend the money where they feel it will have the greatest impact on student leaming." One SCBM success story relat-

ed by Kaneshiro is Mā'ili Elementary. The Wai'anae Coast school, whieh had experienced crippling teacher turnover in recent years, switched to a fourday instmctional week as a way of offering a perk that would make teachers want to stay there. But the fifth day is filled with learning activities - including hula, crafts, computers, and martial arts - put on by members of the community. As a result, the school is keeping teachers, the community is involved in educating its own, and the kids win all around. Other ways for the community to get involved are through busi-ness-education partnerships and the Public Schools of Hawai'i Foundation. Call the DOE's eommunication branch at 586-3232 for more information on these and other programs.