Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 17, Number 12, 1 December 2000 — Guardians of the ʻōlelo [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Guardians of the ʻōlelo

Editor's note: Trustee Colette Y. Maehaāo publishes a letter by Keao NeSmith relating to the Ni 'ihau School of Kekaha. Keao is the secretary ofthe Ni'ihau-based program. Recently, he represented thefamilies ofthe Ni'ihau School in a contested hearing against the 'Aha Pūnana Leo. This is the Ni'ihau School's story.

ĪHE PEOPLE of Ni'ihau are native speakers of Hawaiian from time immemorial until today. Not many of the Ni'ihau community are able to speak, read and write English. In recent years they have finally taken initiatives to take control of their own education after decades of hardship in the Hawai'i state puhlie schools. Ironically, in its efforts to take control of its own form of education, the Ni'ihau community of Kaua'i has found itself embroiled in a bitter dispute with an unlikely entity - 'Aha Pūnana Leo Inc„ a corporation formed to promulgate Hawaiian language education. APL's board consists of individuals, Hawaiian and non-Hawaiian, who leamed Hawaiian in classrooms. At times APL draws on members of the

Ni'ihau community for their wealth of knowledge in Hawaiian. The dispute revolves around philosophical and admin istrative beliefs concerning the education program formed in 1993 by the Ni'ihau community of Kekaha,

Kaua'i, for their children. Through a dream received by the lead Ni'ihau teacher in January 1994, they named the program "Ke Kula Ni'ihau o Kekaha." Ni'ihau families feel their children must be educated in both Hawaiian and English from Kindergarten. APL feels all ehildren must be educated in Hawaiian only and that the children will "piek up" English from their surroundings,

something the Ni'ihau community has already been doing with devastating results since English reached Kaua'i. An administrative hearing recently ended in August within the Hawai'i State Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs where representatives of the Ni'ihau community of Kaua'i tried to stop APL from "owning" the name "Ke Kula Ni'ihau o Kekaha," whieh APL registered as a trade name in August 1999. APL never informed the community of the registration, whieh was discovered only when the eommunity group was denied use of the name when they tried to register their group with the state under that name. Although Hearings Officer Craig Uyehara of the DCCA agreed that the Ni'ihau community acted on its own to

form its education program, and that APL "assisted" the program ftnancially (APL obtained then used funding for the benefit of the program, such as paying the salaries of non-certified Ni'ihau teachers), he denied the Ni'ihau groups request due to APL having numerous

pieces of paper whieh showed that it had used the name repeatedly when seeking funding, showcasing the program, etc. The Ni'ihau group, whieh represented itself at the hearing, argued that all APL did for the Ni'ihau program was perceived by the Ni'ihau community as an outside organization helping the Ni'ihau program. Despite APLs "assistance," it was a Ni'ihau program for Ni'ihau students. APL argued that it paid the salaries of Ni'ihau teachers and helped with operating costs for the program, and the Ni'ihau community accepted the money gladly, therefore APL rightly owns the entire program as well as its name. Never did the Ni'ihau community "sign over to" or even "allow" APL to own "Ke Kula Ni'ihau o Kekaha," but according to APL, the fact that the Ni'ihau community did not object to APL's role in its relationship with the Ni'ihau program means the community "acquiesced" in favor of APL's outright ownership of the program. Today, those of the community supporting the original intent of the Ni'ihau program operate a bilingual school with 34 registered students without external interferenee. On the other hand, due to general disappointment among the Ni'ihau community with many of APL's M actions toward the community, including rejecting two attempts at ho'oponopono and terrible acts of bad faith during the course of the dispute, support for APL wanes and is decreasing further. ■

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