Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 27, Number 11, 1 November 2010 — A home for Ke Kula Niʻihau O Kekaha [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

A home for Ke Kula Niʻihau O Kekaha

By 1998, the Ni'ihau native-language program now known as Ke Kula Ni'ihau O Kekaha had outgrown its facility at Kekaha School. "We were in one room behind the cafeteria with four teachers and over 30 children in grades K-6," recalls Hōkūlani Cleeland, the school's Lead Secondary Teacher and Assistant Administrator. "It was a little bit hectic." "Heehe" turned into "independence" later that year when the school moved into the 10,000-square-foot Kekaha Armory across the street under a sublease through the Office of Hawaiian Affairs. "Having this property is essential for where we are now," says Cleeland. The move helped the school expand into intermediate and high school levels as well as host a preschool program. The space has undergone two major renovations with the help of benefactors and now features six classrooms, a preschool, offices, a computer lab, library, cafeteria with a certified kitchen, and the school's "pieee de resistance" - an audiovisual studio. (Tune in to www.kkcr.org from 3-5 p.m. Sundays to hear their hve broadcast). The school, whose mission to strengthen and perpetuate the Ni'ihau dialect of the Hawaiian language, was among the first charter schools in Hawai'i. And as Cleeland notes: "The really fortunate thing for us is that of all the charter schools in the state, we're in one of the best situations - we have a long-term lease on a great facility. So it's very significant that our location is not something we have to worry about." Having a home, he said, allows them to concentrate on education. "Native languages all around the world are disappearing at a frightening rate. With people moving away from Ni'ihau, the dialect is disappearing fast. Every time we lose a kupuna in this conununity, that's a big loss. If you believe in the perpetuation of indigenous languages, we have a very important role to fulfill." —Lisa Asato ■

www.oha.org/kwo kwo@OHA.org Ho'ona'auao / Education

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