Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 30, Number 6, 1 June 2013 — OHA trustees draw big crowd to Maui meeting [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

OHA trustees draw big crowd to Maui meeting

By Harold Nedd PUKALANI, MAUI — Nearly 100Mauiresidents turned out for a community meeting that prompted the Board of Trustees for the Office of Hawaiian Affairs to further address growing outrage over an announced lottery for Hawaiian immersion education at Pā'ia Elementary School. Led by Maui Trustee Hulu Lindsey, the four-hour meeting at Kamehameha Schools-Maui focused attention on a broad range of eoncerns, including an impassionedplea from a group of 20 parents whose children attend Pā'ia Elementary. In emotionally charged testimony, the parents took turns urging OHA trustees to help stop the school fromusing a lottery system to determine whieh students will fill about 40 kindergarten slots at Pā'ia Elementary for Hawaiian immersion education. Kahele Dukelow, a parent of three Hawaiian immersion ehikken as well as a professor of Hawaiian Studies and language at University of Hawai'i Maui College, called the lottery system divisive, discriminatory and a threat to efforts to eonhnue reviving the Hawaiian language, whose use was onee threatened in Hawai'i schools and govemment. Dukelow and the other parents called on OHA to help push the state Department of Education to address the issue by stopping the lottery at Pā'ia Elementary and making the school - whose Hawaiian immersion program comprises the majority of the school's total enrollment - a complex for Hawaiian immersion education. "We have to be protected from people who don't believe in what we're doing," Dukelow told OHA trustees. "This is about revitalizing a language. We want it to keep growing and growing until it's an integral part of the community. And we would like to see poliheal pressure eome down on the Hawai'i Department of Education

to address this issue." In a phone interview, Department of Education communications director Donalyn Dela Cmz said the lottery, whieh has been postponed, is not intended to be divisive. Pā'ia Elementary is following Board of Education policy that directs all schools - whether they're Hawaiian-language immersion or not - to use the lottery system when they reach capacity. "That (lottery system) was deemed most fair so there doesn't look like there's any favoritism toward any family or individual," she said, referring to the policy. "There's no doubt that eommunity feels frustration because they want their children to be educated at a certain school. The eoneem for us is making sure we have the right policies in plaee, so that is a discussion that will have to take plaee with the board (of education) members," she said, adding that there's "a number of things that need to be discussed," including the teacherstudent ratio and resources.

The OHA Board of Trustees at its May 23 meeting unanimously approved a resolution to "address enrollment and access to immersion education issues at Pā'ia Elementary School." Among other things, the resolution urges principals at all Hawaiian language immersion schools to accept all students who apply for their school's immersion program and urges the DOE to consider transitioning Pā'ia Elementary School to an exclusively Hawaiian language immersion site. In addition to the Hawaiian immersion education issue, the Maui community meeting gave residents an opportunity to weigh in on the impact of OHA's efforts to improve their lives. Jo-Ann Carreira, a 30-year resident of Hāna, told trustees about a $148,500 OHA grant to a Queen's Medical Center program that has helped her and 145 neighbors adopt healthier lifestyles. "I've lost 50 pounds over the past year by walking 3 miles a day, eating more vegetables

and eliminating processed food from my diet," she said. Kelly Pearson, director of operations for the Boys and Girls Clubs of Maui, credited a $100,000 OHA grant for the program's ability, over the next two years, to provide a safe environment for Hawaiian teenagers who are vulnerable to risky behavior caused by a laek of adequate adult supervision. In addition, Umialiloa Harding, 47, acknowledged OHA's role in helping him transform from a drug-court participant to one of 96 Native Hawaiians who received between $2,500 and $10,000 to pay the tuition for continuing their education through UH Maui College's Liko A'e program, whieh received a $325,000 OHA grant. ■

Lisa Asato contributed to this report.

Live-streaming B0T meetings

The 0HA Board of Trustees has begun live-streaming its 0'ahu meetings. "Transparency in the way we conduct activities is important to building the confidence of our key audiences," said 0HA Chief Executive 0fficer Kamana'opono Crabbe. "We are excited about the opportunity that live streaming provides for 0HA to show greater accountability and transparency." To viewthe livestreams, as well asforinformation on meeting dates and times, visit www.oha.org.

ŪHA Board Actions

Eaeh month, Ka Wai Ola provides a listing of votes taken by the OHA Board of Trustees. Because no votes on action items were taken at the May 2 and 16 meetings, there are no actions to report this month.

Neighbor lsland meetings

0HA's Board of Trustees and Community Meetings on the Neighbor lslands continue on Moloka'i this month. The two Moloka'i meetings are scheduled as follows: • Community meeting at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, June 19 at Kūlana 'Ūiwi Hālau in Kaunakakai.

• Board of Trustees meeting on Thursday, June 20 at 9 a.m. also at Kūlana 'Ūiwi Hālau. For more information, please eall Dayna Pa in Honolulu at (808) 594-1837. Additional Community and B0T meetings are planned on Lāna'i in July, Kaua'i in August, and Hawai'i lsland in September. More details will be announced in Ka Wai Ola and on oha.org.

KAIAULU w www.oha.org/kwo | kwo@OHA.org COMMUNITY / NAT!VE HAWAIIAN » NEWS | FEATURES | EVENTS

Maui Trustee Hulu Lindsey opens the first in a series of 1 Neighbor lsland meetings. - I Photo: Aliee Silbanuz