Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 30, Number 6, 1 June 2013 — Ka Papahana Kaiapuni Hawaiʻ' Hawaiian Language Immersion Program a treasured opportunity [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Ka Papahana Kaiapuni Hawaiʻ' Hawaiian Language Immersion Program a treasured opportunity

Ka Papahana Kaiapuni Hawai'i was established by the state Department of Education in 1987. Its mission is: "To achieve quality education based on knowledge of Hawaiian language and eulture as the foundation upon whieh individuals heeome culturally responsive, sensitive andproductive adults who contribute significantly to all levels of Hawai'i's community and the world."

Language immersion is a method of teaching. Regular school curriculum is taught through the medium of the second language. As students are immersed in the second language, they heeome fluent speakers at an early age. It is believed that linguistic and cultural knowledge is a resource; and, "The more you know, the better off you are." Becoming bilingual opens the door to many opportunities in an increasingly interdependent world. Immersion programs are the fastest growing and most effective type of foreign language program currently available in U.S. schools, officials said. Additionally, a little known fact is immersion learners beneflt cognitively, exhibiting greater nonverbal problem-solving abilities andmore flexible thinking than their non-immersion peers. There are two Kula Kaiapuni on Maui - open to all west-side youth entering kindergarten is Kula Kaiapuni O Maui ma Nāhi'ena'ena located on the Princess Nāhi'ena'ena campus in Lahaina. The remainder areas of Maui serving youth entering kindergarten is Kula Kaiapuni O Maui ma Pā'ia located on the campus of Pā'ia Elementary School. In early May a lottery for Hawaiian immersion classes was announced by the principal of Pā'ia School, surprising parents as well as Hawaiian immersion teachers at the school who were not notifled in advance nor asked to collaborate. This prompted dozens of parents and keiki to protest in Wailuku

and in the rain at Pā 'ia Elementary against a lottery process that would deny some of their children the right to a Hawaiian language immersion education. As a result of these protests and numerous disgruntled e-mails from parents, the lottery was postponed indeflnitely. The lottery was to select 40 of 53 applicants to enroll in the Hawaiian language immersion program at Pā'ia elementary. Parents opposed to the lottery say the school is denying some

children the right to learn Hawaiian, the state's second language, and if student capacity at Pā'ia has been reached, then the school, DOE and other governing groups should flnd another solution. Apparently, this is the third year that a lottery was a threat - eaeh time working out a resolution. It is the desire of the parents to have the Board of Education and the Department of Education effect a policy so that they don't have to repeatedly go through this process eaeh year. We need policies that support the admission and growth of immersion education now. Two-thirds of Pā'ia School (187) are immersion students with one-third (1 17) being English-speaking students. If it were not for our immersion students, Pā'ia School would probably have to be closed because of limited student attendance. Current English-speaking students would have to attend Ha'ikū School or Makawao School. Perhaps that may be the resolution to this problem - that Pā'ia School become a total immersion school. It is my hope that the Board of Education and the Department of Education will support the resolution of this present issue and accommodate students of all ethnicities the opportunity to have a Hawaiian immersion education if they so choose. The Board of Trustees of the Offlce of Hawaiian Affairs stand flrmly behind the rights of our people to right the wrong of this unfortunate process. Me ka ha'aha'a! ■

Carmen "Hulu" Lindsey

Trustee, Maui