Kapolei Middle School could cancel its Kaiapuni education program for the upcoming school year, leaving students and their families to decide what to do next.
Kapolei’s Principal Daryl Agena sent a letter to enrolled families earlier this week, stating that the school has been working diligently with the Office of Hawaiian Education and other educational partners to fill two vacant teaching positions.
“Despite these efforts, both Kaiapuni teaching positions remain vacant, and we have not been able to secure qualified teachers in time for the start of the school year,” the letter read. “We know this news is disappointing for our Kaiapuni students and families, and we share that disappointment.”
Agena concluded the letter by reassuring parents that recruitment efforts are still underway. Three options for incoming eighth-grade Kaiapuni students were offered: enroll in the virtual Kaiapuni Distance Learning Program; transfer to Ānuenue School, pending availability; or attend the English general education program at the student’s original home school.
Andrea Dias-Machado is the president and CEO of Ke ʻAlohi ʻo ʻEwa, a nonprofit that has been advocating for a K-12 Kaiapuni program in Kapolei for years. She said sending the letter announcing the vacancies so close to the start of the school year raises the question of educational equity between English-based learning versus Kaiapuni education.
“It really is alarming that the DOE would send out a letter of that magnitude without engaging the community in the conversation, without reaching out to come up with other solutions and to work on this together,” Dias-Machado said. “Kaiapuni education framework says that ʻohana and community are to be an active part of the design of any Kaiapuni program, and what happened is the complete opposite.”
But the state DOE said this is a matter of teacher vacancies and retention, not something that is dependent on language or type of education. Since its inception, Hawaiian immersion education has exponentially increased in interest and demand, but it has been a struggle to ensure the number of qualified teachers has grown at the same pace as the DOE posted 21 vacant Kaiapuni positions going into this school year.
“Kaiapuni programs across the State have been growing and the biggest challenge remains the availability of qualified teachers,” HIDOE OHE Director Kau’i Sang told HPR. “A school's Kaiapuni program depends on having qualified Hawaiian speakers who have a teacher license or are willing to pursue one.”
Those who are interested or qualified for a Kaiapuni position can view vacant spots here after searching “Hawaiian immersion” or “Kaiapuni.”
