"Secondary Ohana Night" Tomorrow! Free Spaghetti Dinner!

Students in grades 6-12 are invited to bring the family to the school this Wednesday September 12, for an "Ohana Night".  A FREE spaghetti dinner will be served from 5:30 to 6:15 pm, followed by classroom visits by parents from.  The event will run from 5:30 to 7:00 pm.

Students should be accompanied by an adult to attend.

June ILSB Public Board Meeting Approaches

The next monthly public board meeting will be taking place next week Tuesday, June 12th at 6pm.   The meeting will be held in the Laupahoehoe School band room.

This is a great place to come inform yourself about the latest news and progress of the conversion, and ask questions pertaining to it.

As always, the LCPCS calendar of events can be found on the charter schools website, or via the link below:

http://www.calendarwiz.com/calendars/calendar.php?crd=lcpcs&op=cal&month=5&year=2012&PHPSESSID=c35b7fa51566a712e0629d196f4940ee

MAY iLSB PUBLIC BOARD MEETING

The next monthly public board meeting will be taking place next week Tuesday, May 8th at 6pm.   The meeting will be held in the Laupahoehoe School band room.

This is a great place to come inform yourself about the latest news and progress of the conversion, and ask questions pertaining to it.

As always, the LCPCS calendar of events can be found on the charter schools website, or via the link below:

http://www.calendarwiz.com/calendars/calendar.php?crd=lcpcs&op=cal&month=5&year=2012&PHPSESSID=c35b7fa51566a712e0629d196f4940ee

Charter Lawsuit Dismissed

An appeal filed by two Laupahoehoe teachers and funded by the HSTA, trying to prevent the charter from opening this fall, was dismissed in court Wednesday.  To read all about it, follow the link below to the Hawaii Tribune Herald article.

http://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/sections/news/local-news/charter-lawsuit-dismissed.html

New Director of Operations Hired!

The Laupahoehoe Community Public Charter School has recently announced that they have hired their "Director of Operations"!  This is GREAT news!  The Director of Operations is the equivalent of a public school Principal, and hiring one is a crucial step towards getting the charter school on its feet.   I have attached a message from the school about the new director and an opportunity to meet him, as well as some other news.

===================

ALOHA!

UPDATE APRIL 2012

==> David Rizor has joined the Laupahoehoe Community Public Charter School
family as its incoming Director of Operations. Dr. David Rizor is entering
his 22nd year in education, with experience as a teacher and as an
administrator that spans preschool through university levels. He served as
the Director of Volcano School of Arts & Sciences in Volcano from
2004-2011, leading Volcano School to a rating of “In Good Standing,
Unconditional,” the best rating a school in Hawaii can receive. Dr. Rizor
holds a Master’s degree in Educational Administration and a PhD in
Curriculum and Instruction. He developed K-12 curriculum and taught
environmental education courses at the University of Wyoming for four
years and served as a school district Science Coordinator for seven years
prior to moving to Hawaii.

Please join us on Tuesday, April 10, 2012 from 5 pm to 6 pm.

Dr. Rizor will be meeting parents and community members at the Band room
before the ILSB Public Meeting. Dr. Rizor is working with transition
coordinator Sue Deuber to hire teachers and staff and plan for the opening
of our charter school this August 1, 2012.

==> Current LHES accreditation status continues for the 2012-2013 LCPCS
school year through the Western Association for Schools and Colleges
(WASC). The first graduating class of Laupahoehoe Community Public Charter
School will follow tradition and continue to graduate from an accredited
educational facility.

==> Thank you for attending the March 24th Fun Fest. Volunteers made up of
LHES School Staff and Community Members, served 290 lunches. A big MAHALO
to the Community Members who donated the delicious lunches. Despite the
rain, nearly half of the DOE school’s currently enrolled students
attended. Partners shared exciting information about several of the many
new programs and opportunities awaiting charter students this year.

==> LCPCS is committed to providing each high school student the
opportunity to participate in his or her choice of sports. All fees for
high school sports will be paid.

LAUPAHOEHOE FIRST ANNUAL FUN FEST!

Will There Be Sports?

I recently heard several instances of people claiming that there will be no sports at the new charter school. There will be sports.  Charter schools are allowed to compete with all DOE schools just as though they were also a DOE school, and our new charter school will continue to do so, as they have budgeted for the required fees and costs associated.

I have heard others saying that you cannot have sports teams without coaches, and we can only pay for 2 coaches.  The charter schools budget already has plans for at least 5 coaches.  That is $7500 set aside specifically to pay coaches.  Meanwhile there are people actively searching for grants and other ways to increase this amount for the upcoming school year.

PUBLIC BOARD MEETING THIS TUESDAY

There is a public board meeting this Tuesday the 14th of February, at 6pm, in the LHES band room.  All are welcome to attend.

The link below will take you to the Laupahoehoe Community Public Charter School calendar of upcoming events.

http://www.calendarwiz.com/calendars/calendar.php?crd=lcpcs&PHPSESSID=c35b7fa51566a712e0629d196f4940ee&jsenabled=1

Clearing Up Confusion

In an attempt to clear up some confusion, I have spent some time looking for answers to a couple of persistent questions going around.  This is what I found:

Question 1:

Do teachers have to be "accepted", after an application process, in the first transition year of the charter school?  Or, do they just continue teaching, simply by applying by February 15th, followed by a review based decision at the end of the first year, as to whether they are invited to stay with the charter or not?

Answer:

There has been no legal support found, for the proposition that current DOE employees already have positions at Laupahoehoe Community Public Charter School for school year 2012-2013.  The Public Charter School is an autonomous entity.

Attempts to schedule meetings with the employee unions about this issue have received no official response.  The DOE also has yet to officially respond.

For teachers worried about the February 15 charter application deadline arriving prior to hearing from the DOE about transfer positions.  Keep in mind that this is the APPLICATION deadline, not the date at which you would have to accept or decline a charter position.  Get your applications in by the fifteenth if you MIGHT want to work at the charter school!  You can decide later, after hearing from the DOE, if you plan to accept or reject a charter position offer.

Also note that the DOE does not share any teacher information with the charter school.  Therefore the charter must get copies of things like resumes (hence the application deadline) for their teachers-to-be.

Question 2:

Why are we not stakeholders of our school?  And why were Local School Board elections postponed?

Answer:

Firstly, we ARE all stake holders of the current Laupahoehoe Public School.  Therefore all parents and teachers of children registered in the school had a chance to vote in February 2010, for or against, the current school becoming a charter school.

However, we are not all automatically stakeholders of the upcoming charter school.  The stakeholders of the CHARTER school will be the the parents, students, teachers and staff, and community of the charter school when it opens.  Since the charter school has not actually opened yet, and teachers have not been hired yet, and students are not enrolled yet, and we do not yet know who will be living in the community, who move in, and who will move out, we cannot possibly expect there to be a complete list of stakeholders of the charter school at this point.

Secondly, the Local School Board elections were postponed due to the above stakeholder issue.  Without charter specific stakeholders, how can there be a charter specific vote?  This was affirmed by the Board Of Education.

Movement of Teachers in Transition Year - Flow Chart

An easy way to see what your options are, as a teacher.  Straight from the BOE.

Guidelines for Teachers Moving Between DOE and Charter - Transition Year

I hope this document I found helps to clarify teacher concerns about the possibility of switching back to a DOE school if charter is not for you.

Losing Sight of the Goals

Most arguments that I see, against the Charter School seem to be less and less about how the new school will benefit the attending students, and more and more about teachers jobs, specific deadlines, and other operational details.  While I understand that these things are all important, they are all being handled properly by people who know what is REALLY happening.  Many people are working very hard to ensure that the charter will open as soon as possible, as a complete and functional school, with as few positions as possible being lost in the process.

These technicalities are not what pro charter vs. anti charter debates should be focused on.  The whole point of perusing a charter option should be, and has been, to create a better learning environment for the community's youth.  If everyone believes that charter is a better educational route for the schools attendees , there should be no argument.  If this is not the case, then please, lets discuss it.

Local School Board Elections

It has been brought to my attention that many people think that the community has been deprived of its right  to vote for a Local School Board.  This is in fact false as I understand it.  According to the Detailed Implementation Plan there will be elections held in September 2012, just after the Charter starts its first year.  I have quoted the section from page 34 of the DIP below for convenience.  Note that the September 2011 date given was prior to the opening of the school, being delayed from fall 2011, to fall 2012.

"ILSB currently consists of 3 faculty members, 2 staff members, 2 parent, 2 community members 

and 1 student, but no administrator.  However, when the charter is approved, the ILSB will 

conduct an election by Sep 2011 of each of the representative groups for the new Local School 

Board.  The LSB will be comprised of the Director of Operations, 3 staff members, 2 support 

members, 3 parents, 1 student and 5 community representatives.  Board members have received 

a full day Charter School Board training by Dr. Brian Carpenter and are using the education to 

modify governance and policy issues as we proceed. "

My feelings on the matter...

I am so sick of hearing everyone shouting and mad about fictional Laupahoehoe Charter School plans. Rumors need to stop being spread, and people need to look for the facts in official places instead of listening to a few loud mouths spreading their version of how the Charter works. Please do yourself a favor, read the documents that are legally true. There is a website:
www.laupahoehoecharterschool.com
which has all you need to know about everything Charter. These documents such as the "DIP" are legal. They are FACT.

For those who want a way to catch up on news by way of lighter reading, please read this recent update letter from the board:
===============================================================
Happy New Year!

Here's an update on what is happening with the charter school.

The news everyone has seen in the papers is that the Charter School Review Panel (CSRP), which is the group that oversees charter schools, has decided to delay the opening of Laupahoehoe Community Public Charter School for a year. 

The opening of any new charter school has already been delayed a year due to internal CSRP difficulties. This additional delay for our school again places the federal grant money, so carefully shepherded during the difficult application process, at risk. This money was awarded to refurbish our auto and wood shops with up-to-date equipment, reopen the kitchen cooking stations, provide essential teacher training for the innovative, hands-on, "project based" approach of the school and more.

For this reason we are again appealing to the Board of Education (BOE) to help our school by allowing us to move forward with the transition year in July 2012. 

And what does the transition year mean? Exactly that! It is a year where the new charter program can be introduced gradually so that staff can be trained in new procedures, teachers can attend "project-based" educational workshops, and new community contributors can become familiar with the staff and students.

There is still much misinformation circulating in the community that should be put to rest.

#1 There will be sports!! Athletics are part of the new school plan! Charter schools can compete in sports with DOE public schools and Laupahoehoe will continue to do so. (Some charter schools have chosen not to focus on sports but on science or art and did not write sports into their plan.) Our community knows that sports is an excellent road to character building, team work, mind and body development, community spirit and fun. "Hands-on" learning like sports is exactly what the charter plan is all about.

#2 There is enough money to run the school!!
Money to run the school comes from the State and the Federal Government like the present school because Laupahoehoe School remains a public school. The charter school budget will be very close to the DOE budget and purchasing procedures are managed locally, not dictated by the State’s procurement process. Also, charter schools have the great advantage of being able to raise extra money through grants and partnerships.

There is already a dedicated non-profit organization, Hui Kako'o O Laupahoehoe working on raising additional money and resources.

#3 Busing will continue as usual.

#4 Teachers are encouraged to stay. In the proposed budgets for the transition year 2012/13 and full charter year 2013/14 and beyond, there are no teaching positions removed. There are many fine teachers loved by the students and community. Teachers who are interested in staying once the school changes governance are encouraged to apply. 

It is the intention for the school to add jobs in the coming years as the innovative program takes hold and student enrollment increases. Because of the state funding formula, positions have been lost every year at the school. Hawaii Charter Schools are thriving; none have failed and most have waiting lists. A Laupahoehoe High student who elected to transfer to a charter school a couple years ago despite living close to LHES says that he finds learning easier in his charter school environment where teachers play more of a mentorship role than one of a lecturer.

Laupahoehoe's transition year will begin with 1-week Outward Bound-type outdoor leadership programs for high school students. The programs will teach backcountry travel skills while using the natural world as a living classroom environment for geology, ecology and forest management instruction.

Aloha,
Niki Hubbard, ILSB President

Any questions? Email us at info@laupahoehoecharterschool.com.
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Please share any thoughts and opinions you may have on these ongoing issues.


Thanks,
Will Montgomerie
A Concerned Alumnus