MidWeek Windward - January 25, 2023

FOR THE WEEK OF JANUARY 25, 2023
ALL ABOUT ART
A spacious new gallery opens its doors in Kailua. SEE PAGE 2
WARM WELCOME
St. John Vianney will hold its school’s Breakfast with the Bishop on Jan. 29. SEE PAGE 7
Small Windward Schools Collaborate
A PUBLICATION OF
AN EDITION OF
EXPLORATORY DAY
Seventh-graders from Kailua Intermediate School participated in a cleanup at Kailua Beach in partnership with Kailua Beach Adventures. See more on page 3. PHOTO COURTESY KAILUA INTERMEDIATE SCHOOL
IBY STEPHANIE LOPES
nto lush Waiāhole Valley lies a 130-year- old school serving around 100 students, Waiāhole Elementary. A 15-minute
drive down picturesque Kamehameha High- way resides another of the state’s oldest and smallest elementary schools: Ka‘a‘awa Ele- mentary School, founded in 1904 with cur- rently around 115 students.
Since Hawai‘i’s public schools are funded based on enrollment (per-pupil spending), these historical schools’ reality every year is a limited budget that makes funding an ade- quate number of teaching positions difficult, according to Waiāhole Elementary principal Alexandra Obra.
However, through a systematic partner- ship — the Small Schools Hui — Waiāhole and Ka‘a‘awa Elementary schools are col- laborating to ensure their community’s keiki will continue to be served for the next 100 years. The next meeting is from 5 to 7:30 p.m. Feb. 9 at KEY Project (47-200 Waihe‘e Road) in Kāneʻohe. Anyone is welcome to attend.
SEE PAGE 6