Hawaiian school
seeks busing answer
Money is needed to bring
By Crystal Kua
in students to Palolo's Kula
Kaiapuni O Anuenue
Star-BulletinOahu's only public school devoted solely to teaching students in the Hawaiian language is pushing back the scheduled start of its academic year as parents and school officials look at ways to continue bus service for students living in outlying areas.
The first day of school at Kula Kaiapuni O Anuenue was supposed to be today, but classes now won't begin until Monday.
On that day, bus service will be provided for the more than 200 students who rely on buses to take them to school from Leeward, Central and Windward Oahu to the Hawaiian language immersion school's Palolo Valley campus.
Parents will use $8,000 they originally raised to buy new school playground equipment to instead help pay the cost of busing. The fix is temporary, as the money will help to continue the bus service through September only.
"That would give us some time to work with the superintendent's office to arrive at a solution," Anuenue Vice Principal Charles Naumu said. "He's aware of what we're doing and supporting us as best he can."
The total cost of yearly bus transportation is $85,000.
"Busing is a way of life at Kula Kaiapuni O Anuenue," said Kaimo Muhlestein, a parent representative of the school-community council. "Otherwise, the life and health of the program is doomed to failure."
Naumu said the bus service is critical especially for secondary school students because there is no other school on the island for Hawaiian language immersion students in grades 7-12.
Muhlestein, who has a sixth-grader at Anuenue school, went before the Board of Education last month to ask for help in solving the bus transportation problem.
Anuenue is considered a school of choice by the Department of Education, and therefore government-subsidized bus transportation isn't available for students who attend the school.
A total of 216 students -- about two-thirds of the school's 300-plus students -- have caught the bus at six sites in Leeward, Windward and Central Oahu.
Parents, along with financial assistance from organizations such as the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, have raised the necessary funds in previous years.
But this year, community help dried up, and parents were left to foot the bill themselves, a tab they say they can't afford.
About 10 families each with several children attending the school considered pulling out of the program because they wouldn't be able to transport their children to the school.
Besides using the $8,000, parents will continue to pay $1 per day per student to ride the bus.
The bus company owner agreed to provide bus service even though parents have not yet come up with the full amount, Muhlestein said.
"I heard he had compassion for the kids and he doesn't want them to miss school," Muhlestein said.
Naumu said that the school community was grateful to Louis Gomes of Ground Transport Inc. for agreeing to continue with busing just on the promise that his company would be paid.
Muhlestein said hopefully the funds will buy enough time so that a compromise can be worked out with the Department of Education.
The $8,000 was originally earmarked to buy new playground equipment. Anuenue is one of many schools in the state without playground equipment because of federal guidelines covering the safety of such apparatus.
"That $8,000 was so hard to raise," Muhlestein said. "It was our blood, sweat and tears."
Muhlestein said parents are hoping to get the playground money reimbursed.
A parent meeting was planned at 5:30 p.m. today at the school cafeteria to discuss the bus transportation problem, Naumu said.
