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Hawaiian class
promised answer
on move

Parents back returning to
the old site, once the lead paint
on the roof is removed

---

By Rod Thompson
Star-Bulletin

KEALAKEKUA, Hawaii -- State schools Superintendent Paul LeMahieu has told parents of Hawaiian language students in Kona that he will have an answer by tomorrow on their request to return to their normal classrooms as soon as possible, says parent Nalani Freitas.

About 100 elementary students in Hawaiian language immersion classes called Kula Kaiapuni Hawaii O Kona had to move from their classrooms at the old Konawaena Elementary School because of lead in paint on the roof.

The students and teachers began meeting yesterday in a small, pavilion-like structure on the grounds of Konawaena High School, across the street from their normal school.

Freitas said the structure, which she says is little more than a shed, has no blackboards or other teaching materials. Teachers and students agreed to skip normal instruction and plant a Hawaiian garden near the structure for the next three weeks, she said. The three-week Christmas break follows.

They thought that would give the Department of Education enough time to fix the lead problem.

Alvin Rho, deputy district superintendent for west Hawaii, said LeMahieu was impressed by "the strength of their convictions" when he met with them yesterday.

"He could see that the program was being inconvenienced," Rho said.

Now LeMahieu needs to learn how quickly the lead removal can be done, he said.

"The current area is not acceptable to anybody," Rho said. "We have no alternative."

The longer-term solution proposed by the Department of Education was to put the immersion program in two buildings on the high school campus, once those buildings are remodeled for small children.

Freitas says parents will pull their children from the program before they let that happen.

She says high school boys and girls hug and kiss near where the elementary students would be. Cigarettes are found in the restrooms. The small children would have to hike up a hill and cross a street to get to their elementary school cafeteria.

Children and parents must be highly motivated to enter the immersion program, Freitas said. Parents have to learn Hawaiian to help their children with homework.

When the Department of Education previously moved the program site 12 miles, the department provided no transportation. Parents raised $40,000 to lease a bus, Freitas said.