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Education

Keiki Draw for Visitors

Friday, April 30th, 2010

Keiki Draw for Visitors

For visitors and curious locals alike, the Molokai Visitors Association (MVA) has new unique brochures, sure to highlight what Molokai really is.

The colorful brochures were hand-crafted by Kaunakakai Elementary third graders as a school project. When designing the pamphlets, students discussed Molokai’s past and how it has changed.

The project was brought to Molokai by Alestra Menendez of Kamehameha Schools for the second year in a row. Tiana Miguel, Kaunakakai literacy resource teacher, led the project – teaching writing with a focus on Hawaiian culture and “highlighting our students’ sense of pride.”

 

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Howzit on Molokai

Thursday, April 29th, 2010

Howzit on Molokai

Lt. Governor James “Duke” Aiona, Jr. has been an advocate for the Read Aloud America Program (RAP) since its inception five years ago. Last week, he stopped by Kualapu`u School’s final RAP of the school – and made a few other stops around Molokai as he prepares for his gubernatorial campaign. The Molokai Dispatch was able to catch up with the busy politician at Kualapu`u School.

Molokai Dispatch (MD): Why come here to Read Aloud America today?
Lt. Gov. Aiona: It’s a couple of things. Of course literacy. The joy of reading. And to me, this a great tool to unify the family. You have the drinks, you have the snacks, it’s fun times with the family. But it’s about bringing the family together.

MD: Why are these programs so important?
Aiona: When you read the critique, the evaluation, it’s always about “thank you for bringing RAP to our community, you taught us to do things as a family, you’ve really excited or brought interest to our children about reading.”

.

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Middle School Community Needs Reps

Wednesday, April 28th, 2010

We are looking for parent and community representatives to sit on the Molokai Middle School Community Council (SCC) for 2010-2011 school year. SCC focuses on the goals of the school, and provides direction, coordination, and communication to improve teaching and learning, resulting in greater student achievement.

Our meetings are set for the 2nd Mondays of every month at 2:30 p.m. in the Molokai High School Library.  Our next schedule meeting is set for Monday, May 10.  If you are interested, please call 567-6940 and submit a letter of interest to Molokai Middle School, as well as to attend our next meeting.  All meetings are open to the public and our agenda along with the minutes are all documented on the school website.

Thank you,

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Baseball Finishes Strong

Sunday, April 25th, 2010

Baseball Finishes Strong

Molokai High School’s baseball team wrapped up its season last weekend with two wins in its triple-game series against Seabury Hall at Duke Maliu Regional Park – awarding the team second place in the final Division II standings.

The Farmers beat out the Spartans Friday evening by one run, lost by one run the following day, 8-7, and then recaptured the lead in their second Saturday game, winning 18-11.

“It was well played by both teams,” said Coach Steve Trout, a former major league pitcher. “We have respect for what Seabury has done, and they have respect for us.”

In Molokai’s final blowout game on Saturday, the farmers took a 6-0 lead after only one inning, then fell behind 10-7 in the top of the third, only to regain victory shortly thereafter.

“That was a really exciting game,” added Trout. “We showed what we practiced.”

In the last game of the triple header, Molokai's Ehukai Rawlins scored twice and drove in three runs, while Jubilee Tabilangan gained three runs and a ‘runs batted in’, and Shaquille Rapanot scored twice and drove in one run.

is about the same,” Augustiro said. “I’m expecting to see about the same results.”

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Gymkhana Games Are Under Way

Friday, April 23rd, 2010

Community Contributed

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High School Parents to Serve

Thursday, April 22nd, 2010

Attention to all parents who currently have a child attending Molokai High School or will have a child attending in 2010-2011.

As many of you are already aware, the Molokai High School Community Council, also known as the SCC Board, is one of the governing bodies that assist the principal in making the decisions that impact Molokai High School's educational plan.  It is required that three parents serve on this board as parent representatives, communicating the wishes and voice of the parent segment of our community. 

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College Faces Growing Pains

Thursday, April 22nd, 2010

College Faces Growing Pains

The campus formerly known as Molokai Education Center is inching towards expansion – both in size and academics. However, the next stage of development – more land – is hitting road blocks.

Under a new affiliation with the University of Hawaii (UH), higher education on Molokai will now be referred to as UH Maui College – Molokai. And Molokai’s coordinator and professor, Donna Haytko-Paoa, has been working with the college for over 22 years to expand the Friendly Isle campus.

Although the ultimate goal is to expand the campus into 15 acres, Haytko-Paoa said the college is currently looking at an incremental expansion, starting with a 3.2 acre lot owned by Molokai Properties Ltd (MPL), also known as Molokai Ranch.

“Its unfortunate that land prices have gone down,” she said. “I’m afraid it’s harming the negotiations.”

go another 40 years for a little more than this,” he said, referring to the land negotiations.

For What It’s Worth
With the recent appraisal of $253,000, each acre comes out to be around $80,000. However, the two most recent sales in the area by MPL – 13-acre Duke Malia Regional Park and the 5-acre fire station lot – sold for an average $25,000 an acre.

“I can’t see how it’s worth more than $25,000 an acre given current land sales, and they didn’t have the huge encumbrance that will impact the property’s marketability,” said DeGray Vanderbilt, former chairperson of the Molokai Planning Commission, at the advisory meeting. “The community plan calls for this area to be a college.”

Haytko-Paoa said that while the chancellor of Maui College, Clyde Sakamoto, represents Molokai’s interest in the negotiations, for all parties to come to Molokai and see the residents’ passion could push the acquisition home.

“It shouldn’t have to be this hard,” concluded Haytko-Paoa.

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All Lit Up

Thursday, April 22nd, 2010

All Lit Up

When it comes to ambitious goals, the dynamic force of the Molokai community and Blue Planet Foundation outshine the rest – literally.

Since launching the “Go Green and Carbon Clean” project three weeks ago, over 4,500 bulbs have been exchanged through schools, businesses and organizations on Molokai.

Island-wide, residents have brought in garbage bags full of their old, incandescent bulbs for new, energy-efficient compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) purchased by Blue Planet Foundation.

Kim Svetin, president of Molokai Drugs, said her business has distributed over 1,780 bulbs through Kamoi Snack-N-Go thus far, and is still going strong.

“The first week we had someone bring 44 bulbs [to exchange],” she said. “And just a couple days ago we had someone bring in 51 bulbs.”

each market day was set up to be purely an informational table with eight to 10 kids,” Svetin said. But, to no surprise, the booths have attracted a plethora of bulb exchangers, as well. On average, the kids have been exchanging roughly 225 bulbs each market day – totaling over 600 bulbs in the last three Saturdays.

Of the 44,000 bulbs shipped to Kaunakakai Wharf on March 25, 14,000 reside at various distribution points while the rest are being stored for future exchange.

Francois Rogers, Special Projects Director at Blue Planet, said he is pleased with the initial dispersal numbers and hopes to see it grow to 100 percent over the next few months.

The team’s next goal is to develop a plan to visit neighborhoods – possibly door-to-door – in higher, less-accessible areas for bulb exchange. Some church groups and other organizations are gathering volunteers to mobilize the process.

Phased Out
Molokai’s newly-established campaign for energy efficiency came at an opportune time. Incandescent bulbs will slowly be weeded out of the U.S. market under a 2007 energy law approved by Congress.

The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 aims to phase out the use of incandescent bulbs within 10 years – meaning such bulbs will no longer be available for purchase beginning in 2012.

Besides altering the way Americans light their homes, the legislation will also change the cars they drive, fuel they burn and the price they pay for food.

The measure is intended to set higher fuel economy standards for cars and light trucks; require the production of 36 billion gallons of renewable fuels by 2022; and establish new efficiency requirements for household appliances and government buildings.

For more information on the measure visit www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h110-6.

Don’t Be a Dinosaur
Aka`ula School supports compact florescent lightbulbs, or CFLs. On Friday, April 16, students Kori-Lee Derouin, Kala Helm, Luke Kikukawa, and Tanner Mosher were found at Home Pumehana for the 2010 Senior Fair, promoting the energy-efficient light bulbs.

By ‘going green,’ the innovative students used their creative talents and built “Savasaur the Dinosaur” by recycling old light bulbs that were turned in by families in the community.

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Story Time Reaches Home

Friday, April 16th, 2010

Story Time Reaches Home

Neatly stacked on the child-size table were around 20 books, one for each of the Molokai Baptist Church preschool’s children. Little Golden Book series, Disney tales, and Hannah Montana were titles among them, ready to be handed out and eagerly read.

First Book, a national organization that provides books to preschools, after-school programs, tutoring programs, shelters and day care centers, usually receives the books through grants for a particular school or program, said Linda DeGraw, chair of First Book – Molokai.

This year, the State won a grant for 1,200 books, so schools and programs that didn’t qualify in the past can now get new books. Molokai Middle School, Kualapu`u School, Kaunakakai Elementary and the public library’s A+ Program also received books this year.

further,” DeGraw said.

DeGraw was on hand to read during the preschool’s story time, choosing a “classic,” She’ll Be Coming Around the Mountain. The preschool’s director, Angela Calhoun, listened while her 18 students sat in rapture and shouted out responses like ‘toot, toot!’

The books aren’t really for the schools however. “These are books so children can start their own libraries,” DeGraw said. “It’s the First Book mandate.”

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Aka`ula Invites Donors to Fly

Thursday, April 15th, 2010

By Victoria J. Newberry, Head of School

Each year Aka`ula School families raise money to fund the school’s financial aid program by hosting signature events on Moloka`i, Maui and Oahu. This year Moloka`i Calls Oahu will be held at the Pacific Aviation Museum on May 8, 2010, from 6:00 P.M. to 10:00 P.M. The evening will include heavy pupu, entertainment, silent auction, movies in the museum theater, a chance to try your hand at a flight simulator, and more. Above all, we promise it will be Molokai style.

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