WOL: A tale of two stories
Friday, March 28, 2008 at 11:14AM There's an interesting juxtaposition of two stories under "Daily Headlines" (left column) concerning the continuing saga of Waters of Life Public Charter School. One headline says the school got a "reprieve," while the other says the school was "blocked again" from using facilities that county officials say are unsafe.
These different takes on the same hearing present the classic "glass half-empty or half-full" situation. From reading them both, I'd say the glass is half empty and leaking.
Charter school advocates such as Steve Hirakami who understand the desperate need for these alternatives to the regular public schools, especially in districts such as Puna, are trying admirably hard to help the school overcome its chronic mismanagement and to keep it open.
WOL school offficials have long blamed lack of support from the state Department of Education for its woes. And while it is true that the state has failed to support public charter schools adequately, dozens have succeeded on the Big Island without the constant problems that have plagued Waters of Life.
Even the always supportive Ku Kahakalau appears to be losing patience with the school's inability to right its ship. Again the school faces disruption and audits that will continue to affect its work with students whose needs aren't met in regular public school classrooms.
WOL student services coordinator, Daniel Shapiro, tried to shine the best possible light on the fact that the school has to find replacement facilities for three of its four buildings by pointing out the school wasn't completely shut down. At least not yet. The Charter School Review Board put the school on notice and several obstacles, including a new financial audit, remain in the way of staying open.
I don't know anyone who wants to see the charter school fail and be put out of business. But if dozens of other charter schools can obey health and safety laws, maintain a stable educational environment and find ways to overcome the lack of full state support for their schools, then Waters of Life can also find a way without playing the victim game.
WOL officials were never fond of my reporting on the school over the years because I wouldn't sugarcoat their problems for them in the newspaper despite their good intentions. Nevertheless I still wish them well and hope that eventually they emerge from under the burden of all this public scrutiny so that once and for all they can concentrate on the important business of educating kids.
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Reader Comments (4)
I find it very ironic, that the day after I posted about this http://punaweb.org/Forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=5010 on PW, that I was received at least 5 or 6 "Hate" emails from people who were obviously affiliated with the school. I found it very odd that educators or people involved with the school would email such things. These emails they sent me made it sound like I was the devil that was closing their school down!
Whatever happened to "Don't shoot the messenger?"
Sour grapes for sour people I guess.
The only reason these schools were shut down is that they got caught,nuf said.(thanks MWS who was grandfathered in)
I've long believed there were problems with K Crayton-Shays leadership/administration/school boards.
Why does the review panel threaten to revoke charters and lose schools for the children of Puna, instead of just replacing people with more competent directors/administrations seems bizarre and cruel to the children.
But if we take the red herring issue;
Unfortunately for Puna there is NO WHERE SCHOOLS ARE LEGALLY ALLOWED (except for Lequins parking lot and the lot that is going to be the new Gateway/shipman mall) the zoning is not there in all of Puna with 40 thousand residents.
I ask our Mayor and CPD AGAIN what are they going to do about it.
Get a special permit they say.
o.k. after I spend all your tax dollars to by a property I have to get studies done that says :
I have no bones on my property
Another one that says I have no endangered flora on my property.
Another one that says Im not in a flood zone.
Another one to see if the road can handle the traffic.
Another one to see if Im ADA accessible.
Then I have to write all the neighbors to see if THEY will allow it.
Then there is the new cesspool law compliance.
on and on
And finally the building codes.
Gee, is there anybody out there who thinks anybody is gonna get one.(certainly not before spring break is over or next year for that matter)
There is no where WOL is legally allowed to operate in Puna so its impossible for them or any other charter school to comply with the CSRP.Maybe we could hold our classes in the county building till they decide to do something so that folks who are trying to educate there children don't have to be criminals risking the health and safety of there children
Charters schools once upon a time had a law protecting them, very quietly it was taken away and then the CSRP was formed.
Where it ends nobody knows but my kids are crying cause there school is closed and the new location is 20+ miles away (that would be 80 mile rt) and we just can't afford the gas thanks Linda,Harry,Chris,Katheryn,CSRP and the doe.
All charter schools became illegal and not in compliance with county codes. This has made them extremely vulnerable. They have been able to continue operating illegally by staying under the radar so to speak, posting stuff on PW is not under the radar and opens it up to folks that get incited without having very many accurate facts as to what is really going on.
The Charter school folks are all in the same sinking ship and have to stay together to stay afloat.
Now that the CSRP is using land use laws to harass (effectively) certain charters because of administration problems, everyone is extremely uneasy.After all its our children were talking about,there security,there world and when you literally have NO OTHER CHOICE you just do what you have to do.
Sour no, just very very scared.
If I didn't think the risks were too great I'd personally file complaints to every county office on every charter school out there.
Perhaps then the county/legislators would do something!
Hey does anybody know what happened to the cat? meow
Put your kids in another public school in Puna. Then scrap with the principals and the PTA to make things better. My experience with WOL a couple years ago did not leave me impressed at all, but that is beside the point. While everyone is holding out, the children attending WOL are participating in a educational experience that is coupled with the "protestor" mentality. Not a good life lesson if you want your children to have a better life. IMHO.