A new charter school intends to open in Waimanalo in fall 2014, backed by the vision of a modern-day Polynesian voyager and help from Harold K.L. Castle Foundation.<\/p>\n
The foundation announced last week a $125,000 grant to Malama Honua Learning Center, a charter school co-founded by Nainoa Thompson and Robert Witt, that will serve Windward’s Native Hawaiian community and prepare children and educators “to be leaders in society’s most pressing social and environmental challenges.”<\/p>\n
Thompson is president of Polynesian Voyaging Society, and Witt heads Hawaii Association of Independent Schools.<\/p>\n
“Waimanalo has special significance because it’s where (late Micronesian navigator) Mau Pialug created his schools,” said Thompson. “Waimanalo is a community that’s powerful … a community we want to be part of, to engage in and learn from.”<\/p>\n
More specifically, added Witt, the school will “way-find new and different learning outcomes. Endowing students with the capacities inherent in the mind of the navigator, (it will integrate) rigorous 21st-century curricula with the enduring values and profound wisdom of the Hawaiian culture.”<\/p>\n
Castle Foundation also announced awards to: <\/p>\n
* Hawaii Appleseed Center for Law and Economic Justice ($55,800). It will partner with four Windward elementary schools to provide breakfast for students from low-income families. According to its figures, less than half of the keiki qualified for federally subsidized meals actually join the breakfast program. <\/p>\n
* International Church of the Foursquare Gospel Hawaii District ($50,000 over three years) to cover Windward kids in Camp Agape, a four-day North Shore summer camp for prison inmates’ children. <\/p>\n
* Lanikai Beach and Park Foundation ($60,000) to assess its coral reef ecosystems and support its goal to improve health and management of the reefs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A new charter school intends to open in Waimanalo in fall 2014, backed by the vision of a modern-day Polynesian..<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":35,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,17,111],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28571","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hawaii-community-news","category-windward","category-windward-oahu-news"],"yoast_head":"\n