With the help of a $500,000 Kīlauea Recovery grant from Hawai‘i County, and additional donations and labor from Rotary clubs and members, the school was able to complete renovations at Nani Mau Gardens and receive the County’s Certificate of Occupancy in December, a crucial step needed for it to continue operating.
“The school would have had to shut down if we didn’t do that,” said Susie Osborne, Kua O Ka Lā’s development director and one of its founders.
The Certificate of Occupancy came at a good time as schools began to move away from only doing distance learning during the Covid pandemic to a blended in-person and online model in early 2021.
Principal Kapoula Thompson said there are two cohorts for students who take turns attending in-person a couple of days a week. In total, the school has about 175 students enrolled from preschool through eighth grade.
Having students and teachers back together, at least partially, allowed them to recently reintroduce morning protocol, an important part of the school’s program that is rooted in Hawaiian culture.
Thompson said that was done outside to allow students and staff enough space to keep it as safe as possible due to COVID restrictions.
He said staff told the students: “It’s symbolic that we are around you because, no matter what, we are always here to support you.”
“And we also made sure to say aloha to the kids virtually who couldn’t be there,” Thompson said. “I think they appreciated it and have a better understanding of what we are trying to perpetuate on a regular basis.”
Perpetuating Hawaiian culture and values is part of the school’s foundation, as is place-based education.
The school, established in 2002, was located within the lowland rainforest of Pū‘āla‘a until the campus was inundated by lava in 2018. The area is also a wahi pana and was the site of a former Hawaiian fishing village, which included fish ponds that were incorporated into the students’ education.
There is still grief following the loss of the school’s original campus, acknowledges Osborne, who also lost her residence to the eruption.
“I just went down to Kumukahi for the first time, and it was really emotional,” she said. “I committed my entire life into developing the school and the facilities at Pū‘āla‘a over a 20-year period.”
Osborne said the school is planning to paint murals at Nani Mau reflecting Pū‘āla‘a, “honoring our foundation, and also celebrating our new place.”
This experience has been a lesson in resilience. She said she always tries to find something positive and stay grounded in their mission.
“As a Hawaiian-focused charter school, we are grounded in our values, including aloha kekahi i kekahi,” Osborne said. “And, so, I thought to myself, that it would be important for the kumu and staff to model for our haumana, that we can go through these challenges and we can persevere, we can survive, we can thrive, and we can do it with grace and aloha; that would be an important reflection for all.”
With everything the school has been through — Covid, inundation by lava in 2018, and four years before that, the threat of isolation by lava entering Pāhoa — those values remain central to the school’s mission and identity.
“Despite the number of challenges we’ve gone through, there’s still plenty to be thankful for,” Thompson said. “We’re super thankful for where we are at, and that continues to be one of the values that we perpetuate.”