As Maui's only charter school turns 10 years old, its officials report much success as there has been "crazy growth" in its enrollment.
Kihei Charter School, which started with 60 students from grades 10 through 12 in 2001, has grown to 530 students from grades kindergarten through 12. Chartering allows schools to run independently of the public school system and tailor their programs to community needs, the school's website said. KCS has many of its educational programs off campus.
"There's been such crazy growth, everyone has been so busy with what we do at the charter school, time has gone by quick," said Kihei Charter School Executive Director Mark Christiano.
"It's kind of amazing, when we started we had 60 students," said one of its founders, Gene Zarro. "And we were sharing space at Kihei Youth Center, which was great. Now we have (530) students and 35,000 square feet (of space), a fleet of vehicles at our disposal, a waiting list, a great partnership with the University of Hawaii. It's just amazing. I couldn't be happier."
On May 17, 2001, Zarro and the other founders who made up the nonprofit organization the South Maui Learning Ohana were given the charter by the state Board of Education. To celebrate its 10th birthday, the school held a party Wednesday complete with cake and a bouncing castle for the children at its Ohukai Road campus in Kihei behind the Tesoro gas station. Its other campus is in the old Hapa's nightclub on East Lipoa Street.
Zarro and the South Maui Learning Ohana have much to celebrate. The group started around 14 years ago to establish a high school in Kihei. They worked tirelessly at their goal of founding a high school that they could manage independently.
He said the group had to come up with something similar to a business plan to show the state Board of Education, which examined the plan thoroughly.
"It's a pretty tedious project. We're taking state funding and we are promising to educate the students. So (the BOE) wants to be careful."
Zarro said because of the group's efforts, legislation was created that gave birth to the charter school movement in Hawaii. Maui County has one other charter school, on Molokai.
Currently, the South Maui Learning Ohana still assists the school in many ways, including holding the leases on its two campuses and providing insurance and maintenance. It also leases passenger vans to the school to take students into the community for education and activities. It also awards scholarships to KCS students.
While there is much to celebrate, there are still many tasks ahead for the school, including trying to accommodate all of the students who want to attend.
Both Christiano and Zarro said they don't want to have a lottery dictate who can come to the school, but that's the way it's done for now.
Zarro said it breaks the founders' hearts to turn people away.
Christiano said the biggest challenge is having the appropriate facilities to accommodate all of the students. He said the state does not provide them with the facility funds to meet all of the school's demands.
"That's our challenge, (but) that's not one that we don't think we are not going to eventually overcome," he said.
He pointed to the leased former saloon on East Lipoa as a way the school can "reinvest" in its community.
"We feel that space has turned out really nice."
It houses 150 students from 6th though 8th grade in its STEM, or Science Technology Engineering and Math, program.
The site is also used by the school's Virtual Hybrid program for students in K through 8, where one or two days a week the students attend class while other days they work with a parent from home online. There are 140 students in the Virtual Hybrid program, Christiano said.
The high school has 240 students who take classes in commercial space off Ohukai Road mauka of Piilani Highway.
In the future, Kihei Charter would like to branch off around Maui.
"Our long-term plan is to have community learning centers in all different parts of the island," Christiano said.
The learning centers can be places where students attend school several days a week. None of the Kihei Charter School students attends classes five days a week.
But they either have online courses or internships; or at the high school level, they are taking classes at the University of Hawaii Maui College, where they earn credit for high school as well as college.
"Those are the things we do beyond the school walls," he said.
Both Christiano and Assistant Director Gail Weaver are excited that UH-MC next school year will be bringing its English 100 and Religion 150 courses to the charter school.
Weaver said it's these types of personalized education opportunities that attract people to charter schools like Kihei.
"It's not a cookie-cutter model. It's not a one-size-fits-all for the student. Parents respond very well to that."
In addition, Weaver said students go out on boats to conduct research with Pacific Whale Foundation experts, and high schoolers can select from an array of advanced-placement classes online where they can earn college credits.
Zarro agrees that a curriculum that also involves project-based learning and technology is what attracts people to the school, along with its small enrollment, which for some parents translates into a safe environment for students.
He added that a main attraction is its convenient location, as the school "is right around the corner" for many residents.
There is no other public high school in Kihei yet, although plans are under way.
Zarro also touted the school's current "good standing" under the federal government's No Child Left Behind Act as another possible reason why parents like the school.
Zarro is a true believer in the school. His son and daughter have graduated from the school, and he has another son attending.
* Melissa Tanji can be reached at mtanji@mauinews.com.
