Two months into the school year, the state Department of Education has launched a distance-learning program for Hawaiian immersion students. While some say they are grateful to have the option, others say it’s long overdue.

So far, 79 students — 69 in elementary and 10 in middle and high school — from 10 schools have enrolled in the program, which began Oct. 18, said Kau‘i Sang, director of DOE’s Office of Hawaiian Education. Sang’s office has hired seven full-time teachers but is still trying to fill five full-time teaching positions and additional part-time roles.

The program, offered online via Zoom or Google Meets, can accommodate 230 students — 140 in elementary and 90 in middle and high school, she said. Wednesday is the deadline for students to opt into the program for the rest of the school year.

Distance learning is still not available for Hawaiian immersion charter schools, but Sang said her office plans to begin offering that by Nov. 8.

About 3,300 students are enrolled in the DOE’s Hawaiian immersion program, called Ka Papahana Kaiapuni. Launched in 1987, Kaiapuni education is offered at 27 schools statewide. Students are taught in the Hawaiian language until the fifth grade, when English is introduced as a subject.

While some schools have Kaiapuni curriculum for all of their students, the program also is offered in schools that host nonimmersion classes.

In recent months, several parents have voiced their concerns and advocated for distance learning for Kaiapuni students, pointing out that the DOE had an English- language program in place at the start of the school year.

Some Kaiapuni schools were able to offer their own distance learning but others didn’t. Prior to Oct. 18, students at schools that didn’t have Hawaiian-language distance learning were given the option to try to work with their schools, attend in person or opt in to the DOE’s English-language distance learning, according to the department.

“(Parents were) concerned for the safety and well-being of their children,” said Kananinohea Maka‘i­moku, a member of ‘Aha Kauleo, an advisory board that advocates for the Hawaiian immersion program, and whose two kids are enrolled in a Kaiapuni school.

“I did hear that some parents felt pressured to send their children to school because the online option wasn’t offered. (What) we heard the most from parents and schools was equity.”

Jenny Bishop, vice president of Hui Makua o Pu‘o­hala, a parent and community group that advocates for and supports the Hawaiian immersion program at Pu‘ohala Elementary School in Kaneohe, heard similar concerns.

Bishop’s three children attend the Kaiapuni program in person at Pu‘ohala, but she said if she had been given the option to enroll them in distance learning in August, she would have done it. She said she doesn’t want to take her kids out of in-person learning now, two months into the school year, because it would be too disruptive to their schedules and routines.

“My husband and I had to put them into school to get them to continue to access their Kaiapuni education. It was either that or English,” Bishop said. “This is the typical treatment of Kaiapuni by the state, constantly being overlooked. (Students) need the access. It’s not something we should have to ask for.”

Sang said the delay in offering distance learning to Kaiapuni schools was due in large part to the DOE’s push for in-person learning. Her office began discussing distance learning in July at the request of some school administrators. Also, Sang said, because there is already a shortage of Hawaiian immersion teachers, hiring was “a huge challenge.”

“One of the messages that we’ve heard is that in- person learning was the best option,” she said. “Telework did present a challenge for teachers as it relates to language acquisition. … The cultural context of Kaiapuni learning is more conducive to in-person learning environments.”

Christopher “Baba” Yim, principal of Anuenue School in Palolo, which offers Kaiapuni education to all of its students, said school leaders decided to continue their distance- learning curriculum for fourth to 12th graders. But they opted in to the Office of Hawaiian Education’s distance-learning option for their younger students.

Yim said distance learning is more challenging for younger keiki, so the school needed additional support from Sang’s office. Also, school administrators wanted to maintain consistency for as many older students as possible, he said.

At Anuenue, fewer than 10 students are enrolled in the Office of Hawaiian Education’s program and nearly 30 are in the school’s distance-learning program. Yim said the transition to the Office of Hawaiian Education’s program has been pretty smooth so far and they’re grateful for the support.

He commended his teachers for pivoting during the pandemic, especially since there isn’t a standard online platform for distance learning in Hawaiian.

“One of the misconceptions about distance learning is about equality. The English got it, so the Hawaiian program got to have one,” he said. “(But) it’s not about equality. It’s about equity. Equal means everybody gets the same thing. Equity means everybody gets what they need to be successful.”

Sang, Maka‘imoku and Yim said they haven’t heard feedback about the program yet. Bishop said she’s heard from parents who enrolled their keiki in the Office of Hawaiian Education’s distance-learning program and that it’s been good so far, except for some technical issues.

Bishop added, “We really hope that the state and DOE build upon this for the future of our haumana.”

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Jayna Omaye covers ethnic and cultural affairs and is a corps member of Report for America, a national serv­ice organization that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on under­covered issues and communities.