Last week I was invited by Kumu Lehua Veincent, principal of Keaukaha Elementary School, to have lunch at ‘Imiloa Cafe with 24 or so of his teachers. Kumu Lehua asked me, “Do you remember about two years ago when we first met to discuss the Thirty Meter Scope?” He said, “This is where that journey has brought us—here to ‘Imiloa.”

He introduced me to his staff as the person who helped organize excursions for the keiki at Keaukaha Elementary School. But it was not only me. It was also my friend Duane Kanuha, as well as others who saw an opportunity to help and just jumped in.

Kama‘aina Backroads recently taped an episode about Keaukaha Elementary School, which can be viewed here.

Although I was not expected to give a speech, I took the opportunity to tell the teachers that the occasion wasn’t about me. It was really about the teachers, largely unsung; they make the difference. I thanked them on behalf of the donors of the Adopt-a-Class project.

While sitting there, I overheard a conversation between Lehua and some district representatives from the Board of Education. Lehua told them that some people were in tears when they heard that Keaukaha Elementary School’s test scores had improved. And that if they improve sufficiently again this school year, they will be taken off the list of schools to be restructured under the federal “No Child Left Behind” program.

This is an extremely big, and emotional, deal! Keaukaha Elementary School had been underperforming for a long time, and people had started wondering if that was an inevitable and permanent state of things. This improvement in performance is an affirmation that the direction Kumu Lehua is leading is, indeed, the right way.

He has only been at Keaukaha Elementary a little more than two  years, and it’s since he arrived that things are starting to change.

Kumu Lehua believes in honoring the traditions and people who came before them in Keaukaha. Allowing the kids to be proud of who they are, and where they come from, gives them a firm base from which to move forward. From there, the sky is the limit.

We hope the Adopt-a-Class project will give the kids even more options and possibilities to contemplate. We doubled the contribution for the sixth grade class—the oldest students at the school—so they could go someplace a little bit special.

The Hawai‘i Island Economic Development Board has raised enough money to adopt at least one class. So now we just have two and a half classes left to adopt. At $600 per class, we need to raise just $1,500—and then every single class at Keaukaha Elementary School will be able to take an excursion each semester of this school year.

Next week we kick off the home stretch of our campaign by going on Big Island radio stations to talk about the Adopt-a-Class project.