This news may affect some of you.
Na Wai Ola Waters of Life Charter School could be placed on probation or lose its charter today for operating on agricultural land without required permits,.....The K-12 school has been teaching children out of two rented houses at Hawaiian Paradise Park ...Waters of Life, with about 180 students, has until Feb. 27 to close one of the sites or face daily fines that start at $100, Yuen said. The department also sent the school a letter warning it to close the other home by Feb. 19...........The Charter School Review Panel will meet today at 4 p.m. at the Board of Education's conference room to consider revoking Waters of Life's charter or giving it one year to resolve the matter
According to todays Starbulletin
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Don't believe everything you read, this article is riddled with inaccuracies; the sites in question are elementary grades, there are no ninth graders studying in Paradise Park, and Cherie Benevides son is not in 8th grade. WOL was not formally notified of this meeting, and there is still no formal process in place for putting schools on probation or revoking charters in terms of due process or appeals.
Damon, I've noticed you post lots and lots of links to news stories here (wish I had that kind of time) but even when you are here on the Islands you really can't have a full perspective on what is going on unless you are directly involved. The news media are frequently inaccurate or incomplete in their reporting and promoting their stories without verifying the accuracy is not always doing a service to either the readers or the subjects of the stories.
carol
Carol
Every time you feel yourself getting pulled into other people's nonsense, repeat these words: Not my circus, not my monkeys.
Polish Proverb
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Aren't Malama Waldorf, Christian Liberty, HAAS, Cindy's school, and other private and charter schools on Ag land?
quote:
Originally posted by csgray
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Damon, I've noticed you post lots and lots of links to news stories here (wish I had that kind of time) but even when you are here on the Islands you really can't have a full perspective on what is going on unless you are directly involved. The news media are frequently inaccurate or incomplete in their reporting and promoting their stories without verifying the accuracy is not always doing a service to either the readers or the subjects of the stories.
carol
I won't exactly describe how I am involved, but I do have a fairly good perspective of what is going on.
I will email you personally in a few minutes.
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quote:
Originally posted by csgray
Don't believe everything you read, this article is riddled with inaccuracies; the sites in question are elementary grades, there are no ninth graders studying in Paradise Park, and Cherie Benevides son is not in 8th grade. WOL was not formally notified of this meeting, and there is still no formal process in place for putting schools on probation or revoking charters in terms of due process or appeals. ...
I'm not sure if you realized this... On June 21, 2007, the Board of Education approved Board Policy 8100, “ Interim Charter Schools Appeals Policy.†The policy establishes an appeals process for the Board to fulfill its role as an appeals body under a new law (Act 115, SLH 2007) that was passed during the 2007 legislative session.
Act 115 gives the Board the power to decide appeals from decisions of the Charter School Review Panel (the charter authorizer for charter schools) to deny the approval of a charter school application, revoke a charter school’s charter, or deny the approval of an amendment to a charter school’s Detailed Implementation Plan. Act 115 also expands the responsibilities of the Charter School Review Panel to issue charters, oversee and monitor charter schools, hold charter schools accountable for their performance, and revoke charters.
I just noticed the meeting will actually be Tomorrow
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 2008
3:00 PM
QUEEN LILIUOKALANI BUILDING
1390 MILLER STREET, ROOM 404
HONOLULU, HAWAII
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What is really going on, is that Malamalama Waldorf School has a connection on the Charter School Review Panel named Nina Buchanan.
MWS has been the one making complaints on the new schools in HPP because they feel there enrollment is threatened,which it is not because there are plenty of kids to go around and there enrollment is at an all time high. So maybe they are just incredibly vindictive. Either way its a can of worms;
BECAUSE THERE IS NO ZONING IN ALL OF PUNA FOR SCHOOLS!!!!!!!!!!!!!
No where that they are "legally" allowed to exist.
The one lot zoned in lava zone 3 is going to be the new Shipman mall/gateway center.
So, seeing as though all the Charter Schools on the big Island are technically illegal. What shall we do? Close them ALL down?
Legislators? Mr. Yuen?
Who ever wants this problem to go away needs to have:
1.Katheryn Crayton Shay resign for poor management.
2.Kick Nina Buchanan off the Panel Review for her biasness and special interests.
3.Tell MWS to grow up and get over it!
4.Pass some laws to allow public and private schools to legally exist in our communities.
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quote:
Originally posted by anela1111
4.Pass some laws to allow public and private schools to legally exist in our communities.
But isn't that what Chapter 25 addresses? With the proper application for a permit, Schools are permited in RS, RD, RM, RCX, RA, CN, CG, CV, and FA & A zoning. Or am i missing something?
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I have a child who attends Waters of Life. He has been there for nearly four years. Waters of Life definitely have some shortcomings and hardships but they keep trying to do better.
I have written a letter of support for their appeal. And WAIOLA has dealt with similar challenges several times and with a great deal of parental support they have overcome each year. I believe that they will again.
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quote:
Originally posted by Bob Orts
But isn't that what Chapter 25 addresses? With the proper application for a permit, Schools are permited in RS, RD, RM, RCX, RA, CN, CG, CV, and FA & A zoning. Or am i missing something?
Yes.
Special permits are hard to get and costly,potentially very costly.
Special permits can be contested by the general public.
Some of the rules are completely unreasonable especially in certain areas/zones to get the special permit.
They take a very lengthy time to get and thats if everything is in order
I could go on and on.
But most important, do you invest all those tax payer dollars in a property/structure that you very possibly may never get a legal permit for?
There is a local,well known, beautiful school and campus that will never get there use permit under the current rules because they are in a flood zone but none the less are there, built with our tax payers dollars,pride of our community,a benefit to kids,
but technically illegal.
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When you say the school was built with taxpayers money; are you saying the government authorized and/or built the school, or was it just taxpayer money to the charter school based on enrollment and the school made the decision on their own to use that location?
I can't imagine government authorizing the building of a school without the proper permits and afterwards changing their mind and telling the school they are now illegal. Once they approved the building, they are essentially saying yes you can build here, and yes it is legal, and yes you’re in compliance with all rules related to the zoning. Government can't just arbitrarily make these changes. That's one of the definition of "a taking" of property; to authorize the use and afterwards change their mind and deny the use that was legally allowed. Any lawyer who deals in property rights would be glad to take a case like this, if what your saying is correct. Now if the school went ahead and opened the school knowing they didn't have the proper permits, and they just got caught, well, that's a whole different story.
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