Hawaiian immersion schools are standing firm in uncertain times

When Keawe Santos was enrolled at a kindergarten in California, his teacher had trouble pronouncing his name, sometimes calling him “Kee-ah-wee” or “Kiwi.”

The teacher told Santos that she loved visiting Hawaii, eventually prompting the youngster to ask, “If you love Hawaii so much, why can’t you say my name right?”

Now in the fifth grade at Ke Kula Kaiapuni ‘o Anuenue in Palolo Valley, a noncharter public school where classes are conducted exclusively in the Hawaiian language, Santos never has to worry that someone will mispronounce his name and feels more secure in his cultural identity.

The state Department of Education’s Ka Papahana Kaiapuni Hawaiian immersion school program has played a key role in helping restore a critical mass of Hawaiian speakers in Hawaii and expanding the use of Hawaiian among residents and visitors.

But President Donald Trump’s actions to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education and revoke federal diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives are extremely worrisome to those who have seen the Hawaiian language come back from the brink of extinction nearly 50 years ago when only 2,000 native speakers remained following a four-­generation ban on teaching the language in public schools.

The Kaiapuni program was started in 1987, when only 32 children were documented as Hawaiian speakers, according to the University of Hawai‘i Foundation.

Adding to the recent uncertainty was an order Trump signed March 1 declaring English the nation’s official language.

Baba Yim, principal of Ke Kula Kaiapuni ‘o Anuenue, said the state DOE has told him to continue as if it’s business as usual. However, he said there is “fear and uncertainty about what happens next.”

His students are among the 2,452 enrolled in the Kaiapuni program statewide who eventually could be subject to the trickle-down effects of broad federal cuts and executive orders, especially since classes are fully instructed in Hawaiian, with English introduced as a subject in the fifth grade, and the curricula is based on Native Hawaiian cultural frameworks.

Hawaii DOE spokesperson Kimi Takazawa said in an email to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser that Kaiapuni immersion schools do not receive allocated federal funding.

“While the full impact remains uncertain, our priority is to preserve the integrity of the Kaiapuni programs and ensure continuity in student learning,” she said. “We remain committed to providing high-­quality education and exploring all available funding sources to support our programs.”

‘Foundation of trust’

Ilihia Gionson, chief public affairs officer at the W.M. Keck Observatory on Hawaii Island, attended Hawaiian-­immersion schools from elementary school through his high school graduation in 2004 as a member of the sixth graduating class of Hawaii’s immersion school programs.

Gionson, who voices the Hawaiian-language announcements played at the state’s airports, said the ability to converse in Hawaiian with others establishes an unspoken foundation of trust and candidness.

“It’s hard to understand a place without understanding its language,” he said. “It’s about being recognized and respected in the sense that (if) I can speak your language, you know that I understand something deeper about you.”

That value system and the connection to the language, along with the accompanying boost in self-confidence, is the reason he enrolled his daughter, Kawaipomaika‘i, in an immersion school.

Justin and Jennifer Santos said they chose to send their son, Keawe, and his younger sister, Kamalei, to an immersion school where speaking Hawaiian is not seen as a novelty. Justin Santos said he wishes there were more Hawaiian speakers outside of the immersion school community.

“It’s hard to be Hawaiian in Hawaii,” he said.

Hema Yam-Lum, a kumu at Ke Kula Kaiapuni o Kapolei at Kapolei Middle School, said it’s critical that Hawaiian is heard in the islands, and that it would take only a decade or so for a language to disappear if not in regular use.

“When you go to Japan, they’re speaking Japanese, when you go to Italy, they’re speaking Italian,” Yam-Lum said. “When you come Hawaii, you should hear Hawaiian.”

Hard-fought support

Keonilei Leali’ifano, president of Na Leo Kako‘o Ke Kula Kaiapuni ‘o Anuenue, the immersion school’s parent-led support organization, said she doesn’t worry that the current political environment will diminish the importance of the Hawaiian language in Hawaii. But Leali’ifano does fear that the hard-won financial and scholastic support for Hawaiian speakers may lose momentum under the Trump administration.

“We had no state funding, we had no funding at all. We had a community saying ‘How can we make this happen?’” she recalled. “Parents gave money, they fund-raised. It was a lot of work to get those things done. (Now), we have all of these things that we fought for, and there is a concern to lose those things that we’ve spent decades proving were our right to have.”

Yam-Lum said the majority of the 17 middle schoolers in Kapolei Middle School’s immersion program are considered low-income students under the federal Title 1 program, and if those funds were to be cut, they would be the first to feel the impact.

“There’s a lot of them that don’t get a good home-cooked meal and they come to school looking for that carton of milk. They look forward to fruits that aren’t from a can — that hot meal for breakfast and lunch,” Yam-Lum said.

Yam-Lum, who does not consider Hawaii as a part of the United States due to the 1893 overthrow of the Hawaiian kingdom, said he will not pay heed to Trump’s executive order designating English as the country’s official language.

Standing firm

Yim said Ke Kula Kaiapuni ‘o Anuenue will continue to perpetuate Hawaiian language and culture.

“We’re going to continue to do what we have to do,” he said.

Gionson said Hawaiian speakers must maintain the strides that have been made since immersion schools began to flourish and the population of Hawaiian speakers has expanded.

“If you have a fluency and a competency in English, great — you’ve unlocked so much about the world around you. Add to that a fluency and competency in Hawaiian, and now you’ve just unlocked a whole new world,” he said. “Understanding our natural world, our natural cycles, our environment and the way we interact with it, unlocking the brilliance of our composers and our music gives you the ability to tap into the brilliance of generations of folks who have fought really hard for this. Who are we to walk away from that?”

Certainly not the children at Ke Kula Kaiapuni ‘o Anuenue and their parents, who are standing firm in these uncertain times. When the children daydream, it is in Hawaiian, and they see a future that perpetuates the language of their culture.

Keawe Santos said he hopes to illustrate comics and action graphic novels written in Hawaiian.

“Maybe I’ll make some in English, but I don’t think I will,” Santos said. “And if some readers can’t read it, then oh, well, this is for my lahui (Hawaiian community), this isn’t for them.”

His friend, sixth grader Kaleohone Leali’ifano, son of Keionilei Leali’ifano, wants to get elected governor of Hawaii so he can provide more funds for immersion schools. That would help his little brother, Kawaiho‘ola, a third grader who wants to teach in a classroom where he can speak Hawaiian.

“I want to be a teacher for our people of Hawaii,” Kawaiho‘ola said.