A few lucky Waimanalo families will be among the last to experience the benefits of the entire Pre-Kindergarten Educational Program (PREP) of Kamehameha Schools Bishop Estate (KSBE). KSBE brought this special program to Waimanalo in 1989 and the 1995-1996 will be the last year in which all of its components will exist.
The PREP program was designed to support the early development of Hawaiian children so that they will be successful in school. The three components of PREP program are the home visiting program called Parent Education Services (PES), Traveling Preschool (TPS) and Center-Based Preschool. The Parent Education Services and Traveling Preschool components of the program began operation in Waimanalo in the Fall of 1989. With the addition of center-based classrooms at Blanche Pope Elementary School in the Fall of 1990 and Waimanalo Elementary School in the Fall of 1991 support was available to families from the time they were expecting a baby until their child entered kindergarten.
The PREP program has four features that are woven into each component: (a) the inclusion of Hawaiian cultural values and practices, (b) a recognition of the importance of the family in supporting the child's development, (c) an emphasis on the development of oral language and early literacy, and (d) attention to the health status of pregnant women and young children.
Families are supported in finding ways to nurture their child's development at each age and stage. For example, in the PES component families work with their home visitor to create a kapa (quilt) to welcome their newborn baby. The quilt has motifs drawn from the natural environment that were of significance in the life of Hawaiians in Waimanalo. Each panel of the quilt features a family member interacting with an infant in a way that supports the child's growth and learning. One panel titled Ho'opa (touching) shows a Tutu doing lomi (massage) on the baby. This illustration is bordered with a string of limu to represent the ocean and a strand of the kukui nut plant which grew extensively in Waimanalo prior to the introduction of rice and sugar cane.
Mahealani McClellan, the site supervisor for the Waimanalo PREP, pointed out how all of the components are designed to make connections between people, their culture and the natural environment through materials, language and interactions. This is done in the Traveling Preschool and the center-based preschools when children pound nails into coconuts and sort shells and rocks from Waimanalo Beach, learn songs and fingerplays in Hawaiian,. The children learn about important cultural values--kokua (help) and laulima (responsibility)--as they help one another put away toys and materials at the end of the day.
Families can participate in PES as soon as they know they are going to have a baby. To enroll call the PREP Office at Blanche Pope Elementary School and ask to be assigned a home visitor. That number is 259-7922.
The family can enroll in the Traveling Preschool when a child is about two years old. The Traveling Preschool meets twice a week for a two hour period. Children must be accompanied by a family member or caregiver over 18. During the regular school year the teaching team sets-up at Waimanalo Recreation Center and at the cafeteria a Blanche Pope Elementary School for two mornings each. The summer sessions will meet in the Blanche Pope Cafeteria. To get on the waiting list to participate go to the PREP office at Blanche Pope Elementary School and fill out a Family Information Sheet. This is the component of PREP that will end in June of 1996.
Four year olds and their families can enroll in the center-based preschools. The children need not be Hawaiian. These classes are full for fall 1995, but the staff encourages people to apply for the waiting list because openings do occur. To apply call the Kamehameha Admission Office at 842-8806.
The site supervisor is proud of the relationship between PREP's center-based preschool classrooms and the elementary schools. Families and children get to know the school environment because the center-based preschools are located on school campuses. PREP and the host schools jointly participate in special activities such as May Day. Near the end of the school year the children visit the kindergarten classes and eat their lunch in the school cafeteria. The children will be familiar with the people, places and experiences they will have when they start kindergarten.
Mahealani McClellan, described the benefits of PREP. Participation from before birth through entry into kindergarten suppports families ongoing involvement in their child's education. The program begins with family, infant, and home visitor interactions in family home. Next PREP offers children a Traveling Preschool experience at a familiar community site in the company of a parent or other family member. Finally at age four they transition into a center-based preschool.
This continuity of sevice may be threatened by major changes that have been intitiated in recent weeks by the trustees. They have announced the phase-out of the Traveling Preschools state-wide. They dissolved the Kamehameha Schools Early Education Division that administered PREP and their campus Elementary School and switched the functions to other administrative groups. The mission of the abolished division was to provide "innovative programs serving children and their families from pregnancy to age 12.". In the process of dissolving the division they also ended the employment of a number of the people who created and brought to national attention the innovative components of PREP.
It is too early to tell what all of this will mean for Waimanalo. The commitment of Kamehameha Schools Bishop Estate to the Hawaiian population in our community is quite recent (1989). The Traveling Preschool has one more year; the center-based expansion is under review; and that the home visiting program will continue as long as federal funding is received. The test of their committment is whether they will apply for continued federal funding for this component.
The trustees may be retreating from their position to support the development of very young children. "From pre-natal home visits to the on-campus Kamehameha Elementary School, each Early Education Division program has its beginnings in one compelling premise. That reaching children when they are very young and involving their families in the educational process can have a profound and lasting effect on their future success." (July 1993)
Programs that support families with very young children result in positive outcomes for the children's future academic success. A preschool experience at age four is too little too late. Let's hope that the abandonment of the Early Education Division is not an abandonment of support for Hawaiian families with very young children in Waimanalo and the state.