Volcano School of Arts & Sciences - A Community PCS

Volcano School of Arts and Sciences (VSAS) is a small school in Volcano Village on the island of Hawaii. It has a number of passionate, well-trained teachers and some are extremely skilled at teaching using all available natural, cultural and community resources and partnerships. This creates a varied and full bodied curriculum which results in children having a deep love and concern for native plants and animals. Some of the teachers are deeply caring and compassionate individuals.

HOWEVER, this school has had and still has issues with its current administration and governing board especially in regards to rules not being followed on many levels. Perhaps it would be best to populate the board with educators and/or prior school administrators since they seem to forget that it is their job to evaluate the principal (educational director) and that the children are the focus. This is probably the worst part of the school, often the board is unwilling to address important concerns parents have. Parents' concerns are easily dismissed and it is obvious that resolution rarely occurs since families leave the school in disgust.

Part of the concern also comes from the fact that the mission of the school - which is to teach Hawaiian culture within the curriculum is often neglected. Basic protocols such as respect for others/elders/each other ranks low in priority for the school. Also the relationship between community resources is generally one sided, the school has benefited from community support without always reciprocating. Often this sentiment has been echoed throughout the community without being addressed by the educational director.

Also concerning is that students are not consistently reprimanded for inappropriate behavior and breaking rules. It seems that some of the staff expect lower class behavior and they shrug their shoulders, believing it cannot be helped. Especially obvious is running on campus in areas of high traffic, older students swearing and exibiting negative behavior in front of younger students, and blatant bullying. Student behavior in public places such as the local theater is embarrasing. Some teachers are extremely mindful but as a community, the students display horrible behavior and the school is doing them no favors in allowing such actions. Some of the school staff cannot see the big picture, that the students are actually being taught that it is acceptable to act out in public places.

Bullying has been and is still a problem at the school, especially at the 5th grade level on the elementary campus however we noticed a definite decline once the 5th grade class moved to the middle school campus. The middle school teachers seem to be more effective with such situations but some of the educational assistants, when left as primary supervisors are not as vigilant and blatant bullying and harrassing occurs often. Especially problematic with this particular issue is that special needs students seem to be allowed (and therefore encouraged) to continue negative behavior, especially in regards to innappropriate touch. The school consistenly distributes the state's laws regarding behavior and consequences, but when issues occur, appropriate stated consequences rarely occur. Thus teaching students, parents, community and staff that the safety of all is not important and rules are just "suggestions."

A clear example of how rules are not followed on different levels is the fact that rules mentioned repeatedly such as "safe driving in the driveway" and "no parking in the driveway" are easily dismissed by parents since some of the staff (in my opinion the educational director) does not enforce it. Parents clog the driveway by parking and leaving their cars, not moving forward so that they can wait in shady spots while a line forms behind. Parents can also be seen driving dangerously in and near the school by speeding and one parent (who is actually on the board) has been seen repeatedly reading books while driving.

Overall, VSAS maybe a good option if parents are willing to follow through at home with additional education, especially with experiential learning in the community and throughout the island but parents should not expect their concerns to be addressed appropriately if their issues are with the administration or the board of directors.