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by the amount of support, community support, you’re having here today. And as I look at the number
<br />of, the list of letters that have come in, it’s, individuals, who’s who in the State of Hawaii that is really
<br />supporting you. When you first started I know you mentioned that you folks had to go about,
<br />throughout the community and find facilities that would be able to, you folks can use. So in the course
<br />of time as your student population increased and the demand for space were there, how did you folks
<br />manage to obtain these buildings? Because there are no means of finance from the State of Hawai‘i or
<br />the DOE, so I’m wondering what you folks did to do it.
<br />HIRAKAMI: Well, a lot of this is magic and coincidence. And -.
<br />DOMINGO: Who’s the magician?
<br />HIRAKAMI: Well, one is in the audience right here. He’s a realtor and a very close friend and he sits
<br />on the ASC Board. Bu he came up to us and he says, wow, there is this piece of land, which is the
<br />original 3.7 acres, that’s for sale for $26,000, and it got utilities, and water is available nearby, and
<br />everything. And when we went out and looked at it, it was just a fallow cane field, just cane and what
<br />not. And right there the vision started. Right there we said, wow, $26,000. And coincidentally right
<br />at that time we had an unrestricted donation of $10,000, just enough to put down the original money
<br />for that land. And so the nonprofit jumped on it and there began the partnership. But it really was a,
<br />really a miracle that that land came to us in that fashion. And from there because, when I said we were
<br />all around town, we were at New Hope Church Puna, we used their pavilion, we were at Pāhoa
<br />Village Center, we had about four classrooms there, we had rented a space on the Neighborhood Place
<br />of Puna, that was another one. And so we were all over the place. And, you know, the thing about
<br />renting is it doesn’t build equity so we really wanted to have our own thing. And like I said Pāhoa is
<br />probably the hardest place in all of Hawai‘i to develop a campus. So it was a bunch of miraculous
<br />things that came. And, you know, I’m glad you thanked everybody because, you know, it was our
<br />community that helped us. And the economic benefit that charter schools bring to the island of
<br />Hawai‘i, there are 13, there are more charter schools on Hawai‘i island than any in the State, and
<br />collectively we bring in over $25,000,000 a year to the County of Hawai‘i. Most of us spend it right in
<br />our community. So our school is a major employer in Pāhoa. We have a $2,0000,000 payroll. We
<br />spend all of our, even it costs us more we then write to Paul’s Repair, KTA, HPM, and all the things.
<br />So we enrich the community in more than education. But financially we’re really a big force in Pāhoa.
<br />DOMINGO: Well, I agree with that. Thank you very much. You mentioned that there are several
<br />conversion schools that have more morphed into charter schools, and I believe Laupahoehoe High
<br />School is in the process of doing that. And I think I can recall another school on this island who has
<br />already done that and is on that same course. I’m wondering if charter schools will eventually become
<br />the mainstay in the education of our children in the state because of your folk’s ability to really spend
<br />money wisely and make the dollar go as far as it can. So I just was -.
<br />HIRAKAMI: I, you know, we’re not trying to take over the education department. But the thing
<br />about charter schools is they’re kind of like the research and development arm of the Department of
<br />Education in the State. This state is the only state that has one school district, one size fits all. Big
<br />schools are better, that’s why Laupaheohoe is under threat. They want to be charter school. They just
<br />closed down Liliuokalani School in Kaimuki. They closed down Haleiwa School in Haleiwa. These
<br />are all community schools. Schools are communities. And whether or not they are small, that’s better.
<br />I mean education statistics show that small schools do better. We like our classrooms smaller and we
<br />like a small school community. So I think what we’re showing is that we’re doing things a little
<br />differently.
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<br /> EXHIBIT A
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