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HENKEL: Okay, and have you gotten a copy of the Director's recommendations and
<br />conditions?
<br />TYDLACKA: Yes.
<br />HENKEL: And you're okay with them?
<br />TYDLACKA: Mm-hmm.
<br />HENKEL: Okay, thank you. Please state your name and where you're from and proceed.
<br />TYDLACKA: Okay, I'm Kathryn Tydlacka, and I'm the director of the school, also the founder,
<br />and I want to thank you guys first of all for just allowing our school to exist.
<br />I started the school or we started the school. When I first moved there, I worked for the local
<br />school for a couple of years. I taught there, and the schools in that area have traditionally been
<br />the lowest achieving in the State of Hawaii, and there was absolutely room for change, I think.
<br />While I was there, I realized that the kids were extremely bright, and they are just as capable as
<br />any other kids, but they didn't quite fit into the traditional maybe pattern of education. So, I
<br />knew that if I was able to start a school there and get the right teachers and people that really
<br />cared and, and would work hard, we could help those kids improve in reading and math and
<br />science. I'm nervous, you can tell. But, I just want to tell you that we have been in operation
<br />now for two years. In the first year, we saw incredible growth in our kids for reading, math, and
<br />in science. And, this year, though, all the scores aren't finalized in everything, because every
<br />year they take a State test and that shows whether they grow in reading and math. Our kids from
<br />Ka`u have again been traditionally the lowest achieving in the State, and this year, it looks like
<br />our kids are going to surpass the State average in all three—in reading, math, and science—and
<br />we're so excited about that.
<br />So, I could tell individual stories all day long, but I know that we don't want to be here all day
<br />long, so but, Joe would like to share. He's the managing director, and there is one story that he
<br />would to share that's just representative of all the kids in our school.
<br />IACUZZO: Excuse me, I'm Joe Iacuzzo, the managing director of the school. And, again, I
<br />want to reiterate what Kathryn said and thank you because I think sometimes up here, you don't
<br />always see the impact that your decisions can make on a community. And, we had a young girl
<br />who came to us last year as a sixth grader. She was cutting herself. Her father hung himself the
<br />first couple weeks of school, and she was also special education, which is, some of you may
<br />know, kind of puts a stigma on a child. We talked to her. We talked to mom. And, we took her
<br />out of special education. We didn't tell our teachers this. She was just another student to them.
<br />She improved from the—the four categories are well below, approaching, meets and exceeds;
<br />meets and then exceeds. And, that's how the State testing works. Last year, she went from well
<br />below, which she had always been her entire academy career for up through into 6th grade. And;
<br />she approached this year, for the first time in her life, she passed the State test. And, it was
<br />because she knew our expectations for her. She knew we believed in her. She gave Kathryn a
<br />letter at the end of this year asking, telling her that she'd been a great student and asking if we
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