It’s a month into the school year, and the honeymoon period at Kamalani Academy has ended.
The small staff struggles to instill a sense of belonging among their older students, and rolls out a pilot project inspired by fiction’s most famous school – J.K. Rowling’s Hogwarts.

If you’ve heard of Harry Potter, you’ve probably heard of the “House” system: a model where students of all ages are sorted into groups to live, work and compete for end-of-year prizes.

Kamalani is trying out this model, introducing four “Hales” – meaning house in Hawaiian – to help build school community and teach Hawaiian values.

That’s all on Episode 4 of “On Campus,” our new education podcast that follows the first-year turmoils and triumphs of one of Hawaii’s newest charter schools.

Civil Beat will be tagging along with Kamalani staff on their journey, posting occasional podcasts throughout the school year. Check our On Campus page for updates.

Listen to Episode 4 of “On Campus” below, or download it in on iTunes.

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