About Waimea Middle School
We Welcome Students, Families and Community To
Hawai'i's First Public Conversion Charter School (Act 2/2002)
Some Place Based Experiences for Students
Celebrating our 20th year as a Charter School. Students begin Mon., Aug. 7!
Our Past 100 Years
While there was a school for the children of Waimea as far back as the mid-1800s, Waimea School as we know it today began in 1916 for students in grades K-12. Today there are two schools side-by-side: Waimea Elementary (PK-5) and Waimea Middle (6-8). The schools celebrated their centennial in 2016.
In 2003, Waimea Middle School became Hawai’i’s first Public Conversion Charter School under a new law passed by the State Legislature. The intention was to secure greater local control over curriculum and resources through active collaboration internally and with the State Department of Education (DOE) and many more community partners. This new law created the not-for-profit Ho’okako’o Corporation, which serves as our Local School Board and works in partnership with the Board of Education and the Hawai’i Public Charter School Commission.
Our Present
WMS is accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) through 2027. Also, WMS was approved for a Charter Contract by the Hawai’i Public Charter School Commission through June 30, 2026. Together, these require stringent academic, organizational and financial accountability and a continuous commitment to improvement.
Keaoākea STEAM Learning Center
In 2004, our community began to dream about “real” science labs and improved technology to better prepare students for the 21st century world and workplace. We worked with our legislators, DOE and community to secure planning-design funds in 2007 and construction funds in 2013 and 2014, totaling $15.89 million. We formally dedicated and opened this new learning center on Jan. 8, 2018. This is the first major facilities improvement for Waimea public school children in 30 years! Our new STEAM (Science - Technology - Engineering - Arts/’Aina - Math) Learning Center includes a Makerspace, Demonstration Lab, Broadcast Studio, science laboratories and general classrooms. There is also an outdoor amphitheater for more integrated learning experiences with the adjacent Mala’ai School Garden. Our vision is that this new building will become a hub of STEAM teaching and learning for the entire community, supporting professional development for teachers from across the island and capitalizing on innovative technology and the cultural expertise of the region to inspire students to pursue 21st century careers.
We are deeply grateful to all of our public policy leaders for funding this new learning center on behalf of the taxpayers of Hawai’i. We also thank private donors who helped more fully outfit this learning center with essential technology. Finally, we thank our teachers and staff for their dedication to providing meaningful place-, project- and culture-based STEAM teaching and learning. And we thank our students for naming the building: Keaoākea (Expansive Knowledge).
But there's more to know...
Our Future: Launching Our Public School Children into the 21st Century World & Workplace!
Waimea is a community of great beauty, resources and rich cultural heritage. But there exists a huge economic and technology gap. This is the “story” of Waimea Middle School: With about 220 6th-8th grade students, nearly 70% of our families struggle with poverty. Also, 55% are native Hawaiian; 11% have special education services; 22% qualify for Migrant Education and 4% are English Language Learners.
Inspired by this great need for academic supports and progress, our teachers and staff are risk-takers: As mentioned previously, they voted to became a public conversion charter school in 2003 to gain more control over curriculum, supports and resources to better serve students. This has resulted in progress on state academic assessments. However, our children still struggle. Further, the gap is even more pronounced when comparing high needs students (economically disadvantaged, ELL and special education) to non-high needs students.
Clearly, we must better address student needs and engagement to boost academic achievement and we are working to do this by revising curriculum, instruction and assessment and investing in professional development. The “centerpiece” of this effort revolves around our new Keaoākea STEAM Learning Center. Why is Keaoākea so significant? Middle school is the crucial time to instill higher level thinking and deeper content knowledge so that students can be successful in high school and beyond. We view the STEAM Learning Center as our “bridge” to better engaging students and improving academic outcomes.
However, we still ask the community’s help. There are many ways to contribute with the most helpful being tax deductible donations that support teaching and learning of all students and providing essential social-emotional, health-wellbeing, and technology supports as needed. We welcome your help -- the students of Waimea Middle School need and deserve it.
If you would like to know more or to tour campus including the new Keaoākea STEAM Learning Center, please call Principal Janice English (808-313-7500) or email Janice_English@wmpccs.org.
