By George Kon

When you’ve taught in the Windward district for over 20 years, you occasionally witness a “grade level that makes you lose your hair.” When they enter as kindergarteners there are a few troubled eggs that infect the lot. Ordinarily, after a few years, disruptive leaders are tamed or isolated into management programs. With fewer resources for problem children and no dismissal luxury like their private school counter parts, the DOE schools just put up with these educational roadblocks. The children behave so badly that they force teachers to seek counseling and sometime early retirement. The grade level gets a reputation that sweeps the school, so when ADE comes in for the first time at grade 5 and is appalled at the behavior, commiserating nods confirm their greatest fear.

On day one at Ahuimanu School , a fifth grade student puts down her foot and says in body language, "We don't have to do this crap and you're not going to make me." Her posse picks up her negative attitude and soon half the class is in full resistance. On day 2, Mr. Bright arrives with the choreography for the finale. There's a crack in the resistance and even the leader of the student resistance begrudgingly learns the catchy steps to ADE's "I Got Rhythm." Immediately after that, things go downhill. Behavior deteriorates so badly that Principal Duca has to appear four different times to reinforce the artists' request for full and civil participation. Since the artists do their magic in only eight 45 minute sessions, the principal was there practically every other day.

Two days before show time, the artists volunteer their time to do a make up session because the students are so behind on their preparation. Again, the recalcitrant student has told her troops that this activity is "optional" and they can't force you to come during recess. The principal comes to the rescue but the time for the extra session has frittered away. During the dress rehearsal, Auntie Sharon Young, the school custodian who has witnessed years of final preparations for culminations can see this one is far off track. She tells the kids "What you guys doing? Shut your mouths and just pay attention. Try put some feeling in your dancing and singing. You no like make your parents shame tomorrow nite, eh?"

By now, over a dozen students are boycotting the culmination. The artists work to reassign speaking parts with the students that are committed to performing that evening. "Even if half the class is absent, we'll be fine," artist Grace Humerickhouse reassures me. She thinks "It might even be better without the disruptive element." Come show time, who pulls up in the family car but little Ms. Obstinate. The artists huddle briefly, then surprisingly, offer to integrate the child into the show even after her maneuvers have threatened the quality of the production.

In addition to the two superbly challenging classes at Ahuimanu, the artists are simultaneously juggling three classes of grade 4-5 combos at Kahaluu, which had threatened to be tough but turned out troopers. Principal Amy Arakaki stepped in to give encouragement to the class who was missing not only half of their classmates but their teacher, who gave birth only the week before. The only downside was that many children from Kahaluu had a hard time making it over to Ahuimanu café for the evening performance.

Principal Anne Marie Duca set the tone for the evening with perhaps the most eloquent opening remarks we have heard in 20 years:

“It seems like everybody from Kahaluu knows everyone from Ahuimanu. You know my cousin Moani, and Kalani knows Kimo. So everyone from Kahaluu, ‘Welcome to your cousin’s school!’ We are all part of Castle complex. We have been doing the CPAC activities with our 5th grade for many many years. I came here 10 years ago and was told that this is a tradition that we want to continue. We have been through innumerable budget cuts yet every year each of the 8 Castle complex schools believes in supporting this program. It is paid for directly from our school funds. We take the money off the top of our priority funds so we can afford ADE’s two artists to provide this program. It is a wonderful way to start the year.” [Thanks to Karen Meyer and annual CPAC allocations, each school’s share is 50% of total project cost.] “We know that oral communications are an important part of our language arts standards. Even before we had formalized standards we valued oral communication. Think about when you were in the 5th grade and you had to get up in front of your classmates to recite a poem or give a speech. Were you as confident as you see your children in preparing for tonite? I think it’s a gift to our children if we can help them erase that nervousness. We can help them realize the value of being prepared, of learning how to project or simply how to talk to an audience. You value it because you came tonite. Many of you came for one child, but you’ll discover that you know many more and you’ll be proud of every single one of them.”

Artist JP Tai, who is an alumni of Ahuimanu, set the tone for the audience. “Tonight we found out some kids wouldn’t be here to perform, so we had to scramble some lines around. It shows the students’ resilience because not only do they know their own line, but they knew the line of the person in front of them and the person behind them. If it gets kind of shaky or if you hear this deep male voice, just ignore it and enjoy the show. These kids have been taught that no matter what, the show must go on and that’s the joy of live theatre.”

Sitting next to me in the front row as the show begins is choreographer and script writer and curriculum designer extraordinaire, Grace Humerickhouse. On the outside she appears cool and confident but on the inside, she’s especially nervous about tonight’s outcome. The reason she’s out front is to provide cues on when to stand and bow, when to begin speaking and staying in time with the dance. Sometimes like a deer in the headlights, a child looks at the packed house of parents and family members and loses focus. Grace’s reassuring smile and her familiar arm motions gently brings them back into focus until all that practice kicks back in. The Kahaluu kids with minus half a class and no teacher, pull it off. There is one little gal on body mic that does solo calling in Hawaiian that pulls everyone together. Grace is beaming and relieved with one down and four to go.

The students pull the rabbit out of the hat for the rest of the show and exceed expectations of artists, teachers and Principal Duca. The audience is delighted and the teachers are as surprised and pleased as the artists. As everyone says goodbye, even our doubting student comes up and gives JP a big hug, go figgah? He's flabbergasted but hugs back. What was happening with this formerly reluctant performer? You never know what these kids are up against, what's going on in their families or their personal lives. Fear wears many different guises. Tonite, scared kids got a chance to step through that curtain of fear and come out, not only unscathed but victorious, on the other side. With the help of dedicated teachers and administrators, "ADE is helping young Hawaii rehearse for life."