FOR CURRENT ʻOHANA & THEIR HAUMĀNA
In March current Ka ʻUmeke ʻOhana must submit an Intent to Attend letter in order to hold their seats. Haumāna will be notified of their status for the following school year in April.
FOR NEW ʻOHANA & THEIR HAUMĀNA
The two essential areas of enrollment are for incoming Kindergarteners for the upcoming school year, and transfer haumāna from grades 1 and above. The process for enrollment has been streamlined over the years to ensure that potential ‘ohana and haumāna are familiar with, aware of, and committed to the vision, mission, and goals of Ka ‘Umeke Kā’eo. Ka ‘Umeke endeavors to introduce ‘ohana to the educational philosophy and values of the school so that in the end “families shall select us rather than we selecting them”
Enrollment Timeline
Beginning in October, interested ‘ohana will notify the office of their intent to enroll and the office will take down the ‘ohana name and phone number to contact them when the enrollment process begins for their child.
Early Enrollment Begins on November 1st and ends on November 30th
Open Enrollment Papa Mālaao begins December 1st-Ongoing until seats are filled
Open Enrollment Papa ‘Ekahi and above begins January 1st and continues until seats are filled.
In January we hold an open house for all current ʻohana and ʻohana interested in attending. At this time ʻohana interested in joining Ka ʻUmeke can see the learning occurring at each grade level and ask questions at the same time.
Enrollment Process
All ‘ohana must go through a mandatory orientation. The office will schedule all ‘ohana that has signed up to enroll for the monthly orientation. At this meeting ‘ohana will be given an overview of Ka ‘Umeke’s educational philosophy (which includes haumāna to kumu ratio, classroom size, experiential and community-based curriculum, etc.), vision, mission, and values, a brief history of our school, governance, ‘Ohana Agreement and expectations, and the enrollment process. ‘Ohana are given an enrollment packet at the end of the orientation and all documents and forms need to be filled out and returned by the end of that month to be considered “completed” and to ensure a seat for the upcoming school year.
Upon completion of the enrollment packet, a Po’okumu conference is held with the ‘ohana to review the ‘Ohana Agreement form and provide an opportunity for additional questions.
Enrollment is closed at the end of each month. Keiki completing this enrollment process (#1-4 above) by this deadline shall be confirmed.
A new deadline is set up on a month to month basis until all seats are filled. If there is a waiting list ‘ohana are notified of their status and haumāna are given a seat on a first come first serve basis. Waitlists are only active for one year. Haumāna who are not offered enrollment within the same school year that they are waitlisted must re-apply to enroll in following years if they still interested. Acceptance letters are mailed out between April.
Incoming Papa Malaa’o:
‘Ohana interested in enrolling their child in Ka ‘Umeke for Malaa’o fall into two categories, early enrollment, and open enrollment. Those that qualify for early enrollment must meet one of the following criteria:
Siblings of current haumāna.
Siblings of past graduates (not only enrolled but graduated).
Children of staff members.
Children of current board members.
Children of past board members that served at least one full year.
If one of these criteria is met then the ‘ohana has until November 30th to complete the entire Enrollment Process to ensure confirmation of their keiki for early enrollment.
If an interested ‘ohana does not meet the above requirements for early enrollment then they must wait for open enrollment. Open enrollment follows the enrollment process as stated above.
In April of the following year, confirmed keiki for Papa Mālaa’o will be scheduled for a placement test for one of the two Papa Mālaa’o classrooms.