Lt. Governor Opens New After-School Programs

The Lt. Governor unveiled after-school programs at Ka'u High and Pahala Elementary School on Wednesday and Kohala Middle School last week.  The programs are aimed at assisting and protecting students who are vulnerable to risky behaviors caused by a lack of adequate adult supervision once the school bell rings.

The new programs are part of a now $2.4 million statewide effort started by Lt. Governor Aiona four years ago on a small scale, but has grown to benefit more than 4,200 students in 21 middle schools across the state.  The Lt. Governor introduced the program at Moloka‘i Middle School as a pilot project in 2004 under the name UPLINK (Uniting Peer Learning, Integrating New Knowledge).

The addition of the two Big Island schools brings the total number of students the program serves on the Big Island to approximately 400, roughly 10 percent of students statewide that the program keeps off the streets and out of trouble.

“As a former family court judge, I know that after-school hours are a critical time for our youth,” Lt. Governor Aiona said. “That time can represent either an opportunity to learn and grow through quality after-school programs, or a time to experiment with unsafe behaviors, such as using drugs and drinking alcohol. This effort is about helping relieve the stresses on our working parents.”

The program runs on federal funds and is administered through the state Department of Human Services, which has worked closely with the state Department of Education to get 21 of the state’s 52 middle schools involved as part of the Hawai‘i Drug Control Plan, which calls for a high-quality after-school program that makes students less likely to smoke, use drugs, or engage in sexually risky behaviors.

“We are extremely proud to offer an after-school program that keeps our students safe, improves achievement, and helps relieve the stresses on our working parents,” said Janette Snelling, principal of Kohala Middle School. “This after-school program is a wonderful opportunity to involve our students in engaging activities within a supportive, adult-supervised environment outside normal school hours.”