Namahana School gifted $1 million for new middle school classrooms

An anonymous donor couple gifted $1 million to a public charter school on Kaua‘i, which will go toward building middle school classrooms.

Namahana School, located in Kīlauea, will have its first cohort of seventh- and eighth-graders enrolled in its 2025-2026 academic year. The campus construction is slated to begin as soon as permits are finalized.

The donation pushes Namahana’s fundraising progress to $7.5 million, or three-quarters of the $10 million goal needed to complete its middle school.

Given that Namahana’s leadership only began to fundraise for campus construction in 2022, this is a “Herculean accomplishment” for a start-up tuition-free charter school in a rural neighbor island community, a press release from the school stated.

“This gift speaks volumes about the growing commitment within our philanthropic community, which has been paying close attention to Namahana’s progress and stepping forward to support us at each major milestone of our journey,” said Melanie Parker with the Namahana Education Foundation.

According to a press release from the school, the donor couple was “particularly moved by Namahana’s Ola Framework, which ties the school’s curricular goals to concrete measures for students’ personal, family and community health.”

“This is the type of forward-thinking, student-centered education that our world needs more of,” said the donors, who are part-time North Shore residents. “We are believers in transforming our educational system in order to transform our society, which is increasingly challenged by unhealthy and unsustainable lifestyles.

“Teaching children to thrive involves giving them a strong foundation of personal habits and self-awareness, and we are confident that Namahana School will do this for children in our community. We can’t wait to see the ripple effects that it will produce around Kaua‘i and beyond.”

Namahana School Leader Dr. Kapua Chandler was grateful that the donors recognized the charter school’s vision.

“This extraordinary gift is a powerful validation of our community partnerships, which are the foundation of everything we do,” Chandler said. “We can only fulfill our kuleana to future generations of North Shore keiki when passionate believers in our mission come forward with this kind of decisive support.”