'Old Hawaiian' Life Fading with Loss of Maui School [7min]

The last one-room school in the state of Hawaii closed just a few weeks before the school year began. The village of Ke'anae, on the north coast of Maui, had its own school for 96 years. Now village children travel an hour by bus to the town of Hana. Many residents of Ke'anae were surprised when the closure was announced in fall 2005, although the move had been discussed at community meetings for a year. Ke'anae is a sleepy village in the tropical rain forest of east Maui. Most who live there are native Hawaiian. Family ties and Hawaiian cultural traditions are strong, and land ownership goes back many generations. Many people grow taro, a root crop brought to the islands by the Polynesians. Poi, a staple of the Hawaiian diet, is made from taro. Ke'anae is an unusual place in modern Hawaii. It's a symbol to many people of "the old Hawaiian style" of life, where natives were able to live off the land. That's no longer possible in Ke'anae. Most people drive to west Maui, more than an hour away, to find work. Reported by Neenah Ellis.