Educational Specialist
Hawaii Department of Education
Dr. Kalehua Krug is proudly from the Waiʻanae Coast on the island of Oʻahu, although his family originates from Pūkoʻo, Molokaʻi. He currently resides in Lualualei with his 3 children that were raised speaking ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi, the Hawaiian language. Throughout his life, Kalehua spent many years sifting through the colonial constructs that framed his experiences and ideological understandings of the world to decolonize, to the best of his ability, his behaviors and worldview One of the most significant areas that he looked into is Hoʻomana Hawaiʻi, Indigenous Hawaiian Animism, through the lens of Kākau Uhi Hawaiʻi, traditional Hawaiian tattooing. Professionally, he has worked as a Hawaiian Language Immersion teacher, a Hawaiian Language Teacher Educator at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa and transitioned to become the administrator of the Hawaiian Language Immersion Program of the Hawaiʻi Department of Education in 2014. In 2019, Kalehua became the Principal of Ka Waihona o ka Naʻauao Public Charter School, a Hawaiian culture-based school, where he strives to utilize his experiences to reform and reshape indigenous education in a predominantly Hawaiian community. He studies indigenous philosophy and worldview to utilize Hawaiian cultural traditions as a mechanism to enhance a more sustainable future for all children and our environment. Along with being a practitioner of kākau, he is also a Hawaiian musician and composer.