Furlough Days

[Carey]

Keeau Parents:

Only 3 children signed up to participate in the Keaau program sponsored by the county (at $6 each child for the day, it didn't even pay for the rent of the gym from the state for an hour, much less the day) so the county is sending those 3 to the Keaau Boys & Girls

Pahoa parents:

The county will not be using the Pahoa Gym, just the Community Center due to lack of sign ups....

Maybe this is a non-issue for those in Puna... The lack of parents signing up for the programs (for what ever the reason) in Puna has lessened the need for volunteers HERE.

Kona has more parents requesting the programs, but still, not the landslide the county had anticipated.

[tgalarneau]

I have two kids in Keonepoko Elementary and they have been there for a number of years. This is a failing school yet the teachers and administration are caring and concerned. It's just dysfunctional. Why?



Many of the families are dysfunctional; it's a revelation going to school functions. In a place like Pahoa (Big Island/Hawaii), with it's limited educational opportunities and meaningful employment means most of the best and brightest move to where there is opportunity leaving those who are not as ambitious or educated and usually poor with the associated social problems.


Most of the more community motivated and educated here are older retirees without school aged children and few even have grandkids here so they are less informed and involved in the everyday school problems. Or they are like myself; somewhat unorthodox and skeptical of the present system. All this makes parent involvement sketchy.



A state run system such as the DOE just doesn't work but would local control work in this environment? However it couldn't be worse.



Much of what goes on in school is babysitting (daycare at best). My kids watch a lot of cartoons and videos during class time. My daughter, who loves to read, now complains about boring reading class. On questioning, it seems all time is spent in group discussions on answering questions geared to test taking (thank you federal government). Where do they instill the love of reading and study and the skills required?



Teachers seem more interested in vacation time than time in the class. I probably would too if I had to deal with all the problems the kids bring to class and lack of admin/parental support along with the legal inability to maintain discipline. Too much off time is not good for students or teachers; it is hard and takes time to recover lost ground. At least one week before fall, winter, spring vacations and two weeks before summer are basically lost anticipating it and days or weeks are required to get the kids back on track when they return. This will now be worse with all the 3 and 4 day weekends coming up.



Unions, not a fan. They have lost the focus on education and the kids with their concerns of self interest; both the unions and the teachers. The furlough days are a ploy to get funding by destroying our kids education and inconveniencing the parents who need the daycare so they can keep their jobs.
Their hope was for a public protest and a tax increase; how little they know their community where everyone just accepts what is and goes on; only making sure an alternative daycare is available at minimal cost. After all what is the reason for sending our kids to school?



Would I agree to an increase in taxes to eliminate the furloughs. No. It was just as dysfunctional before. This will motivate me and no doubt others to change things even if only for my own kids. In the meantime the schools get a new excuse for poor performance.



Charter schools offer some hope but not much. I don't know how well my kids will be prepared for the 21st century world by learning Hawaiian, chanting, hala leave weaving and hula. Well, there are some jobs at the hotel luaus. Anyone need a lauhala hat?

[Carey]

Some, but by no means all, charter schools do teach Hawaiian, chanting, weaving and Hula, many others have other focus. Some, have arts &/or sciences (HAAS Volcano & Connections).

In the last two years I have met many teachers and taught in their classrooms. I have to say that the majority care about the educational "product" they are delivering to their students, care much more about what they are doing IN school rather than their days off, and spend more than their assigned resources of time and money on their students. Most schools have many teachers there on days off & very early in the morning & later in the afternoons. Some routinely use their own out of pocket money to pick up items for the students and classroom.

Oh, and learning how to follow instructions and produce a product IS a very essential tool for the 21st century, so any student that can weave a lauhala hat has learned many different and valuable skills, all woven into an activity that can draw the student into learning.

[jade]

( Only 3 children signed up to participate in the Keaau program sponsored by the county (at $6 each child for the day, it didn't even pay for the rent of the gym from the state for an hour, much less the day) so the county is sending those 3 to the Keaau Boys & Girls)

Normally they send flyers home with the kids to alert of new programs. They did not send out any information on this. I had heard Billy Kenoi say on the radio that they were working on something but I never heard anything again. I bet nobody else did either. They should have sent a flyer home with the kids and it would be booked up by now.

[Carey]

Who should have sent the notice & WITH WHAT MONEY????

I alerted this forum of the program the day it was announced. (ETA Emily's complaint got more attention that day)

I would have to say that with all of the media resources (including 3 articles in each of the main papers, and numerous radio & TV minutes spent) that if 2 programs in Hilo have no signups and 2 programs in Puna do not have enough signups to maintain the planned activities, that there are not enough parents that need the assistance, or are not paying attention or think that this really will not happen next Friday or whateva.... Do not know which, but the lack of signups will close down the number of children assisted....

The county sent press releases to EVERY media outlet in the county & I know that many teachers reminded this to the students.... beyond that, It always has been left to the parent to inquire on the programs available through the county Parks and Recs Dept, why should this be any different?

[pslamont]

The education system here is SOOOO out of balance. Furlough days are foolish and detrimental to the kids. Teachers are already some of the lowest paid I have ever seen. Last year one school advertised for a baker with a starting salary higher than the starting teacher salaries. The priorities here are all wrong.

1. Raise the state tax to cover state costs, period. That is what the state tax is for. If we balance the budget and can lower it again, so be it.
2. Go back to a traditional school year with summer school available to those who need to catch up to advance to the next grade.
3. STOP social promotion to keep numbers of students in the classroom lower. If a child fails, he repeats.
4. Require parents to COME TO SCHOOL AND PICK UP THEIR CHILD every time a referral is written. Parental pressure to behave would increase 100 fold. If leaving work to get your child is a problem, I bet those parents will take some sternness into the household influencing those students to behave. That would instill some values and loyalties all around.
5. Pay teachers salaries that reflect professionalism.
6. Expect teachers to stay after school for meetings... no more "no student" days for meetings.
7. Extend the school day for students to run from 8 am to 3:30 PM five days a week.

Okay, that is my rant. Sorry if it offends anyone. I am not sure how my teacher husband would feel about this but I think he would concur....

Pam

I want to be the kind of woman that, when my feet
hit the floor each morning, the devil says

"Oh Crap, She's up!"

[missydog1]

Carey, I was just trying to go the opposite way and put a specific and human face on the problem. There is something very frustrating about reading so many comments that focus on the system and the politics that are not from people actually directly dealing with the fallout in a personal way, and I wanted to make a counterpoint.

btw, my grandson attends Waikoloa School. It is a wonderful school. He loves attending and is sad on days the bus doesn't come. The events like the Ho'olaulea are truly joyous and uplifting. They are doing something right. However, if they aren't open, then he is deprived of all that. 3 1/2 days of school is absolutely shameful.

My son has been searching for day care to cover the after school and half day for six months, and hasn't found anything, so this makes an already difficult juggling act impossible for a single employed parent to manage.

If any of you who seem to know a lot about programs have any knowledge of a program for Waikoloa, I will be beyond grateful to you for sharing.

[Carey]

Hisaoka Gym (60)-Chris Cackley 889-6505
Waikoloa Park (40)-Doug Roberts 883-6100
Waimea Community Center (60)-Lindsey Iyo 887-3014

Link:
http://www.hawaii-county.com/parks/pdf/F...0Flyer.pdf

For those with a Boys & Girls club, the link:
http://www.bgcbi.com/main.asp?id=31

ETA: Just a little frustrated that people give me attitude like I am clueless & then ask for help....Am I the only one here who knows how to search the web?????

[Nalu]

This makes me so very sad for Hawaii's children. My son just started Kindergarten, and a parent in his class said in regards to the fulrough, "Oh well, it's only kindergarten right?" Kindergarten is the ground floor to education, if a house was built with a shoddy foundation it would be no time at all before the whole thing collapsed. I just can't rap my mind around what they were thinking, and who exactly they are? For the DOE to have the teachers take these days off, it's the equivalent of putting on a big theatrical production and at the last minute firing all of the performers. I mean what about all the behind the scenes people. I know this won't be a popular view, The teachers too should take some of the blame, while I do agree that they are underpaid and overworked, and their services are valuable and they should be compensated, I also beleive that there first loyalty above all should be the children. Everyone and their brother right now is being forced to take a pay cut, they should have accepted a paycut and not allowed these days to be taken away. That being said, this itself, should have been the LAST resort, and in my opinion not a very good one. I think the head honchos should have all taken a paycut, and figured out ways to cut the fat in the administration. I've wrote letters to the paper, I don't know what else to do, I hear of protests on other islands I wish there would be some here, I'd love to participate. Angela

[csgray]

tgalarneau:
I have to say a few words in defense of charter schools, while there are some Hawaiian Culture based charter schools they are not the norm. For some families those schools are the best fit, but they are not the only charter options. At my school (Connections) I spent the morning today proctoring the PSAT. Every single 10th and 11th grader takes it. Our stated goal is that every single Connections graduate is college ready, and taking the PSAT is part of the process that gets them there. We also require every graduate to have had a "post-secondary" educational experience, which usually means taking a class at HCC or UHH in their Junior or Senior year, paid for by Connections.

We require far more specific course work and credits than DOE schools to get our diploma: 4 years each of science, language arts, math, and social studies plus at least 1 year of a world language and other assorted required electives like PE and the Arts. We manage to do this with about 1/2 the funding as DOE schools, plus we pay for our buildings out of our per pupil funding.

Yes, we do have Hawaiian language, Hawaiian studies, and Hula, but these are not all our kids do. Hawaiian is a legitimate language and counts towards our language requirement, Hula can be either a PE or a Fine Arts credit, and Hawaiian studies is a demanding Social Studies class. These classes are taken by both Hawaiian students and kids from other backgrounds, they are demanding classes taught by a fully certified teacher who is Highly Qualified under NCLB federal guidelines.

I believe that HAAS is just as demanding, although with a different guiding philosophy.

My last point is more general, most teachers hate the "training days" and "professional development" days. These are management driven and every teacher I know would far rather teach to their students than spend a day listening to some windbag who hasn't stepped into a classroom with actual kids in it for 20 years droning on and on telling us how to fill out additional paperwork they've created to prove we actually teach. I spent most of the October "vacation" cutting and pasting information from the state standards into curriculum maps to fulfill NCLB federal mandates. I would have worked those days anyway, but instead of designing dynamic and challenging lesson plans I was stuck filling out paperwork that was going to go into a file somewhere in Oahu, never to be seen again.

Carol