LIHU‘E – The Department of Education is considering pushing back the reopening of public schools from Aug. 4 to Aug. 17, after receiving feedback that their original planned date for welcoming students back to classrooms was too early.
The Board of Education is considering the issue on Thursday and Kauai teachers, parents and legislators are all saying some of the same things: that teachers need adequate time to plan for the year and students need to return to a safe environment.
Florence Tavares, a second-grade teacher at Wilcox Elementary School in Lihu‘e said one of her main concerns is for parents to feel comfortable with DOE decisions. She acknowledged the delicate balance the DOE faces of education and safety.
“I am confident that the decision makers are working hard, looking at data and trying their best to come up with a well-informed decision to delay the opening of school,” said Tavares. “To be honest, I am worried that keeping schools closed will have a negative effect on student’s education, social and academic growth. And in some cases, (schools) double as not just a place of learning, but child care as well.”
However, Tavares’s greatest concern is the pandemic itself.
“I often think about all that is required to make it happen in order for a school to be a safe place,” said Tavares.
July 29 is the official start date for teachers and Tavares pointed out new challenges for ensuring proper pandemic protocols in school buses and the cafeteria; questions about how to enforce social distancing and how to do temperature checks; concerns about whether schools will be able to provide enough hand sanitizers, wipes, masks and other personal protective equipment (PPE). Those are just a few of the new pieces of information teachers have to integrate into their plans for the upcoming school year.
“As you know teachers put in endless hours to get ready for the school year. We could benefit from the extra time,” said Tavares.
Tavares, who is a mother herself, understands that parents need to be comfortable with the plan for reopening public schools to students and “if parents don’t feel uncomfortable with sending their kids to school, and can manage it at home, that is totally a legitimate choice.”
Kauai Representative James Tokioka said he would like to see the reopening of schools when the DOE has all the health and safety protocols in place.
“One thing we all agree on is teachers want to teach and parents want to send their children to school, however, we have to find a way to ensure the safety of all of our students, teachers, staff, and ohana,” said Tokioka, explaining he and Senate President Kouchi appreciate the DOE in taking into consideration the concerns about reopening that the Kauai legislation sent to Superintendent Christina Kishimoto on July 23rd.
Senate President Kouchi said, “While we are fortunate that the Kaua‘i Educational Pilot Program provided a jump start on remote instruction, it is imperative to establish and communicate clear minimal statewide policies and procedures to ensure the health and welfare of students, families, faculty, and staff.”
Kishimoto acknowledged the continued conversation about schools reopening in a July 27 statement, as well as the feedback DOE has gotten from families, educators and community members from across the state.
“My expectation is that if the Board approves the two-week delay, that our labor partners will do an aggressive push to their members to be at schoolhouse doors on day one for our students,” Kishimoto said in the statement.
State Rep. Dee Morikawa thinks reopening the schools on a later date is a good idea.
“We shouldn’t rush opening and we need to be absolutely sure that all safety concerns have been addressed,” said Morikawa. “Although, I am confident that the school I send my hanai (adopted) daughter to is ready and able to begin a blended learning process, many other schools with larger populations will not be able to work out the details by next week.”
After writing a lengthy response only to have the ugly face at bottom to submit I will be brief.
What happens if we open schools, we get tourism going and we get an outbreak of Covid19? How many active cases would it take before closing the schools? Seems like some really hard decisions coming down the pike once we reopen Kaua’i to the world, or maybe the world just no one from our own mainland!!
we should also ask “how many more days of no income would it take before we realize we’ve made this much worse than it ever needed to be?”
and
“why hasn’t the county obtained more ventilators?”
IDK about you , but the pursuit of zero cases doesn’t pay my rent.
Do not open Kauai to tourism.
Do not open Kauai’s schools.
Continue mandatory masks in all public places along with social distancing.
We are not out of this forest yet.
Don’t start killing people just to make a buck or have schools baby sitting your kids.
It’s too soon. IT’S TOO SOON!!!
Hawaii state leadership would rather open their doors to tourism and close the doors to classrooms.
Education has never been a priority for HI leaders (the more uneducated their citizens are the more surplus of cheap labor they have), so it’s no surprise that all these bigwigs are so indecisive.
The solution, however, is quite simple: allow elementary (K-4) level students to return to campus, and keep the older kids at home. Young students NEED that in-classroom interactive learning; older students not so much.
And older kids are capable of participating in on-line distance learning while their parents are at work, whereas younger students require having a full-time adult presence at home, which would be ruinous for working parents.
Also, Kauai is very different from the other islands; we have hardly any cases, and none of them are communal, so I think these decisions should be made according to district/island.
John, it only takes one…ONE…infected person in the right place at the right time to wreak havoc on this island. Don’t be lulled into a false sense of safety just because it hasn’t started spreading yet. Open those school doors, and you will see an avalanche.
As a former teacher, I can tell you that there is no safe way to open schools right now, and pushing it ahead two weeks isn’t going to make a lick of difference. Classrooms full of kids are petri dishes for colds and flu. Kids don’t mask up properly, don’t follow distancing, and in an enclosed classroom with an airborn virus floating around, you have a recipe for disaster. The kids will bring this virus home with them. They will infect and possibly kill the elderly kapuna who babysit them, their parents, their siblings, and even themselves. You will start to see teachers getting sick and disappearing. Do not be lulled into a false sense of security just because you haven’t seen that many cases on Kauai. Talk to someone from Florida, CA, NY, or TX about how hospitals cannot keep up with the number of sick and dying they have OF ALL AGES. With the huggy/kissy nature of locals on this island, this monster is just waiting for an opportunity to get out of its cage on Kauai.