Superintendent’s
EDUCATION UPDATE
Energy generation phase begins
HAWAII STATE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION | JUNE 2015
The Department held a
groundbreaking
ceremony at McKinley
High on May 21 to
mark the first phase of
the renewable energy
generation portion of the
Ka Hei program. It’s one of
nine schools that will receive
photovoltaic (PV) panels in this
phase.
Ka Hei integrates innovative
energy technology
with meaningful
learning
experiences while
reducing energy
costs. The DOE
spends $64 million
annually to power
schools and offices statewide.
The installation of PV panels
and other products will reduce
costs by hundreds of thousands
of dollars in its first year.
McKinley will receive 480
PV modules in canopies above
the parking lot, reducing its
electrical load by about 13
percent.
Ka Hei also includes
integrated STEM lesson plans;
12 schools participated in a
pilot curriculum program in the
2014-15 school year. The
program will expand next year.
Keaau El 5th graders
storm 2015 BioBlitz
“OHIA!” The sound of 5th
graders yelling in unison filled
the bus as it approached the
entrance to Hawaii Volcanoes
National Park. The students from
Keaau Elementary were
answering a question from their
teacher, Brynn Alcain, about the
kind of forest they were entering.
This bus was heading to a
one-of-a-kind event — the 2015
National Geographic BioBlitz
— to inventory native flora and
fauna. At the entrance, Park
Ranger Jane joined the tour and
Keaau Elementary
students gather
data at Hawaii
Volcanoes National
Park for the 2015
BioBlitz. What was
the most popular
lab? Bugs.
STORY
bit.ly/KeaauBioBlitz
guided the bus driver to
“Research Road,” in a stretch of
the park’s eastern forest. Here,
the students would cycle
through three “natural labs” to
observe birds, plants, and bugs.
Students were reminded
about how to be a scientist —
use your senses, and use
language to describe what your
senses are experiencing.
But would they find what
they were most hoping to see —
a happy face spider?
Success Stories
“You really can change the world if you care enough.” — Marian Wright Edelman
‘SENIOR LUAU’ CONNECTS
KUPUNA WITH FRIENDS
MUSIC IS LANGUAGE FOR
HONOKAA JAZZ BAND
Story: bit.ly/TigerLuau
Story:bit.ly/HonokaaJazz
Student leaders in McKinley
High’s Ambassadors
program, who volunteer at
nearby senior housing, find a
new way to battle loneliness
and depression among the
elderly. “Although we have a
gap in age, they are just like
you and me.”
CONNECT
Student musicians
transcended hearing barriers
with a performance at the
Hawaii School for the Deaf
and Blind as part of a 2015
Big City Tour. HSDB students
shared deaf cultural norms,
American Sign Language
phrases, and a dance.
HawaiiPublicSchools.org
‘CELEBRATING HAWAII’ AT
STUDENT ART EXHIBITION
With dreams of ocean and
beach in mind, 96 students in
grades K-6 from across the
Islands were selected for the
annual juried exhibition at the
Hawaii Convention Center,
organized by the Hawaii State
Foundation on Culture and
the Arts.
Story: bit.ly/SAEHI15
/HIDepartmentofEducation
/HIDOE808
Opportunities
EDUCATORS
The National Board Jump Start
Seminar on Oahu (July 9-11),
and Maui and Hawaii Island
(July 14-16) helps teachers
understand the requirements for
certification and plan how to
integrate them into the upcoming
school year. $50, lunch included.
Register by June 15. View on
Intranet Opportunities list:
https://intranet.hawaiipublicscho
ols.org/Lists/Opportunities
SCHOOLS
Northrop Grumman Foundation
welcomes submissions for its
Fab School Labs contest, a
program that provides public
middle schools with an
opportunity to make their dreams
of a state-of-the-art science lab a
reality with grants of up to
$100,000. Teachers, principals,
and school administrators are
encouraged to submit photos
and a video along with their
application to help tell their story.
Apply by June 12. Online:
www.fabschoollabs.com
Hawaii Schools Digital Media
Grants from the Hawaii
Educational Networking
Consortium offer up to $3,000 to
schools to purchase video
production equipment and
supplies, and/or professional
development in digital media
production. Due Aug. 31. Apply
online: www.hsdmgrants.org.
Companion resource: “Getting
Started with Digital Video for
21st Century Learning”:
ksdl.ksbe.edu/digitalvideo
/HIDOE808
[email protected]
EDUCATION UPDATE › JUNE 2015 › BACK PAGE
Don’t Miss This!
EVENTS, DEADLINES & FUN STUFF
JUNE 8 - JULY 17 ›››
SEAMLESS SUMMER PROGRAM
Happy Summer Break!
JUNE 8-9
2015 READ TO ME CONFERENCE
“Books: Unexpected Magic”
is the theme of this two-day
literacy conference at the
Hawaii Convention Center.
For early childhood
educators, elementary
school teachers,
librarians, parents,
caregivers, or
anyone interested in
sharing the love and joy of reading aloud.
www.readtomeintl.org/conference2015.
Supt.’s Corner
We are excited for the
Legislature’s passage of laws
that will strengthen two ongoing,
successful initiatives: one
addressing children’s health
needs and school readiness, and
another expanding high school
students’ opportunities to earn
college credits.
The Hawaii Keiki: Healthy
and Ready to Learn program
will boost access to school-based
health screenings, referrals,
prevention, and emergency care
across six complex areas.
Hawaii Keiki has its roots in
the Race to the Top grant, which
led to a partnership with the
CONNECT
The DOE is providing free meals to
children 18 years and younger at 42
public schools statewide from June 8 to
July 17. The Seamless Summer
Program was established to ensure that
low-income children continue to receive
nutritious meals when school is not in
session, and is funded by the U.S.
Department of Agriculture. Service
dates and times vary — please go
online to view the list and dynamic map:
bit.ly/SSPHI15.
JUNE 15-19
EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS
The Leadership in Crisis conference
for principals is a one-day workshop
hosted on Oahu, Maui, Hawaii Island
and Kauai to enable school leaders and
admins to evaluate their emergency
preparedness plans and identify next
steps for their schools. There is no
registration fee, lunch will be provided.
Visit DOE Memos or the Emergency
Preparedness Branch on the Intranet
for details, and register on the PDE3
website — Course # PD179891.
University of Hawaii-Manoa
School of Nursing and Dental
Hygiene to serve rural, hard-tostaff schools on Hawaii Island
and Oahu. Hawaii Keiki helped
reduce health-related student
absences by preventing and
managing communicable
diseases and screening students
for vision and hearing.
Hawaii Keiki expands to the
Castle-Kahuku complex in 201516. The program is available in
Kau-Keaau-Pahoa, NanakuliWaianae, Farrington-KaiserKalani, and Kailua-Kalaheo
complexes, as well as on Kauai.
Increasingly, students are
HawaiiPublicSchools.org
JULY 17
EVERYONE A LEADER,
EVERYONE A LEARNER
The Educational Leadership Institute
is the annual gathering of educational
officers to celebrate successes, inspire
one another with new ideas, learn new
content and skills, and set the course
for the coming year. At the Hawaii
Convention Center. Visit the DOE
Intranet for details:
https://intranet.hawaiipublicschools.org/
offices/superintendent/2015ELI
learning that a postsecondary education
— from job certification
to advanced degrees — has
become a key to the job market.
Dual-credit programs such as
Running Start, Jump Start and
Early College have motivated
hundreds of juniors and seniors
to take UH college-level courses
through scholarships. A new law
expands these programs to all
academically qualified public
high school students; it also
supports schools’ early college
programs as a pathway for
students to earn college and high
school credits.
/HIDepartmentofEducation
/HIDOE808
While we’ve seen a
steady rise in participation,
from 6 percent (Class of 2012)
to 8 percent (Class of 2014), we
expect that to grow strongly
thanks to this law and to our
partnership with Hawaii P-20 —
a dozen high schools on four
islands joined Hawaii P-20’s
early college pilot project in
October, with support from the
Castle Foundation and GEAR
UP Hawaii.
We look forward to greater
success for children as we
expand these supports.
/HIDOE808
[email protected]
Education Update is a monthly newsletter by the Department of Education’s Communications and Community Affairs Office, distributed to schools,
the first Board of Education meeting of the month and posted online at HawaiiPublicSchools.org. We encourage submissions!
Please send to: 1390 Miller Street, Rm 312, Honolulu, HI 96813. Phone: (808) 586-3232; Email: [email protected].