#distance learning

Lahainaluna High School will begin a phased start for employees and students next week at its temporary school site at the Kūlanihākoʻi High School campus in Kīhei. Beginning Monday, Sept. 11, Lahainaluna teachers and staff will report to Kūlanihākoʻi High to meet, plan and prepare classrooms for the arrival of students, which is set for Sept. 14.

Haleakalā National Park has answered the call for distance learning curriculum for Kula Kaiapuni (Hawaiian Immersion Schools) in Hawai‘i.

While the pandemic created stress and financial struggles for Pearl Bachiller’s family, the crisis also provided the Kamehameha Schools Maui senior with an unexpected opportunity.

The Kīhei Charter School is transitioning from all distance learning to a blended learning model in a steady safe process that gradually adds grades to the reopening of the school campus.

If Hawaiʻi government thinks it is safe enough for transpacific travelers to vacation in Maui now – and for residents to drink in bars and eat in restaurants – many parents want to know why it is not safe enough for children to learn in person at public schools in Maui, where the low number of COVID-19 cases meet the DOH guidelines for reopening.

US Senator Mazie Hirono, along with her colleague Senator Booker of N.J., announced their plan to introduce the Learning Opportunity and Achievement Act or LOAA, which seeks to improve distance and blended learning in public schools during the coronavirus pandemic.

The County is providing iPads with internet access for educational use, starting at the War Memorial Gym site. Distance learning could expand to other locations based on interest, according to Maui Mayor Michael Victorino.

The extension applies to all O‘ahu schools and most neighbor island schools. Hāna High & Elementary School on Maui and Kilohana Elementary, Maunaloa Elementary and Moloka‘i Middle schools on Moloka‘i will continue their current models.

Public schools on Kaua‘i, Hawaiʻi Island, and Maui County – with the exception of Moloka‘i schools and Hāna High & Elementary – will transition to full distance learning for the first four weeks of the 2020-21 school year.

“I am going to put a letter together to the governor that we take the same action as they did for Oʻahu with distance learning for whenever and wherever possible for the first four weeks; and then look at reopening once we get our numbers under control or get some kind of procedures in place,” said Mayor Victorino.

The legislators ask that the Board of Education’s Finance and Infrastructure Committee convene an emergency meeting on July 2, to vet the Department’s plan for financial implications and resource requirements and provide a report to the Legislature, before they will consider allocating any additional funding. 

Maui residents, John and Darlene Abt, owners of AJA Video Systems, have donated $30,000 in video technology equipment to the distance learning program at UH Maui College.