Posted at 11:10 a.m., Thursday, April 26, 2001

Schools coast into high gear

Advertiser Staff

Hawai'i's public schools reopened today, welcoming back 183,000 students and signaling an end to the turmoil fostered by a 20-day teachers strike that paralyzed the education system, derailed school reform efforts and sent parents scrambling for child care.

At Noelani Elementary School in Manoa, kindergarten teacher Paula Seki guchi hugged every one of her students before class, some three or four at a time.

"I'm so happy to see you all," Sekiguchi said. "It will be a fun day to teach today."

Across the state, teachers and students said they were happy to be back, and there were no major problems reported in connection with the return to school.

Police dispatchers found no serious slowdown with morning rush-hour traffic, noting that conditions were better than usual.

"I think the preparation yesterday probably eased the transition," said Department of Education spokes man Greg Knudsen.

Noelani principal Clayton Fujie said he would visit every classroom and greet all 548 students. "I'll tell them the teachers worked hard to plan for the rest of the year, and now it's your job to learn," he said.

Fujie met with the teachers yesterday to go over recovery plans for the academic time lost. Some field trips will be cut and work condensed, but a few programs, such as the May Day festival and annual talent show, will go on as usual because they are so important to the children. "It's the little things that kids remember from elementary school," he said. "I don't want them to miss that."

Noelani sixth-grader Ren Ishii had breakfast with her mother in the cafeteria before school. Ren kept up with her studies at home during the strike, and even wrote an essay about the events for her class. "It's good to see my friends again," she said.

At Chiefess Kamakahelei Middle School in Puhi, Kaua'i, children seemed a little more subdued than normal as they arrived for class.

"They're kind of sleepy, not used to getting up this early," said Principal Maggie Cox, who patrolled the year-old school with two-way radio in hand as classes started.

"It's great. Things are going well," Cox said.

At Kalani High School, some students were eager to face the challenges of cramming in 14 days of lost education, and others were anxious to resume sports.

Basketball player Krista Young, 14, found the strike came in the middle of her season. She and her teammates will have to hold back-to-back games starting next week

As students stood in clusters by paper signs welcoming them back, they realized they had lost opportunities because of the strike. Baseball players didn't accumulate enough statistics to qualify for scholarships. Track participants lost out on a season.

"I lost my chance of a scholarship because of the strike," said baseball player Sean Kaku. "We had so little bit games, it messed up the stats."

With the schools open again, residents can finally begin to put behind them what began three weeks ago as the nation's first-ever shutdown of a state education system, from kindergarten through graduate school. More than 12,000 public school teachers and 3,100 university professors walked off the job in dual strikes that began April 5.

It was the Department of Education's first strike since 1973 and became the state's longest public education walkout ever.

All that appeared forgotten today as principals, teachers and students reunited around the state to make the best of the 30 school days that remain. Students won't have to make up time over the summer, despite the loss of 14 instructional days, so they and teachers will be racing to save what they can of the school year.

Advertiser staff writers Johnny Brannon, James Gonser, Jan TenBruggencate, Suzanne Roig and Rod Ohira contributed to this report.