Pressure on to catch up after strike

By Johnny Brannon
Advertiser Staff Writer

The 14 instructional days lost because of the teachers strike puts Hawai'i public schools far below the average number of class days nationwide, and that has some parents concerned.

Noelani Elementary School kindergarten teacher Paula Sekiguchi marches her students out of their classroom for physical education activities on their first day back to school following the teacherâs strike. Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser

"It's not insurmountable, but it's going to put more pressure on students and teachers to make up the lost time," said Mike Griffith, a policy analyst with the Education Commission of the States, an education policy center in Denver. "There's going to have to be a lot more focused attention on learning."

Hawai'i's schools were to have 181 days of instruction this year but will end up with only 167. Most states average 180 school days per year, though some also require more hours per day than Hawai'i, Griffith said.

Tam Huynh, whose son attends Queen Ka'ahumanu Elementary School in Ma-kiki, said the lost days trouble him but he's glad the strike is finally over.

"I feel better now, but the 14 days is a problem," he said. "I can't believe it took almost three weeks to settle this. But it's hard to say what the schools should do about it."

DOE spokesman Greg Knudsen said it would be extremely difficult to make up the lost days because the school year is nearly over.

"There just isn't a whole lot of time on the calendar to allow that," he said. "We can't just tack it on at the end because it would run into summer school. But with the remaining instructional time, we really want a concentrated effort to maximize that instructional time."

The school year ends June 7, and some schools begin summer classes as early as June 13. School districts across the nation have been increasing the number of class days in recent years, said Griffith.

"Several studies have shown that a longer amount of days increases student learning, so states try to find the money to support more days," he said. "And schools are testing more, so additional days give students more experience preparing for tests, and hopefully help them get better test scores."

The deal that settled the strike will require fewer instructional days next year but will give teachers more time to prepare for classes.

The new contract with the Hawai'i State Teachers Association converts four school days into professional development, or training, days for teachers. That means there will likely be 179 classroom days next school year.

"Generally we've been exceeding the national average, but we may dip below that now," Knudsen said, adding that next year's schedule has yet to be finalized.

HSTA spokeswoman Danielle Lum said the union had pushed for change, not the state.

"Teachers needed more time to plan and collaborate with each other on issues related to curriculum and curriculum development," she said.

There is no federal- or state-mandated minimum number of instructional days for kindergarten through 12th grade schoolchildren. Though some states have laws that establish a minimum amount of classroom time, Hawai'i — with its single school district — establishes such requirements entirely through the collective bargaining process with teachers, Knudsen said.

Hawai'i's previous teachers contract, approved in 1997, added seven classroom days and increased the maximum per year from 177 to 184. Certain holidays make the true count vary from year to year.

Before the strike began, the DOE announced it would require school days to be made up if more than 20 were lost. That's because of a policy that allows children of military families to miss up to 20 school days with no penalty if their parents are reassigned, Knudsen said.

"We applied that same allowance going into the strike," he said.

Military children who are moving will be allowed to miss 20 days in addition to the 14 lost during the strike, Knudsen said.

Now, with one of only 30 remaining school days down and 29 to go, teachers and students will try to make the best of that time.

Mike Agor, a math teacher at Campbell High in 'Ewa Beach, said his students need to complete 80 percent of his curriculum to get "what they deserve" out of the course.

"But I think I will finish at 90 percent," Agor said yesterday. "They can be pushed. They're good kids."