On Campus
We know DOE isn't a deer, but ...
By Jennifer Hiller
Advertiser Education Writer
Navigating any bureaucracy can be difficult.
But throw in hundreds of acronyms, and finding your way becomes downright confusing.
Patty Birtodaso calls the phenomenon alphabet soup — suddenly not knowing what your child's teacher is talking about, or hearing only gibberish at school meetings.
Birtodaso, who heads up the Parent-Community Networking Center at Waipahu Intermediate School, has tried to help other parents learn the ABCs of the Department of Education.
There's OH, for orthopedically handicapped.
Does IRA say USSR is OK?
USSR, contrary to popular belief, does not refer to the former Soviet Union. It's Uninterrupted Sustained Silent Reading.
And, no, IRA is neither an individual retirement account nor the Irish Republican Army. It's the International Reading Association.
HAMS is the Hawai'i Association of Middle Schools.
CK has nothing to do with Calvin Klein. It's Career Kokua.
DC isn't the nation's capital; it's either deferred compensation or department chairman/chairwoman.
Yes, even the Parent-Community Networking Centers go by an acronym — PCNCs. At schools across the state, they try to bring the community back into the school system. Parents and community residents are asked to take an active part in education, Birtodaso said.
Expanding workshop focus
Some of the PCNC workshops have dealt with how to tutor your child at home, understanding the new state standards or drug and gang awareness.
At coffee hours once a month at Waipahu Intermediate, Birtodaso tries to answer questions about the school and the Department of Education.
At one, she offered up the alphabet soup translation in an effort to make the school system less confusing to parents.
Some of the acronyms make sense. An ART is an art resource teacher. LEAD is Leadership in Educational Administration Development.
And for your information, FYI — according to the official DOE acronym list— is exactly what you thought it was. No tricks there.
Others are more difficult to grasp. Or even pronounce. DIPIRM is Distributed Information Processing and Information Resource Management. Whew.
ISPED is one of the things that have given the school a hard time in complying with the Felix consent decree. It's the Integrated Special Education System, a computer program designed to reduce the paperwork burden on special-education staff, but it's running a year behind schedule.
Among the topics at Birtodaso's alphabet soup meeting was the term "504." It gets tossed around a lot without much explanation.
"We talked about 504. What is it?," Birtodaso said. "Is it Levis jeans? Many people don't know."
At the DOE, 504 refers to the law that outlines the rights of parents and students with disabilities.
It's not jeans. But it shows how confusing the ABCs can be to a regular person.
Reach Jennifer Hiller at jhiller@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8084.
