BOE hopes to
ease multitrack policy

Multitrack scheduling
would be mandatory under
certain conditions

Kauai students back in school

By Crystal Kua
Star-Bulletin

Implementing multitrack scheduling at public schools could be easier under proposed changes that will be considered today.

Proposed amendments to the Board of Education's multitrack year-round education policy include:

Mandating the Department of Education to use multitrack if certain conditions are met. The current policy, which makes it optional, would be changed from "may utilize multitrack" to "shall utilize multitrack."

Eliminating a provision to have the department "garner evidence of the support of the majority of the affected school community" as a condition. The department only would need to provide advance noticeto the school community.

Creating conditions for the board to grant waivers. To qualify, a school must have used multitrack for six years and have adequate space for singletrack scheduling.

Mandating that portable buildings will not be used, as an incentive to multitrack more acceptable to communities.

Keith Sakata, chairman of the board's Support Services Committee, which will take up the proposed changes at a meeting today, said multitrack is a viable option to help with classroom shortages.

"Right now, we're still going to be short of classrooms for the next 15 to 20 years," Sakata said.

Sakata said that he knows the changes will cause controversy, but he said multitrack is one way to avoid holding classes in closets or bathrooms.

"I understand that (it will be controversial) but I'm looking at it in terms of what would be best for the children in the state of Hawaii," Sakata said.

Community opposition last month led the board to waive multitrack for a proposed replacement school for Nanaikapono in Nanakuli. Opponents said multitrack would tear apart families and cause child care problems for parents.

Multitrack critic Laura Brown, one of four parents who filed a lawsuit against the department over multitrack scheduling implemented at Mililani Middle School this school year, called the changes "ridiculous."

"The board and the DOE are determined to force these multitracks down our throats," Brown said.

The parents unsuccessfully sought a court order to prevent multitrack from being implemented at Mililani Middle, the first school to use multitrack.

Multitrack allows a school to accommodate more students than its recommended capacity through running different scheduling tracks with one group of students off at any given time.

Sakata also said he and members of his committee visited Mililani Middle to see how multitrack was working.

"We were quite impressed on what's happening," Sakata said.

Parents are willing to have their children attend Mililani Middle because of the programs, and they seem to have overcome the initial fear of multitrack, he said.

Sakata said the committee will also take up proposed changes to the school size policy.

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Kauai students back in
school after protest

By Anthony Sommer
Star-Bulletin

HANALEI, Kauai -- Students who yesterday stayed home to protest a refusal by teachers to change vacation dates for the next school year were back at their desks today and their parents were back on their telephones asking for support.

The kindergarten through sixth-grade school reported 75 of 313 students absent, or 23 percent. On an average day, 8 percent are absent.

On Thursday, Hanalei School teachers rejected by a single vote a contract change to shift the dates of the 1999-2000 school year so it would be aligned with Kapaa Middle School and Kapaa High School, where older Hanalei children attend.

Yesterday, unhappy parents kept their children at home or sent them to the homes of other protesting parents.

"It's a horrible situation and we're going to keep fighting it," said Becky Swan, who cared for about a dozen children yesterday.

As it now stands, the school year at Hanalei School will start three weeks after the Kapaa schools and the dates of all other vacations will not be aligned.

Angry, frustrated parents planned to call everyone from the governor and their legislators to state school board members.

The teachers opposed to aligning the schedules - only four of the 18 at Hanalei School - are not speaking about their reasons.

Although the Hawaii State Teachers Association has said repeatedly there is room to negotiate, none of the teachers has told the school administration what they want to negotiate about.

"Some of them say it's too hot in August to hold school; others say it isn't good for the children," said Hanalei School Principal Barbara Baker.

Baker called aligning all the schedules a good idea but said it must be approved by at least 80 percent of the faculty. Only 78 percent of the teachers voted yes Thursday.

She said the situation is not unusual. About 100 elementary, middle and high schools throughout Hawaii have schedules that are not aligned.