COVID continues to disrupt student learning

HONOLULU (KHON2) – At least one school switched to distance learning for a day amid the rise in COVID cases. Waianae Intermediate Director John Wataoka told parents and students on Sunday not to show up for class on Monday.

His letter reads: “Over the past week our community has seen an increase in the number of positive COVID cases that has had a profound impact on our students, staff and our families. With this increase comes an increased number of people who have to stay at home because of their illness. Unfortunately, these effects have led to a major disruption on our school campus. “

Hawaii State Teachers Association president Osa Tui said schools would pull themselves together.

“We asked the department to sit down with HSTA to see if a school that needs to go this route has a template to follow,” said Tui. “You have something right now, all schools across the state are just trying to make their own rules, processes and procedures, unfortunately.”

Mid Pacific is also offering distance learning for its middle and high school students starting Wednesday January 21st.

“As of 2020, we have been prioritizing in-person learning for preschool and elementary school students as we understand the significant challenges associated with virtual learning in younger years,” said Mid-Pacific Institute President Paul Turnball. “We are able to continue learning on campus for our preschool and elementary school students as we have a better opportunity to contact and quarantine smaller class cohorts. This is important as some members of our COVID contact tracking team who have been exposed to COVID positive people are currently quarantined at home. When the whole team can return to campus, we will resume classroom teaching for all grade levels. “

The school announced that their sports program will continue as planned.

Tui said it is becoming increasingly rare that half a classroom is missing and teachers also miss classes. He said the Department of Education received more than 1,500 requests for substitute teachers on Friday.

In some schools, students sit in common areas where they could be supervised, but this also affects student study time.

Tui said, “So when the students are told come in because personal study is the best thing, they come in and just have to sit, sit in the cafeteria on their phones all day, it actually does them a disservice. “

KHON 2 News has requested a comment from the DOE. The DOE provided the following statement.

Due to the absence of several teachers who are not represented by teachers, some students are looked after in the cafeteria or in the gym if a teacher is not available for one of their lessons.

Most students spend most of the school day in class and classes are given. Non-teaching staff from the Castle Kahuku Complex area were dispatched to help with the reporting.

The department’s health and safety guidelines – which align with the DOH and CDC guidelines for schools – recognize that social distancing cannot always be sustained in school settings. For this reason, layered core strategies are key. The leadership is deliberately layered and flexible. Key strategies include promoting vaccinations among eligible students and faculty, instructing faculty and students to stay at home in the event of illness, correct and consistent indoor masking, and hand hygiene. Other strategies, such as physical distancing, are used as much as possible.