Modified School Calendar
by Louise Wolcott
On Wednesday, December 6, 1995, the school staff, parents and community representatives approved a modified calendar for the 1996-97 school year to enable students to begin earlier in August and have somewhat longer vacation periods during the school year. The school year will end at about the same time in June allowing students and teachers to attend summer classes if they wish.
As an accelerated SCBM school, the decision was made to modify the calendar to accomplish the following:
* greater retention of knowledge through shorter vacation periods;
* children don't tire of long summer vacations or long periods in school without breaks;
* more opportunities for remediation and enrichment;
* greater excitement about learning;
* less teacher and student burn-out because of intermittent breaks;
* more opportunities for the school-community to come together for planning and staff development;
* better attendance.
Through the accelerated schools process, research was conducted over the past six to seven months to determine whether or not Pope School students might benefit from a modified calendar. Information was gathered and shared from many sources--the Department of Education, Year Round Education Conference, other Year-Round Education schools such as Kilohana Elementary on Moloka'i, Hau'ula, Ka'ewai, Keolu, Kapolei, and even mainland schools. Efforts to inform parents included monthly parents newsletters, informational flyers sent home during parent teacher conferences, a parent meeting held on November 29, and phone calls made to each parent by a parent telephone tree. The majority of parents poled were in agreement.