Nakamura

LAHAINA – Aloha everyone! It has been a little over a week into this school year, and the atmosphere is upbeat with excited students.

The teachers are also excited with the time provided for planning and collaboration on Wednesdays with the shortened school day schedule change. I do want to remind parents that Lahaina Intermediate School is still ten minutes over the instructional minutes per week as stated in the Hawaii State Teachers Association union contract. So, although students will be dismissed from school at 11:45 a.m. on Wednesdays, we are still above the contracted instructional time required per the teachers’ contract. It is also important to be aware that the teachers initiated this change in order to improve the quality of lessons across all content areas when addressing reading, writing and math standards. At LIS, all teachers are committed to teaching these benchmarks in order to provide all students with real world applications and connections. It is truly an exciting time at LIS!

Last year, Peggy Toelken retired. She taught Grade 8 English/Language Arts. We would like to welcome David Negaard to LIS. We still have two SPED teaching lines vacant. I am continuing to search for applicants to fill these vacancies. Meanwhile, substitute teachers Theresa Marzan and Nathan Williams are experienced and quite capable of supporting our students.

Parents, please be sure that your children are in school on time. The number of tardy students grows as the year continues. This is your child’s job. Just like you, they need to be on time. It is OUR responsibility to help them to establish good habits to carry into adulthood and their future workplace. We don’t need for our children to learn hard lessons. If we work together to promote good habits, we set our children up for success in the future.

The Drug Sniffing Dog Program is returning to LIS! After a couple of years without this program, discussions have begun to restart the program. You may ask why we feel we need this program on a middle school campus? Please remember that drugs and drug paraphernalia do show up on our campus from time to time. The purpose of this program is to deter the presence of drugs/alcohol and firearms in our safe learning environment. After Custer passed away, Whitney White of Interquest Detection Canines of Hawaii purchased Piper, who has been in training to detect drugs, alcohol and firearms. Piper should be ready to “sniff” LIS very soon. We will be holding an assembly for the students and staff soon, and we will be introducing Ms. White and Piper to parents who attend this year’s Open House on Aug. 8. If anyone has questions regarding this program, please feel free to contact me at 662-3965.

Lahainaluna High School on Friday morning held a blessing for its newly designed cafeteria. The new $8 million facility provides seating for 650 students, including indoor and lanai seating. The design concept incorporates many sustainability features, highlighting energy efficiency, day-lighting, shading, superior ventilation and renewable energy systems. Here, Hawaiian Language teacher Pomaikai Krueger leads haumana (students) in an opening oli (chant) that spoke of Lahainaluna and its traditions. Photo by Nicole Malacas, Kalama 2013 Yearbook

It feels good to be back. LIS is making changes and being proactive for the sake of our students. Welcome back, everyone! IMUA!