Lahaina Intermediate to hold public forums on early dismissal waiver
LAHAINA – Aloha! Currently, Lahaina Intermediate School is taking a look at renewing our SCC Waiver for the 2013-14 school year. This waiver allows our school to release our students at 11:45 a.m. on Wednesdays, so our teachers are able to study data and plan strategies to address challenging content benchmarks.
Although the state law Act 167 is scheduled to go into effect next school year, there hasn’t yet been any discussion or movement toward a longer school day (more instructional time). Therefore, LIS will be proactive by submitting our request to renew the existing waiver.
If Act 167 does go into effect, our waiver request will be denied, and we will need to look for another way to plan our teaching strategies across all content areas. If Act 167 is pushed back another year, we may be able to continue to use the extra time to pull our school together.
Parents, we do remember that some of you voiced your concerns regarding the loss of instructional time for your children. We would like to give you the opportunity to discuss your concerns and to clarify the need for our teachers to meet and plan.
We would like to invite all interested parties to attend our SCC meeting on Wednesday, Nov. 14, at 3 p.m. in the school library. We will be sharing our experiences with the council and with you. It will be very informative. We will be able to answer your questions and address your concerns. An automated notification will be sent to all LIS families.
On Wednesday, Nov. 21, at 5 p.m., and on Wednesday, Nov. 28, at 3 p.m., we will conduct the two required public forums to discuss the waiver. Please join us in the school’s library.
In October, LIS students completed their first attempt on the HSA in reading. The HSA is comprised of the entire school year’s benchmark standards. Students are tested regardless of whether or not they have been taught the standards at the time of testing. LIS students are assessed three times per year in reading and in math.
Fifty-three percent of all sixth-graders, 55 percent of all seventh-graders and 44 percent of all eighth-graders met or exceeded proficiency in reading during this first round. This is a good start. Within this year, we will need to raise our overall proficiency rate at least 10 percent over last year’s 59 percent to reach “safe harbor,” or reach 84 percent proficiency to meet the “No Child Left Behind” threshold.
Students will be attempting the HSA in math next month. The Math PLC teachers are volunteering their time after school to support all students in order to create an even better climate of academic achievement in their pursuit for excellence. We encourage students to make use of this opportunity.
The schedule is as follows, all from 2 to 3 p.m.: Monday, Mr. Wu in Room C2; Tuesday, Ms. Jenkins in Room P8; Thursday, Ms. Dunn in Room A3; and Friday, Ms. Kramer in Room B4.
All grade level students can receive homework help or work on the Carnegie Learning Program on laptops. Thank you to all of our dedicated teachers for your generosity and dedication. IMUA!