THE SENATE

S.C.R. NO.

91

TWENTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE, 2004

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 
   


SENATE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

 

Requesting the SUPERINTENDENT of Education to establish A TASK FORCE TO ADDRESS PROBLEMS FACED BY MILITARY IMPACTED SCHOOLS.

 

 

WHEREAS, the allocation of public school teachers and administrative staff is determined for each school annually based on student enrollment; and

WHEREAS, the enrollment in each school is determined on a specified day, commonly referred to as "count day", which occurs a few weeks after the school year begins; and

WHEREAS, staffing allocations are set following the count date, which may result in a possible gain or loss of teaching and administrative staff; and

WHEREAS, this staff reallocation results in disruption, which includes students having to move to new classes or different existing classes; and

WHEREAS, these disruptions are especially felt in schools that are military impacted, that is, schools that are close to military installations and have a significant number of students that are military family members; and

WHEREAS, with normal transfers and reassignment of military personnel, some military impacted schools can experience up to a thirty-three per cent turnover in students from military families; and

WHEREAS, this situation is exacerbated with the recent deployments of substantial military personnel stationed in Hawaii because, during these deployments, many of the dependent families return to the Mainland for family support, only to return when the military parent returns to the military installation; and

WHEREAS, all this movement causes disruption not only to the military impacted school but more acutely to the students of military families and their nonmilitary classmates; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Twenty-second Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2004, the House of Representatives concurring, that the Superintendent of Education is requested to establish a task force to include, but not be limited to, principals and vice-principals of each military impacted school, representatives of teachers, Parent Community Networking Centers, or school/community based management groups of each military impacted school, representatives of the transition centers in the Radford Complex schools, and representatives of the commanding officers of military installations; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the task force is requested to consider the following:

(1) Whether, despite the anticipated fluctuations in enrollment in military impacted schools, allocated teaching and administrative staff, including counseling and resource position teachers, should remain constant;

(2) With the proposed implementation of a weighted formula system for funding individual schools, whether military dependent students or military impacted schools should be allocated a greater weight;

(3) Whether each military impacted school should be assigned a vice-principal in anticipation of added administrative duties due to the high transient rate;

(4) Whether each military impacted school should have or is properly utilizing existing Primary School Adjustment Projects, Parent Community Networking Centers, or transition centers like the Radford Complex schools;

(5) Whether military impacted schools, the Department of Education, and the various military installations should collaborate on the dissemination of relevant information regarding Hawaii's public school system and the specific school that will receive students from incoming military families through the military website or the Department of Education website; and

(6) Whether military impacted schools should consider special workshops for military families to familiarize them with Hawaii's school system, unique culture, and available activities of which they may take advantage; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Superintendent of Education is requested to report findings and recommendations of the task force to the Legislature twenty days before the convening of the Regular Session 2005; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a certified copy of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Superintendent of Education.

 

 

 

OFFERED BY:

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Report Title:

Establishing a task force to investigate military impacted schools