Let me begin in welcoming Tanya Wadhwani to our "ohana" as she officially started this past Friday, Feb. 25th as our new English teacher. Tanya most recently was at Hawaii Tech Academy and will be a great asset to our school. Ms. Wadhwani spent a good amount of time in working closely with Heather Wickersham to help for that smooth transition.
Kudos to Lisa Mireles as she also became an official member of our staff effective Friday Feb. 25th. Lisa will continue to serve as our half-time SLC grant coordinator as this effort is a critical component of our school's Academic/Financial plans. Mrs. Mireles brings much experience and energy as a former principal, back ground in teaching academia, IB, accreditation, etc.
This past week, our school has benefited in having two key work groups come together in planning and strategically looking at how we can better support our students to be ready for college, career and citizenship for the 21st century:
On Thursday, Feb. 24th a planning group comprised of Diane Ayre, Waianela Boiser, Stephanie Carvalho, Terri Christensen, Ryan Harper, Erin Millard, Lisa Mireles, Brent Mizutani, Cheryl Pahl, and Fred Rivera had a very fruitful session with Larry Gloeckler and Patti from the International Leadership Center looking at how we can better support co-teaching. This commitment to better support teachers involved with co-teaching will happen and school-wide data will be always utilized when making any decisions.
On Friday, Feb. 25th and Saturday, Feb. 26th, our "Laulima" Smaller Learning Community representatives came away from a very productive work session on Maui. Our school team worked with the consortium high schools comprised of Castle, Maui, McKinley, and Pearl City facilitated by Michelle Swanson and Theron Cosgrave. Over the two days, this group worked hard at addressing school structures, strategies and decision points in better supporting students. Members were Diane Ayre, Evan Costa, Janis Gowan, Robyn Keawe, Erin Millard, Lisa Mireles, Calvin Paleka, Catherine Paleka, and Wendy Schwarze. Important updates will be shared at the special faculty meeting on Wednesday, March 2nd.
Want to acknowledge our staff who generously dedicate and volunteer their time. It is truly very humbling, powerful and spiraling when people come together for a common purpose. Believe that the Japanese culture call this "Kaizen"....when you come together in spiraling forward.
At your Monday meetings, ask that each department allow time for discussing/sharing pedagogy practices. Time must be dedicated to learning and sharing with your peers. Examples could be sharing strategies addressing differentiation, clear learning objectives at the beginning of class (bell-to-bell practices), teaching to the various types of learners especially males & females, taxonomic levels of learning from basic knowledge recall to more rigorous levels of analyzing and evaluation, etc. As we support, remind, share and use this time wisely, it will truly help make each one of us more skillful at our craft!
Dialogue w/Kapaa Middle School: Will be continuing our dialogue with the Kapaa Middle for focused discussions based on data addressing the various needed students transition data. The first mtg on Feb. 23rd with their faculty went well in discussing/providing that larger picture. Ongoing discussions will be planned for over the coming months.
Donation to Kapaa High: On March 1st, leaders representing American Savings Bank and DOE are scheduled to be on campus around mid-morning for a donation ceremony to our school. Please remind your students that about the GLO practices as we continue to be blessed with business and community supports....we must continue to build our community's confidence in our school as they entrust us with their children's education.
Special Faculty Meeting: With the Spring Break time frame and items needed to be addressed in timely manner, we will be having a special faculty meeting on Wednesday, March 2nd 2:00 p.m. @Library. Items to be discussed are the updated proposals for the SY 2012-13 bell schedule, SLC structure and strategies, staffing/teaching lines and budget.
State Board of Education Meeting: The State Board of Education will be having their next public meeting at Kekaha Elementary School on Thursday, March 3rd beginning at 7:00 p.m.
Have a great week!
Daniel S. Hamada
Principal
Kapaa High School
4695 Mailihuna Road
Kapaa, Kauai, Hawaii 96746
PH: (808) 821- 4401 ext. 102
FAX: (808) 821- 4420
daniel_hamada@notes.k12.hi.us
Kapaa High School cares for and supports "ALL" students to be prepared for college, career, and citizenship in the 21st century.
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