Updates - Week of April 30th

Congratulations to our Warrior JROTC Battalion! Great job on a very nice end of school year awards banquet on Saturday. Kudos for another memorable year of achievements, community service, and dedicated efforts. Special recognition to both Robert Levoit and Ian Verasammy for an outstanding year and their students always step it up another notch!

Accreditation Mid-term Updates: Overall we had a very positive mid-term visitation and much was accomplished. While the final report is still forthcoming, wanted to share some key points:

• Visitation team were assured that our comprehensive school-wide efforts are very much on target.
• They were impressed at the progress and positive work in our Smaller Learning Community (SLC) HUI & Academy work.
• New bell schedule provides more educational opportunities for students as well as important professional learning time for staff.

Two areas that we will need to continue to focus on:

• Standards based teaching/learning in all courses and classrooms.
• Continue developing our systemic process to assess all programs, reform initiatives and professional development that is data driven and research based techniques.

I assured the accreditation team that their report can reflect our continued commitment that "all" classrooms will be standards-based and that we are striving to be a data driven school. Will provide a copy the report upon receipt.

Student Support:

• With less that four weeks of school left, asking everyone to remain focused in addressing the students' tardies. We need everyone encouraging students to report into their classes in a timely manner.;
• Please be consistent in reminding students about school shirts. While there are a few who challenge the rules, we need to vigilant in sending that consistent message;
• Students are to remain in their classrooms until the bell rings. We are a bell-to-bell school and it is unacceptable to have students outside the room areas disturbing others; and
• Over the past few days, several seniors lost their opportunity to participate in the graduation ceremony. Administration remains committed to holding seniors accountable to their senior contracts and in modeling GLOs.

Personnel Reminders: This serves as final reminder for teachers who teaching licenses have expired or are about to expire to address this immediately. Want to ensure that no one is penalized as it can be very challenging when one can't be added to next year's master schedule. Attached provides a reminder as to the renewal process.



Weekly Calendar: (Administration continuing classroom visitations this week)

Tuesday, May 1st: East Complex Principals' Mtg. @Kapaa Middle School 7:00 a.m.

Wednesday, May 2nd: Faculty PLC session @Chorus Room 1:45 p.m.

Thursday, May 3rd: Federal Programs Desk Audit @Principal's Office 7:30 & 8:30 a.m.
Department Head mtg. @Library 2:30 p.m.

Friday, May 4th: May Day Program 1:10 p.m. (Assembly Schedule #2)


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.

Updates - Week of April 23rd

Senior Projects: Over the course of this week, please take time during your day to convey your support and assurance to our seniors as they prepare for their senior project presentations. Certainly can feel their anxiety and anticipation but very confident that they will aspire in doing their very best. Accreditation Mid-term Visitation: This weeks mark our mid-term accreditation visit. Visiting Chairperson James Schlosser brings a wealth of experience as a secondary principal. Joining Jim will be Jaime Suehiro from Campbell High School. Jaime is very much respected by her peers as she sits on various boards and state-wide panels. Visiting team has reviewed the progress report and during their classroom visit will be asking questions pertaining to the progress report as well as instructional questions. Tardies: With approximately a month of school left, asking that ALL teachers/support staff to assist in getting students to their classes on. We have a tardy problem where we are inconsistent in allowing students to join the class very late. Teachers, please make it a habit to be at your doors urging kids loitering outside to come in, greeting students and closing the door to speed it up. Please take time during your period one classes to share that this tardy action will taking place. 4th Quarter Finals: Reminder, per feedback received, there will not be a finals block schedule and we will remain with our regular schedule. Senior Teachers: Please administer your finals on May 14, 15, or 16. Names of those seniors who are failing must be turned in to the counselors by 3:00 pm - Wednesday, May 16. We need to be responsive informing both student and parents in a timely manner with graduation scheduled for Friday, May 18th. Grade 9 -11 Teachers Finals will be given during the week of May 21 - 24, 2012. Teachers are expected to instruct until 2:20 pm on Thursday, May 24. Please have activities planned that will keep your students in your classroom that day. Weekly Calendar: (Administration continuing classroom visitations this week) Monday, April 23rd: Principal @Smaller Learning Communities Forum meeting @McKinley High 8:30 a.m. Tuesday, April 24th: Principals mtg. - State Bldg. @8:00 a.m. Thursday, April 26th: Mid-term Accreditation Visit Vice-Principals' mtg - State Bldg. @8:00 a.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

Updates - Week of April 16th

Kudos to our teachers that attended and help present at this past weekend's 2012 Hawaii Consortium of Smaller Learning Communities Conference on Oahu. Kapaa High School can be proud in that we continue to break new ground in helping students to be prepared for careers and college. There is no doubt that our collective work is providing an environment where groups of teachers and other adults knows the needs, interests, and aspirations of each student well, closely monitors progress , and provides the academic and other support that a student needs to succeed. Overall, the feedback continues to be very positive based on the presentations as well as our overall progress.

Hawaii State Assessment (HSA): The last three days for make-ups on the HSA along with home school students will take place from Monday, April 16th - Wednesday, April 18th. VP Diane Ayre will be contacting identified students in finishing the state assessments. Appreciate everyone's patience and support.

Classroom Expectation Reminders: During the course of visiting various classes, sharing important reminders:
Teachers must have their content area standards/benchmarks been covered posted. Standards/benchmarks should be student friendly so your students have that good grasp as to what the expectations are.
No movies are allowed to be shown unless approved by administration (educational videos are fine and if in doubt, please check with administration); we are a standards-based focused school and will make the best use of instructional time.
Bell to bell instruction is an expectation.
Accreditation Mid-term Visitation: The accreditation visit will be taking place next week. As the visiting team will want to meet with various departments along with their classroom visits, will be sure to inform those identified.


Common Core PLCs: Reminder that Kauai Complex Area will be having several coordinated K -12 training addressing the Common Core state Standards. Teachers representing each department were selected to attend and to help build capacity for our school. Beth Pemberton has been contacting identified teachers along with substitute codes.
Power/Prioritizing Common Core Standards and Unwrapping Seminars:
April 20 and May 7 6-12 Math Department 8:00 am to 3:00 pm.
May 8-9, 2012 6-12 English Department 8:00 am to 3:00 pm.
May 10-11, 2012 6-12 Other Departments 8:00 am to 3:00 pm.


Ho'okanaka Leadership Awards: Reminder that Leadership Kauai is sponsoring the Ho'okanaka Leadership Awards Banquet in recognizing and honoring exceptional adult and youth leadership on Kauai. Ian Versammy - JROTC and student Christina Maile Pico were nominated among Kauai's outstanding leaders. Please consider supporting by purchasing a dinner program ticket for $70 as our goal is to purchase a table for 10 ($700) representing Kapaa High's faculty and staff. Please see Col. Roberto Levoit for more information. As an update to this.....Leadership Kauai is also supporting our school in drafting grant proposals to build the "leadership" program currently in grade 9 HUIs and eventually into all grades over the next few years.


PLC sessions: As we enter into the final six weeks of school, we will be addressing the following topics at our May 2nd, 9th and 16th faculty PLC sessions. They include presentations and discussions on Teaching in Block Periods, Common Core State Standards, Intervention process, 2012-13 Teaching Lines, and HUI / Academy & Dept updates.

Weekly Calendar:

Monday, April 16th: Mandatory Meeting in preparing for Senior Project Presentation Rubrics @2:30 pm Library;
Principal conducting accreditation monitoring @Pearl City High School and returns on Friday

Tuesday, April 17th; Grade 9 HUI w/Michelle Swanson I-102 @7:454 am

Wednesday, April 18th: Grade 10 IDEAS Academy w/Michelle Swanson I-102 @7:45 am

Thursday, April 19th Grade 10 HOPES Academy w/Michelle Swanson I-102 @7:45 am

Friday, April 20th: Common Core Standards - Mathematics @Chiefess Kamakahelei Middle School Library 8 - 3:00 pm


Have a great week!

Updates - Week of April 9th

Student Recognition: Congratulations to our students who participated in this past week's Hawaii State Science and Engineering Fair (HSSEF), held at the Hawaii` Convention Center on Oahu. Special recognition to Savannah Frisk in receiving top recognition in Behavioral & Social Science category and selected to represent Hawaii schools at the International Science and Engineering Fair in May. Congratulations to Kalani Murakami and Marissa Goo in receiving awards from the Graduate Women in Science Organization and Casey Nakamura and Taylor McGinnis in receiving awards from the Hawaii Optometric Association and Hawaiian Eye Foundation. Special thanks to our Science teachers for their hard work in supporting our students!

Hawaii State Assessment (HSA): The final round for the HSA continues this week and Science Dept will be doing their 3rd round of testing. For those students who have to make up their Math and Reading assessments will be contacted shortly.

Accreditation Mid-term Visitation: Over the past few weeks I have been reminding everyone to prepare for our mid-term visit schedule for the week of April 23rd. Attached progress report should have been reviewed by all instructional and support staff. Administration will be conducting classroom visitations during the week.



4th Quarter Finals: Per the feedback received, there will not be a finals block schedule and we will remain with our regular schedule.
Senior Teachers: Seniors should be given finals May 14, 15, or 16. Names of those seniors who are failing must be turned in to the counselors by 3:00 pm - Wednesday, May 16. We need to be responsive informing both student and parents in a timely manner with graduation scheduled for Friday, May 18th.
Grade 9 -11 Teachers Finals will be given during the week of May 21 - 24, 2012. Teachers are expected to instruct until 2:20 pm on Thursday, May 24. Please have activities planned that will keep your students in your classroom that day.

Ho'okanaka Leadership Awards: Leadership Kauai is sponsoring the Ho'okanaka Leadership Awards Banquet in recognizing and honoring exceptional adult and youth leadership on Kauai. Kapaa High is very pleased to have two of our own being recognized. They are Ian Versammy - JROTC and Christina Maile Pico - student. Ask for your support in helping to purchase a dinner program ticket for $70 as our goal is to purchase a table for 10 ($700) representing Kapaa High's faculty and staff. Attached is an informational poster and please see Col. Roberto Levoit for more information. Kauai Leadership supports our school in providing leadership training for both students and adults.


Weekly Calendar: (Administration to be conducting classroom PEP-T visitations this week)

Tuesday, April 10th; Cross Curriculum/Common Planning 2:30 p.m.

Wednesday, April 11th: HOPES & IDEAS PLC session Rm I -100 1:45 pm

Thursday, April 12th Principal on Oahu for Citizenship Awards
Cross Curr/ Common Planning 2:30 p.m.

Saturday, April 14th: Smaller Learning Community Conference @McKinley High School

Have a great week!

Updates - Week of April 2nd

American Savings Bank for Education Presentation: Kudos to our students and staff for a job well done! Students' IPAD presentations, musical performances, welcoming and open conversations with the business partners really helped to set that special tone. Thanks also to Dave Mireles, Mike Maddock, Harriet Watanabe, Nancy Borilez, Catherine Paleka, Leila Kaneholani, and our cafeteria staff for helping to make this presentation a great success. CEO Rich Wacker again affirmed American Savings remains committed in supporting our school's vision. Truly an outstanding day for our school!

HOPES & IDEAS training sessions: Want to acknowledge next year's 10th grade HOPES & IDEAS HUI/ACADEMIES team members as their first training session got off to a great start. Appreciate Calvin Paleka representing his 9th grade HUI peers in sharing about their challenges, expectations, successes, and norms. Kudos to Mason Chock for his expertise in helping to build our Smaller Learning Community vision. Finally special thanks to Lisa Mireles for her passion, energy, and leadership in facilitating us through this wonderful journey!

Hawaii State Assessment (HSA): The final round for the HSA continues this week. Appreciate our Mathematics, English and Science teachers' focus and commitment in helping students to meet the benchmarks. Per Kelly Bailey's feedback, students taking the mathematics assessment are very close in meeting their targets.

Accreditation Mid-term Visitation: Over the past few weeks I have been reminding everyone to prepare for our 3 year revisit. The attached progress report should have been reviewed by all instructional and support staff. Administration will be conducting classroom visitations during the week.


3rd Quarter Reflections: Reminder that the 3rd quarter reflections are due electronically this Thursday, April 5th. Information will be compiled over the weekend to share with faculty prior to sending to the visitation committee.

SY 2012-13 Calendar: Attached next year's school calendar for your information.


Weekly Calendar:
Monday, April 2nd: Ellen Duffy Session 7:45 a.m. P-140

Tuesday, April 3rd: Ellen Duffy Sessions 7:45 a.m. P-140
East Complex Principals' Meeting - Kapaa High School 8:00 a.m. I-102
PLC session with Apple Representatives - 12:00 p.m. I-102

Wednesday, April 4th: HOPES training 7:45 a.m.

Thursday, April 5th IDEAS training 7:45 a.m.

Friday, April 6th: No School - Good Friday

Have a great week!

Updates - Week of March 26th

Accreditation Mid-term Visitation: Over the past few weeks I have been sharing our 3 Year Revisit Progress Report in preparing for our upcoming mid term accreditation for the week of April 23rd. Attached below is the final progress report submitted that reflect our accomplishments. Also attached is a copy of our Academic plan that describes our continued focus from which we are to be assessed. In communicating with Chair Dr. Jim Schlosser, visitation members will be looking/asking for evidence targeting data utilized and standards-based pedagogy. Department Heads and other lead personnel have been asked to review document with their staff.
Disaggregate data to ensure that all students benefit from school-wide initiatives.
Implement standards based learning in all courses and classrooms.
Continue to examine current research based instructional strategies for implementation across the curriculum to ensure active learning.
Study the effectiveness of the current bell schedule as it relates to meeting students needs.
Develop a system to assess all programs, reform initiatives and professional development that is data driven and research based techniques.
Report and celebrate academic progress and successes to parents and the community.



3rd Quarter Reflections: Reminder to submit your 3rd quarter reflections electronically no later than Thursday, April 5th. Will compile into a single report to help support WASC accreditation's 2nd point addressing standards-based learning. Along this line in looking at student learning data, will again work with counselors and Doris in identifying targeted students. With Literacy across all content areas per Common Core soon to be in effect....your feedback addressing literacy activities being taught will go a long way in providing that comprehensive picture. Thank you for your support in our school-wide data efforts.

Final round of Hawaii State Assessment (HSA): The 3rd and final round for the HSA begins this week for mathematics, Reading and Science. Testing time frame is expected to last until mid-April.

Weekly Calendar:
Monday, March 26th: Holiday - Prince Kuhio

Tuesday, March 27th: Final round of HSA begins this week
English Pre-SAT Work Session 7:45 am - 2:30 p.m. @I-102
Principal @Complex Area Leadership Meeting - Lihue

Wednesday, March 28th: Principal @State Bell Committee Work Group @OCISS - Oahu

Thursday, March 29th: Department & HUI/Academy Common Planning 2:30 p.m.
Complex Area VP meeting - Lihue
Principal @State Bell Committee Work Group @OCISS - Oahu

Friday, March 30th: American Savings Presentation 10:00 a.m. Library

Have a great week!

Updates - Week of March 19th

Spring Intercession: Thank you to those teachers/support staff who worked with targeted students during this past intercession. It's always positive when our staff are providing that extra help. Overall, believe that our intercessions attendance are slowly improving.

Student Progress: Teachers will be receiving their 1st semester/2nd quarter reflections back so to add their 3rd quarter reflections. Asking teachers to provide more specific information addressing literacy concepts your that students were focusing on. Literacy concepts include Reading, Writing, Speaking, Listening, Solving Problems, Critical Thinking, and Use of Technologies and Media applied to real world situations. Reflections will be compiled with other school-wide data to show overall progress and shared with staff prior to sharing with WASC accreditation team. Reflections are due (electronically) April 6th or sooner.

With 4th quarter upon us, reminder that our goal remains to have 95% of our students proficient in all content areas per classroom formative data. When addressing the Hawaii State Assessment (HSA) summative data, current status for grade 10 scores are: English - 69% of the students are proficient; Mathematics - 39% at proficiency; and Science - 40% are proficient.....there's still much work to be done! Important that I remind everyone that the HSA outcomes reflect "all" grade levels and disciplines as this is a team effort! Data also shows that we need to better coordinate literacy instruction across all discipline areas. The 3rd and final round for the HSA will be administered starting at the end of March.

Student Discipline feedback: Based on the feedback provided, Administration will make every effort to respond to all referrals within 3 school days. Believe that when teachers make a referral, they have done what was needed to deal with the student and their misbehavior. Administration reserves that right to provide consequences based on that larger knowledge of individual student's issues outside of individual classrooms. Chapter 19 will continue to be adhered with when addressing student's consequences as it provides guidance for infractions and definitions of those infractions. Currently, there are 16 possible disciplinary consequences ranging from time in the office to transfer to other programs (feel free to request a copy of Chapter 19 from the office). One of the interventions being more fully implemented is having parent meetings that includes the student, teachers, support staff and administration. This intervention is proving to have a positive impact for a good majority of students. Also looking at having parents sit in on classes to observe first hand.....not a favorite choice of any student. Reminding teachers to contact and document contacting parents as this serves as a critical intervention component. Welcome continued suggestions addressing disciplinary actions.

Accreditation Mid-term Visitation: Attached is the latest revision in preparing for Kapaa High's mid term accreditation review scheduled for Thursday, April 26, 2012. Reminder that we are tasked to address six key areas and demonstrate evidence to this effect.
Disaggregate data to ensure that all students benefit from school-wide initiatives.
Implement standards based learning in all courses and classrooms.
Continue to examine current research based instructional strategies for implementation across the curriculum to ensure active learning.
Study the effectiveness of the current bell schedule as it relates to meeting students needs.
Develop a system to assess all programs, reform initiatives and professional development that is data driven and research based techniques.
Report and celebrate academic progress and successes to parents and the community.

Please review document provides a comprehensive story of the good work to date. Will be posting this document on our school's website and feel free to use information to help support grant funding proposals, resumes, etc. Appreciate your feedback.


Planning for SY 2012-13: Work continues in creating the master schedule per student registration, staffing for HUI/Academies personnel, and overall school-wide budget. Planning to provide an update in early April as refinements will continue until the start of the new school year.

Purchase Orders: Reminder that submitted purchase orders must identify which of our Academic plans goals it will be supporting.

Weekly Calendar:
Monday, March 19th: 1) Dept/Cross Curriculum Articulation 2:30 p.m.
2) Leadership Meeting 1:00 p.m. @Principal's Office

Wednesday, March 21st: 1) Department Head Mtg 1:45 p.m. @Library

Thursday, March 22nd: 1) Decision Making for Results & Data Team Seminars 8 - 3:00 p.m. @Kauai War Memorial Convention Hall
2) Department & HUI/Academy Common Planning 2:30 p.m.

Friday, March 23rd: 1) Decision Making for Results & Data Team Seminars 8 - 3:00 p.m. @Chiefess Kamakahelei Middle Library
2) 3rd Quarter Grades due to Registrar

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

Updates - Week of March 5th

Recognition: Want to recognize our students for a job well done at the Kauai Complex Area Science Fair this past week. Kapaa High School was especially proud to have four of the five top five finalists awarded to our students. Kudos to our Science teachers and asking that they coordinate with Harriet Watanabe so students can be featured on the morning announcements especially those moving on to State/International competition. Our students continue to demonstrate attainment of high expectations as this was recently also seen in the Virtual Enterprise presentations and the CTE State events.

Thanks to Greg Gonsalves and Suwela Esteban for their leadership in helping carry-out the final inspection for our Girls Softball Stadium. Happy to share that stadium was finally approved/accepted and our girl's softball team have their own home field. Kapaa High School also has the honor to be the first high school statewide to have this Title IX equity realized. Appreciate everyone's patience and support!

Spring Intercession: With Spring Break just around the corner, intercession supports will be provided for those struggling students on March 12, 13, 14 and 15, 2012 (4 half-days 8:00 - 12:00 pm). Teachers are asked to identify their students who can use this support and submit names to the counselors and Doris Morioka Fulks. Upon confirmation that identified students will be attending, teachers must submit work for their students so the intercession teachers can better focus their supports. Thanks to the counselors, majority of the seniors have already been identified/contacted. If you are interested in teaching over the break, please check with Doris.

Student Support feedback: Over the course of this week, administration will be reviewing our disciplinary practices to assess it's effectiveness in terms of helping to address negative student behaviors. We will be comprehensively looking at referral timeliness, recurring negative behaviors, levels of interventions, communication, as well as overall success. Appreciate feedback from teachers and asking Department Heads to coordinate feedback and to maintain confidentiality of staff names by end of this week. Will provide an update after Spring Break.

Accreditation Mid-term Visitation: Attached is our draft report in preparing for our mid term accreditation review to validate that we are on course per our Academic plans. Visitation is scheduled for the second half of 4th quarter. Reminder that the visiting committee identified six critical areas for follow-up and improvement:

Disaggregate data to ensure that all students benefit from school-wide initiatives.
Implement standards-based learning in all courses and classrooms.
Continue to examine current research-based instructional strategies for implementation across the curriculum to ensure active learning.
Study the effectiveness of the current bell schedule as it relates to meeting students needs.
Develop a system to assess all programs, reform initiatives and professional development that is data driven and research based techniques.
Report and celebrate academic progress and successes to parents and the community.


Administration's walk-through observations continue to ensure that standard based instructions are consistent school-wide, standards taught are posted, use of rubrics & assessments, and ultimately student outcomes. Please review and provide feedback to administration and Beth Pemberton for consideration.


Weekly Calendar:
Monday, March 5th: Dept/Cross Curriculum Articulation 2:30 p.m.

Tuesday, March 6th: East Complex Leadership meeting @Kapaa High Library 8 - 10:30 a.m.

Wednesday, March 7th Principal @SLC consortium meeting - Maui High School
Early Release 1:45 p.m. for Teachers (part of the 3 hrs give back)

Thursday, March 8th: Common Planning 2:30 p.m.
End of 3rd Quarter

Friday, March 9th: Teacher DLWOP (No Students)

March 12 - 16, 2012SPRING BREAK

Have a great week and a restful Spring Break!


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

Updates - Week of Feb. 27th

Congratulations to the Boys Basketball team for an outstanding season and solid play at this past weekend's State Finals. This group of young men continued to improve over the course of the season and very evident that they had developed to another level as it showed in the second half of the season.

Special Presentation: Reminder that we'll be having two assemblies on Thursday, March 1st, addressing ethics in a digital world entitled "Digital Tattoos". Guest speaker is FBI Special Agent, Arnold Laanui Jr and this is sponsored by PCNC and Title I. Assembly schedule: Period 2 - Grades 9 and 12; and Period 3 - Grades 10 and 11. Students are to report to their classes first to check in with their teacher and teachers will accompany their students to the gym.

A special evening presentation is planned for parents from all of the East complex schools on Thursday, March 1st @Kapaa High Library 6:00 p.m.


Coordinated Training: Just a heads-up that Kauai Complex Area will be having several coordinated K -12 training beginning March 2012. Projected training dates are listed below and focus will address Common Core State Standards and Using Data for instructional Decision Making. Will be working with content areas to coordinate planned training sessions after our leadership meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 28th.
Decision Making for Results and Data Team Seminars:
March 22 and 23, 2012 8:00 am to 3:00 pm.

Power/Prioritizing Common Core Standards and Unwrapping Seminars:
April 20 and May 7 6-12 Math 8:00 am to 3:00 pm.
May 8-9, 2012 6-12 LA 8:00 am to 3:00 pm.
May 10-11, 2012 6-12 Others 8:00 am to 3:00 pm.


CCSS Work Sessions:
May 30, 2012 6-12 Math 8:00 am to 3:00 pm.
May 31, 2012 6-12 LA 8:00 am to 3:00 pm.
June 1, 2012 6-12 Others 8:00 am to 3:00 pm.

Parent conferences updates: Meetings with parents of targeted struggling students continue and certainly fulfilling to have parents, students, and school personnel in the same room having focused dialogue. While we may not see immediate positive changes for all of the students, believe that we are seeing progress for a good number of students. We will stay the course for the rest of the year as it will help address issues related to attendance, tardiness, disruption, and academics. It also serves as our documented interventions. Building Hawaii’s future for college, career, and citizenship in the global society of the 21st century is challenging and hard work.....like that final art work, every student takes hours of hard work to mold, to shape, with tears, frustration and joy in ultimately creating that final sculpture that we call Kapaa High graduate!

Weekly Calendar:
Monday, Feb. 27th: PTSA Board Meeting - Student Center @6:00 p.m.

Tuesday, Feb. 28th: Principal @Complex Area Leadership meeting - Lihue

Wednesday, Feb. 29th: Faculty PLC sessions - Chorus room @1:50

Thursday, March 1st: Digital Tattoo Assembly @Gym
VPs and Athletic Director at Vice-Principals' meeting - Lihue

Friday, March 2nd: Principal @Girls' Softball Stadium Final Inspection
Kauai Complex Area Science Fair Public Viewing 4:00 - 7:00 p.m. @Convention Hall - Lihue

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.

Updates - Week of Feb. 13th

Kudos to Doris, Sheila and counselors for a terrific career fair this past Friday. Tremendous learning opportunity when community organizations donate time to share with our students. Also, congratulations to our Special Education Department as they were recognized for the Child Count 100% Awards. This means that our school had 100% of it's special education records current, accurate and updated. Outstanding work everyone!

This past week, a work group of teachers, counselor, registrar and administrators met with consultant Mike Neubig in drafting possible master schedules to best support our students and HUI Academies. It was a good learning experience as the work group considered various possibilities for SY 2012-13 bell schedule. Will be updating everyone when master schedule is created per students' registration forms.....need everyone to please remind students who have yet to turn in their forms that we will be forced to select their classes as the deadline has passed.

Pleased to learn that a good number have already submitted their interest for the 10th grade HUI Academy. Sharing overview application and tentative training schedule and ask interested teachers to submit their applications to Beth Pemberton by Friday, February 24th.





Student growth: Our accountability is premised in having sustained consistent student growth. As a school, we need to show students' proficiency progress annually and over a period of time.....starting from freshmen year and when students exit as seniors. Over the past years, we have missed benchmark targets resulting in a more serious current level of "Corrective Action" status. Should we not attain our benchmark, we will fall into "Restructuring" status which means having a more intensive level of oversight and perhaps an independent provider monitoring all classes. I truly believe that we can have consistent growth as stated in our school plans. Research continues to show that when all disciplines support student learning through focused "Literacy" such as writing, reading, and critical thinking learning activities, student proficiency grows. As in any successful organization or team, it takes people working collaboratively in believing that student growth can be attained.

Along this line, the mid-quarter data showed that approximately one-third of our student population received at least one failing grade resulting with a total of nearly 800 failing grades. This isn't much to be proud of and realize that most grades were deserving reflecting students shortfalls in their work, assessments and attendance. Expectation is that everyone is to use this week's common planning, department meeting and Wednesday meeting time to review how to support struggling students. Department Heads are asked to hold department and/or cross curriculum meetings to discuss identified students. Please be sure to invite your counselors, school service coordinator and administrators to participate. Will be sure to get a temperature check from each department by the end of the week.

Attached is Superintendent Matayoshi monthly bulletin sharing some system wide updates.



Weekly Calendar:
Monday, Feb. 13th: Principal @SLC board mtg. - McKinley High School
Blood Drive (all day) @Library
Departments/Cross Curriculum Articulation 2:20 p.m.

Wednesday, Feb. 15th: PLC articulation within/across Departments/HUIs to address struggling students 1:50 p.m.
Kapaa High School Foundation mtg @Student Center 6:00 p.m.

Thursday, Feb. 16th: Common Planning 2:20 p.m.
Articulation w/Kapaa Middle School

Friday, Feb. 17th: Principal @Collective Impact Meeting - Kauai Community College 9 - 11:30 a.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.

Updates - Week of February 6th

National School Counseling Week!!! Mahalo to our counselors for their dedicated efforts in making that positive difference for all students.

Thank you to our students, staff and the many community members who helped in making this past weekend's Family Summit a success. Various community individuals shared their appreciation and admiration as this event sent a positive message in the importance of family and community! Thank you to Principal Sherry Scott in covering for me as I was called to a board meeting on Oahu.

Administration will continue meeting this week with content areas addressing student growth, assessments, and professional learning needs. Schedule for Wednesday, Feb. 8th: VP Diane Ayre to meet with CTE (Evan Costa's room); VP Todd Harrison meets with Fine Arts & PE/Health (Chorus room); and English to meet with principal in (David Mireles room). With mid-quarter upon us, reminder that Doris Morioka Fulks will be helping coordinate cross discipline meetings addressing identified students as submitted from counselors. Please be prepared to participate if contacted.

Just a friendly reminder that per classroom visits, not all classes are listing standards being covered. Students have that right to know what is been taught as well as expected outcomes. For teachers on PEP-T, administration will be scheduling observations shortly.

Asking teachers to consider where you see yourself best contributing as we move forward with our Academies and HUIs at Kapaa High. Grade 10 HUI Academies will be implemented in Fall 2012 with planning starting later this month through June 2012. We will continue working with 11th and 12th grade teachers in preparing for SY 2013-14 implementation. Leadership will be doing a final review of the 10th Grade HUI Academy interest surveys, overview and applications on Monday, Feb. 6th and forms will be e-mailed to everyone shortly. Interested teachers may submit their applications by the end of this month. This is critical in the forward planning for staffing and other resources.

Weekly Calendar:
Monday, Feb. 6th: Leadership meeting @1:30 p.m.
Dept & Cross Curriculum meetings @2:25 p.m.
Wednesday, Feb. 8th: Admin mtg departments CTE, Fine Arts, PE/Health, and English @1:50 p.m.
Thursday, Feb. 9th: Mike Neubig meeting with Registration team 8:00 a.m.
Common Planning (Depts/HUIs)

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.

Updates - Week of January 30th

Congratulations! Our bell schedule is a go! In working with Educational Specialist Jill Zodrow @OCISS who coordinates this effort, our revised bell schedule met the criteria such as instructional minutes and was able to address questions utilizing non-instructional time. Will provide more updates a later date. Strategic communication to the community will now need to be coordinated. Great Job!

Beginning this week, administration will be meeting with all content areas to review progress to addressing student growth, curriculum maps , common assessments, and c onsistent grading practices . Along with this, counselors will be facilitating discussions addressing those identified struggling students. This will be coordinated through Doris Morioka Fulks. Attendees will be targeted students' teachers, counselors, school services coordinator and administration. Our target of 95% proficiency is priority. Attached provides for 99% of the teacher's reflections for 1st semester reflections.



Acknowledgements:
JROTC: Received a call from PTSA president Robert Purdue sharing that our JROTC Drill team took 1st place in this past weekend state competition on Oahu. Congratulations and more information to follow.

Science projects: Congratulations to the students as their projects reflected the many hours of research, analyzing, organizing, writing, etc. ultimately producing their final product. Student's projects continue to be a solid formative assessment piece to validate learning. Good luck to the 15 students moving on to the District Science & Engineering Fair on Feb. 29th - March 2nd. Kudos also to the teachers who also played important roles in this effort!

Parent Registration Informational meetings: Informational sessions for SY 2012-13 were very successful reflecting a good number of attendees, parents involved in asking questions and sharing their appreciation. Special thanks to those staff members who played important roles in making this a success.....in fact many parents shared how wonderful it was for them being able to meet the staff.

Middle School Orientation: Kudos to Robyn Keawe, Kahele Keawe, Calvin Paleka and Evan Costa for their efforts at the orientation session at Kapaa Middle School. Several KMS staff and administration shared their thumbs-up for the two day sessions. Due to our projected enrollment counts, important that we get as many students enrolled.

Academy Registration: Per the work group progress, next year's academies are nicely well balanced. While they are waiting for some outstanding registration forms, things are moving along quite nicely. When fully implemented, this structure will provide students with that sense of purpose and relevance. Teachers will need to continue thinking as to where they would like to be in terms of HUI and Academies as by May of this school year, all teachers and support staff will be tentatively placed in an Academy or HUI up to grade 12.

Finally, the County of Kauai is promoting free bus rides on the Kauai Bus from Feb. 20th through March 10th per their long term vision promoting public transportation. Please share with students and other staff members.



Weekly Calendar:
Monday, Jan. 30th: Leadership mtg @Principal's office 8:30 a.m.
Principal mtg w/Art programs 2:30 p.m.
Tuesday, Jan. 31st: Principal mtg with Student Council @Student Center (lunch)
Wednesday, Feb. 1st: Administration meeting with Social Studies, Science and Mathematics departments 1:50 p.m.
Thursday, Feb. 2nd: Principal attending State SLC mtg @Pearl City High School

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.

Confidentiality Notice: This e-mail message, including my attachments, is for the sole use of the intended recipients(s) and may contain confidential and/or privileged information. Any review, use, disclosure or distribution by unintended recipients is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipients, please contact the sender by e-mail and destroy all copies of the original message.

Updates - Week of Jan. 23rd

Kung Hee Fat Choy! - The Year of the Dragon! During ancient times, Chinese culture considered the dragon the most sacred of all animals. It reflected authority, dignity, honor, success and luck.


All content areas were sent their compiled reflection for the 1st semester. While there are some outstanding data, information provides venue for focused discussions. As shared, critical that we continue to be on that same page.....within and across content areas. Bottom line:

* Curriculum maps (year long pacing chart/calendar) must be aligned, implemented and revisited.
* Common (post) assessments measure what students must master as a result of your teaching. Need to have a good handle where students are prior and post instruction. Assessment data informs whether the lessons you are preparing are really the lessons that students need;
* Rubrics helps to provide good feedback to students (and teachers); and
* C onsistent grading practices ....while challenging, it comes together as a result of continued practice and articulation. For our most important customers, students (and parents) will have a higher level of appreciation, trust, respect and relevance.


As professionals, when we accomplish this consistency, it will result in that tipping point of increased student learning productivity. Research based on successful pedagogy practices continue to validate this.

Asking department heads to facilitate their department meetings and ask our counselors and school services coordinator to facilitate cross department/program focused discussions. Please be sure to inform administration so we can also participate. Wanted to also acknowledge the HUI teachers as I was informed that they have already begun to identify students and collaboratively working to address targeted supports.

Planning to share the school-wide reflection template that reflects all content areas in a follow-up e-mail. Will also be sending specific questions to individual and groups of teachers for more follow-up.

Facilities Construction Updates: The telecommunications project is very much on schedule. The major work of digging trenches to lay the conduits are almost completed. Major work will transition to the night crews who are installing conduits in all of the buildings and classrooms. This phase will take a couple of months followed by the final phase where another work team will begin pulling of the fiber and other wires across the entire campus. Upon completion, both Kapaa Elementary and High will be well positioned in terms of technology capacity. While the exact time frame hasn't yet been set, the installation of solar panels should follow as we move toward making our schools more energy efficient.

In concluding, want to express my appreciation per the tremendous strides per the Academy & HUI work. When fully implemented, this structure will provide students with that sense of purpose and relevance over their four years at Kapaa High. Electives, core and other programs will have that tighter alignment. As we continue to structure next year's programs and teaching assignments, all teachers need to continue thinking as to where they would like to be in terms of HUI and Academies. By the end of this school year, we should have all teachers and support staff tentatively placed in an Academy or HUI up to grade 12.


Weekly Calendar:
Monday, Jan. 23rd: Grades 10 & 11- Parent Registration Informational Meeting @Library 6:00 p.m.
Principal @ SLC Consortium meeting @McKinley High
PTSA Board Mtg @Student Center 6:00 p.m.
Tuesday, Jan. 24th: Principal @District Leadership meeting @District Office 8:00 a.m.
School Community Council Meeting @Student Center 5:30 p.m.
Wednesday, Jan. 25th; Science Fair viewing @library (only through science classes)
Thursday, Jan. 26th: Apple Representative (Kupono Kekuewa) on campus
Vice-principals & AD at monthly meeting @District Office 8:00 a.m.
Friday, Jan. 27th: Principal @ East Complex Leadership mtg 7:00 - 11:00 a.m.

Have a great week!

UPDATES - WEEK OF JAN 16TH

Thank you as administration received a very good percentage teachers' reflective feedback addressing their students' progress to date. This formative information along with other data helps to provide that comprehensive picture. Spent weekend compiling the information and will combine with other data for faculty discussion.

Per classroom visits, sharing more feedback:

• Pleased to see continued focused instruction across many classrooms as a good number of lessons reflected higher level critical thinking. Saw a nice balance of lecture, student feedback/wait time, group work and projects. Strongly encouraging more student work products to be posted as it provides that nice reference support for all students. Reminder that the standards being covered needs to be visible in every classroom.
• An area where we need to strengthen is ensuring that teachers teaching similar content are on same page. Example, Social Studies teachers teaching U.S History should be meeting on a consistent basis to assure curriculum maps are being followed, common rubrics are being used, grading practices are consistent, etc. This pertains to all content areas and recommend that departments utilize Monday and Thursday's planning time to make this happen.

Reminders:
HUI planning for SY 2012-13: In preparing for next school year, will be meeting with teachers who are interested in being on the HUIs for grade 10. As this is our initial year of implementation, we continue to learn and grow.....a fundamental expectation is that commitment in working as a team. Administration will be interviewing interested teachers for grade 10 as well as reassessing current 9th grade HUI teams in terms of commitment for next school year.

Parent Registration Informational Meetings: Our first parent registration informational meeting held on January 9th was well received. Many questions addressing graduation requirements, college/career planning, etc. were asked. Very pleased with the amount of questions addressing the STEP-UP diploma as parents want their children striving for the BOE Recognition diploma. Kapaa High's Class of 2015 (current 9th graders) has nearly 40% already signed up for the BOE recognition diploma and definitely anticipate more. As you are aware, this is the last year that students have a choice in terms of the going for the regular or the BOE recognition diploma. Beginning next school year there will be only one diploma...the BOE recognition diploma. Thank goodness that the 7th period schedule passed.

• Grades 10 & 11 on Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2012 @Library 6:00 p.m.
• Incoming Grade 9 on Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012 @Library 6:00 p.m.

Faculty Meeting: Topics to be covered are the PSAT scores, HUI & Academy updates, SY 2012-13 registration, projected student enrollment, staffing, and funding.

Weekly Calendar:
Monday, Jan. 16th: Holiday - Martin Luther King Day
Tuesday, Jan. 17th: Grade 10 & 11 Parent Registration Informational Meeting @Library 6:00 p.m.
Wednesday, Jan. 18th: Principal mtg with Kauai Rotarians 11:30 a.m. @Courtyard Marriott
Faculty Meeting 1:50 p.m. @Chorus Room
Thursday, Jan. 19th: HUI Collaboration 7:45 a.m. @I102
Friday, Jan. 20th: Castle and MOTT Foundation visitors on campus

Calendar Changes:

• PTSA Board rescheduled to Monday, January 23rd 6:00 p.m. @Student Center; and
• School Community Council rescheduled to Tuesday, Jan. 24th 5:30 p.m. @Student Center

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

Updates - Week of Jan. 9th

Sharing feedback per classroom visits.....

• A good number of the classes visited were focused, standards based, and modeling bell-to-bell instruction. Will continue to follow-up with teachers whose classes were lacking focus in terms of benchmarks and classroom management.
• Reminder that the taxonomy level of instruction is critical for balanced learning. Per our classroom visitations, always assessing if instruction is balanced in challenging students beyond just memorization/recall learning activities. Many know this as Bloom's taxonomy levels....."Remembering, Comprehension, Applying, Analyzing, Evaluating, and Creating". Let's ensure that all students are challenged with learning activities that are rigorous and relevant.
• 
  

Reminder that your reflection feedback on students' progress are due this Friday, January 13th. Appreciate if you can send it electronically and feel free to "cc" the vice-principals, Beth, Doris and your department heads. Data will be compiled along with 1st semester grades, attendance, etc. as we utilize formative data in affirming our collective progress. I am also attaching a sample received from Calvin Paleka for reference and special thanks to Mr. Paleka in his willingness to share.



Reminders:
Senior Contracts: Please be sure that you have provided your with a "senior contract" as it is already in effect this semester. Informed that not all seniors may have received a copy from their period 1 teachers. Very difficult for administration to be consistent especially when dealing with serious Chapter 19 incidents.

Parent Registration Informational Meetings: During January, parent registration informational meetings will be held addressing graduation requirements, required classes, elective classes, college/career planning, and questions parents may have. With the implementation of Academies beginning with grade 10 students in SY 2012-13, strongly encourage teachers attend so parents/students can get that opportunity to personally meet and have their content/elective questions answered. You can be assured that Monday's January 9th informational meeting should be well attended as our current 9th grade parents are quite involved.

• Grade 9 on Monday, Jan. 9, 2012 @Cafeteria 6:00 p.m.
• Grades 10 & 11 on Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2012 @Library 6:00 p.m.
• Incoming Grade 9 on Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012 @Library 6:00 p.m.

Weekly Calendar:
Monday, Jan. 9th: 2nd quarter/1st semester grades are due
Grade 9 Parent Registration Informational Mtg. 6 - 8:00 p.m. @Cafeteria

Tuesday, Jan. 10th: Principal @KIF Executive Board mtg 2:30 p.m. @State Bldg.

Wednesday, Jan. 11th: Social Studies Department meeting with Administration 1:50 p.m. @Library

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

Registration Parent Meetings

Registration Parent Meetings

9th: Mon. January 9 in Cafeteria
10th & 11th: Tues. January 17 in Library
Incoming 9th: Wed. January 25 in Library

6:00 - 8:00 pm

Updates - Week of January 3th, 2012

Please take time to reflect of your students' learning progress as the success of any student can only happen through our collective efforts. As professionals we know that when any student fails....we take responsibility; and when our student succeeds, that's a testament of solid instructional school-wide support practices. For every student here at Kapaa High we must guarantee that they will have a viable curriculum with essential content, knowledge, and skills that all are expected to learn. Students will have....adequate learning time such as bell-to-bell will be given so they are able to acquire those essential knowledge and skills; quality instruction and assessments aligned with essential knowledge and skills; and literacy through vocabulary is taught so students succeed on their assessments. At the end of the day, this continues as our non negotiable priorities focused on learning the essential curriculum regardless of distractions.

Our academic plan speaks to that concrete performance target where 95% of our students will be proficient. Students, teachers, support staff and administration are expected to meet performance targets. As a PLC, we'll be spending time in learning how to use formative data to help guide us on our progress. A good temperature check of our students' academic progress will be seen per the attached template that all teachers need to provide feedback by Friday, January 13th. Information along with other formative school-wide data will help gauge our overall progress and shared with the faculty.



Very pleased to welcome and introduce new additions to Kapaa High's ohana:

• Dr. Sandra Combs is our new Social Studies teacher. Sandra brings a wealth of experience as a classroom teacher, administrator and superintendent. She is also very well versed with technology as she currently teaches on-line classes for a university.
• Jean Esaki is our new Japanese teacher. Jean was serving as the substitute Japanese teacher since receiving her teaching degree and she brings a wealth of experience especially from the private business sector.

Confident that these ladies will make that positive impact for students, school and community and that they can count on everyone's support.

Reminders:
Seniors: Please remind your seniors that their "senior contract" goes into effect on Wednesday, January 4th. Failure to comply may result in being unable to participate in the graduation ceremonies.

Posters: All school clubs must remove any posters that are placed around the campus immediately following any function. We are hoping to have special assigned areas built where announcements can be posted. Until then, let's work together to help maintain the neatness of our campus.

Classroom visits: During this second semester, administration will be stepping-up our classroom visits with timely feedback. Reminder that all teachers are continuously and responsible for duties 1 - 5 as listed on page 4 of the PEP-T manual. Administration will also be working closely with teachers on the PEP-T cycle.

Revised Bell Schedule: Working with the State DOE Office to have our revised bell schedule reviewed/approved on a faster time frame as it affects our master schedule planning. Having had to present other secondary schools revised schedules to the State Board of Education in my previous job, aware of potential questions/concerns. Again, congratulations on taking that positive step in making learning opportunities better for our students and will keep everyone posted.

Weekly Calendar:
Wednesday, Jan. 4th: Principal mtg with Fine Arts & CTE Departments @1:45 Library
Monday, Jan. 9th: Grades for 2nd quarter/1st semester are due

May 2012 bring you much happiness, fulfillment, and good health!

Updates - Week of December 5th

Our school's SLC site provides a wealth of information addressing the Smaller Learning Community progress. Posted information shares latest versions of frameworks, descriptions, Hui and Academy meeting agendas & minutes, training handouts, etc.

https://sites.google.com/site/khsslcworkspace/

Attached also is the updated academy selection and registration calendar.



Consistent monitoring of students' progress per your curriculum maps remains a critical must do. Administration will be asking all teachers to provide information as to their students' status in January after grades are submitted so to have that comprehensive picture. We are planning to provide extended learning support sessions during the winter break targeting students needing extra help. Asked Doris Morioka to coordinate.

Don't forget to support our school's blood drive this Wednesday in the library. Kudos to Kara Kitamura and her students in making this outstanding community service a reality in benefiting our community.

Weekly Calendar:

Monday, Dec. 5th: Unit 5 HSTA members voting for proposed calendar @2:30 p.m. Library
Tuesday, Dec. 6th: Apple PLC sessions (all day)
Wednesday, Dec. 7th: Blood Drive (all day) @Library
Faculty meeting @1:45 p.m. Chorus room
Thursday, Dec. 8th: Principal @Complex Area peer review of SY 2012-13 Academic Plan 8:00 a.m.
Common Planning for HUI, Academy, Inclusion, IEPs, & Bell Schedule 2:30 p.m.

Have a great week!