Ka Malu o Kaimana Hila

Dear Mindful School Ohana:

As we reflect at the midpoint of this school year, there is so much to be thankful for here at the Mindful School. Our tradition of academic excellence continued with news that our students earned some of the highest reading, math and science scores in the State of Hawaii! We've had fabulous and well-attended events like our Food Farm Work Days, Scholastic Book Fair, Fun Fair, Haunted House, Winter Store and Winter Fete. We've also completed a much needed court resurfacing project for our kids to use during PE and recess.

Looking to the future, there are so many exciting events and milestones to look forward to. Our Valentines Dance, put on by our fabulous Waikiki School PTO, is scheduled to take place in February. Our Fun Run, Waikiki's annual fundraising campaign for school technology is right around the corner in April.

We wanted to express our sincerest gratitude for all your thoughtful Holiday treats and presents. Your overwhelming generosity is warmly appreciated. Thank you. Most importantly, thank you for entrusting your family with ours here at Waikiki School. Happy New Year!

Sincerely,

Mr. Kusuda and Ms. Mahoney

Waikīkī School begins 2024 by focusing on "Taking Responsible Risks."

• What this Habit of Mind looks like: People volunteering, trying a new approach, and learning something new.

• What this Habit of Mind sounds like: People saying “I’ll try,” “I can do this because…,” or “What can I learn by challenging myself?”

• What this Habit of Mind feels like: It is rewarding. It can also be both exciting and scary.

Sometimes we are afraid to ask questions or to try something new because we are worried about making a mistake or getting something wrong. But Habits of Mind founder Dr. Art Costa explains that a key trait of successful people is that they are not stopped by this fear of failing or of making mistakes. They are willing to venture forth and take responsible risks. "Responsible" risks are not foolish or impulsive ones. Rather, they are adventures that are informed by research, past knowledge, and a careful weighing of potential consequences.

When we reframe our "mistakes" and choose to see them not as "failures" but instead as experiences that provide us with rich opportunities for learning, we facilitate growth. We exercise our wonderment and curiosity, prepare ourselves to become thoughtful decision-makers, and strive to better our world. Taking Responsible Risks is at the core of our school's mindful culture and our mission to empower students to craft lives that are truly extraordinary.

"All practice is shaped through the lens of our mindful culture. We do not tell students to just memorize for the test or teachers to simply follow the script. Rather, we provide both students and teachers with time and encouragement, which allow them to think flexibly, take responsible risks, create, imagine, and innovate... Confident that our students and teachers know who we are, we trust them to lead the way. Proceeding from their individual passions and needs, we empower each person to create and recreate, to invent and reinvent, to do and persistently redo, and to continue to ingeniously author the life-long process of actualizing his or her potential as a mindful human being."

Bonnie Tabor, in Nurturing Habits of Mind in Early Childhood: Success Stories from Classrooms Around the World, (2017)

Dear Parents and Guardians of Students in Grades K-12:

Your feedback about our public schools is important to us. This year, we respectfully request a few moments of your time to complete the School Quality Survey (SQS), which measures your perceptions of the safety and well-being of your child and your satisfaction and involvement/engagement with your child’s school. Your responses will be kept confidential in order to gather candid information and will be used by schools for continuous improvement purposes. As a parent/guardian, this is an opportunity for your voice to be heard.

A parent/guardian may complete one survey per child. You may complete the SQS online at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/2024SQSParent or by scanning the QR code below. Schools may have a computer with internet access available to complete the survey at the school site. If you do not have internet access, you may request a paper survey, one for each child in grades K-12, no later than February 23, 2024. Your school may have hard copy surveys; if not, please request a survey by calling (808) 307-3650 or toll-free at (855) 276-5801, Monday through Friday from 7:45 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

This letter and the survey questions have been translated into 14 languages (Cebuano, Chinese simplified, Chinese traditional, Chuukese, Hawaiian, Ilokano, Japanese, Korean, Marshallese, Samoan, Spanish, Tagalog, Tongan, Vietnamese) and are available at http://arch.k12.hi.us/reports/sqs. Please click on the drop-down arrow for “School Year” and select 2023-2024; then click on the drop-down arrow “Filter by” and select Translations for your language; finally, click on the drop-down arrow “For” and select Parent Letter or Survey to obtain translated documents. If your language is not available, please call your school for assistance.

Please read the survey directions carefully and complete the paper or online survey by the deadline of March 15, 2024. Responses are due by the deadline in order to be included in the final report.

Should you have any questions about this survey, please contact us via email at SQS@k12.hi.us, or call (808) 307-3650 from 7:45 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday. Neighbor island parents may call toll-free at (855) 276-5801.

Thank you for your support and for helping to improve our schools.

Sincerely,

Keith T. Hayashi

Under Hawaii laws, all persons attending public school are required to attend the school in the geographic area in which they reside. However, permission to attend another school may be granted by the Department.

For families looking for an exception, fill out the GE Application form, MV1 form, and submit to the home school (for new students) along with a self-addressed stamped envelope and a current proof of residency. (The home school serves the geographic area of the child's residence.) If your family has moved and are no longer in the school boundaries, you will have to fill out a GE application. GE applications for the next school year shall be submitted between January 1 and March 1 to facilitate a decision before the end of the school year.

Printed forms are also available in the school office.

All schools in the State of Hawaii need to comply with the following Department of Health laws.

HRS §302A-1154

Immunization upon attending school; tuberculosis clearance.

(a) No child shall attend any school in the State unless the child presents to the appropriate school official documentation satisfactory to the department of health that the child has received immunizations against communicable diseases as required by the department of health.

(b) No child shall attend any school for the first time in the State unless the child presents to the appropriate school official documentation satisfactory to the department of health that the child has been examined and tested according to the rules of the department and law and is free from tuberculosis in a communicable form.

HRS §302A-1155

Provisional attendance at school.

(a) A child may attend school provisionally upon submitting written documentation from a licensed physician, physician assistant, advanced practice registered nurse, or an authorized representative of the department of health stating that the child is in the process of receiving the required immunizations. Further documentation showing that the required immunizations have been completed shall be submitted to the appropriate school official no later than three months after the child first attends the school. If all of the required immunizations cannot be completed within three months due to the length of the minimum intervals between doses of a particular vaccine required by the department of health, provisional attendance may be extended so long as the child's parent or guardian provides documentation that appointments for required immunizations have been made and that progress toward completing the immunizations continues in accordance with the requirements of the department of health.

(b) Provisional attendance at school may be suspended by the department of health when there is danger of an epidemic from any of the communicable diseases for which immunization is required.

HRS §302A-1161

Notification for noncompliance.

If a child does not complete the immunizations required under section 302A‑1154 or the physical examination required under section 302A-1159 within the period provided by section 302A-1155 after provisional attendance at school, the administrator of the school shall cause a notice to be sent to the parent or guardian of the child stating that if the required immunizations or physical examination is not completed within thirty days of the date of the notice, the child shall not be permitted to attend school.

If you are a parent of an English Language Learner, Waikiki School will be hosting a parent event on January 11th from 4:30 -5:30 pm. Our EL team will talk about the WIDA ACCESS assessment, use of the web-based Imagine Learning program, and the new parent communication tool dalled Talking Points. See you then!

Classes for the Spring Semester will start on January 22, 2024. Students can register, Monday through Thursday from 8 am to 5:30 pm starting January 8, 2024. For more information, please call the McKinley Community School for Adults at (808)594-0540 or email MCSA Vice Principal Mark Nakamura at mark.nakamura@k12.hi.us

January 8 - First day of Third Quarter

January 11 - EL Parent Event

January 15 - MLK Day (No School)

February 9 - Valentine's Dance

February 12 - Teacher Institute Day (No School for students)

February 19 - President's Day (No School)

February 24 - Rotary Club Rummage Sale

March 18-22 - Spring Break (No School)

March 26 - Kuhio Day (No School)

March 29 - Good Friday (No School)

April 5 - Tech Fun Run

April 12 - Professional Collaboration Day (No School for Students)

May 27 - Memorial Day (No School)

May 30 - Last day for students

Email: ryan@waikikischool.org
Website: waikikischool.org
Location: 3710 Leahi Avenue, Honolulu, HI, USA
Phone: (808) 971-6900
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WaikikiSchool
Twitter: @WaikikiSchool