Hawaiʻi public schools are planning to reopen for the 2021-2022 school year with varying levels of in-person and online instruction.
With the current COVID-19 state-wide positivity rate at 2.6%, most complex areas expect to have in-person learning for elementary schools and hybrid programs for secondary schools.
At a Board of Education meeting Thursday, several teachers testified on the difficulties of blended learning, a combination of in-person and virtual instruction.
Some claimed it takes twice the amount of work and is an unproductive method of learning for students. Many teachers had no prior experience with virtual teaching until the pandemic, making it difficult for some to create an effective curriculum.
Lynn Otaguro, a former public school teacher, said at the meeting, "Because we are still in transition in dealing with COVID-19, it would be most fair, equitable, and compassionate to offer a distance learning alternative for families who have concerns about the safety of in-person learning."
The state Department of Education is required to upload a list of schools with their distance learning availability and their class descriptions by next Wednesday, July 21.
The DOE will be required to work with families who choose to partake in distance learning for any the following reasons:
- Do not feel safe sending their children to in-person classes.
- The child performed well academically, emotionally, and socially in distance learning.
- The school and guardians agree that distance learning is in the best interest of the child.
- The child has a high-risk illness (e.g. diabetes, asthma).
- The child has access to courses from another school that homeschooling cannot offer..
