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Aloha HE'E Members and Participants,
HE'E and Community Meetings
The next HE'E Planning Meeting will be on Tuesday, May 14, 2013 from 9:00-11:00am at The Learning Coalition, 841 Bishop Street #301 (validated parking at Ali'i Place, 1099 Alakea St.) We will have discussions on the ESEA Flexibility Wavier, Family-School Partnership Actions the possibility of hosting a forum, bringing together folks from education, human services and the judicial system to discuss how to best keep students in school. Please see the agenda here. If you haven't done so, please RSVP at cheri@heecoalition.org if you can make the meeting.
The next HE'E Quarterly Meeting will be on Wednesday, June 5, 2013 from 4:00-6:00pm at The Japanese Cultural Center, 2454 South Beretania Street. HE'E is pleased to have Dr. Kerrie Urosevich present on three important statewide initiatives. She will first present about Family Hui, a peer-led collaborative program which helps build the capacity of families to support their children. She will also share with Chris Jackson from the Head Start State Collaboration Office about the Executive Office on Early Learning's efforts in creating statewide Family Partnership Guidelines, trainings and toolkits. Finally, Kerrie will present on Ceeds of Peace, professional development created by Dr. Urosevich and Dr. Maya Soetoro-Ng, which bring together teachers, families and community members to gain skills in supporting children and youth to be peacebuilding leaders in their communities. We will be sending out an electronic invite so please look for it in the near future!
BOE Community Meetings on Oahu and Kauai
The Hawaii Board of Education will host two community meetings in May on Oahu and Kauai. The Honolulu District Meeting on Oahu will take place on Monday, May 20, 2013, from 6:00-7:30pm at
the King William C. Lunalilo Elementary School Cafeteria, 810 Pumehana Street, Honolulu, HI 96826. Please see flyer here. The Kauai District Community Meeting will take place on Thursday, May 30, 2013, from 6:00-7:30pm at Kanuikapono Public Charter School, 4333 Kukuihale Road, Anahola, Kauai, HI 96703. Please see flyer here. We encourage you to participate!
HE'E News
US DOE Office of Civil Rights (OCR) Seattle Visit
The US DOE Office of Civil Rights Seattle is conducting an onsite visit to a selection of public schools on Oahu and Hawaii Island beginning May 6, and will have staff members in both places who are available to meet with students, community leaders, parents, etc. The focus of the compliance review is whether the HSDOE is complying with Title VI (race, color national origin), Title IX (sex) and Section 504 and Title II of the ADA (disability) in its prevention, investigation and response to student on student harassment and bullying that may be based on race, color, national origin, sex (including gender identity). HE'E members met with OCR Senior Attorney Tim Sell on May 8, 2013, who explained about the process of their review. At present, the staff at OCR are looking for examples of violations of the above statues. A handout from the Seattle office explaining how to file a complaint is listed here, page 1 and page 2. If you would like to contact Tim, his email address is Timothy.Sell@ed.gov.
HE'E and Honolulu Magazine
Please check out the May 2013 issue of Honolulu Magazine! The May issue is a school focused issue, featuring the annual Grading of the Public Schools, utilizing the results of the School Quality Survey (SQS) as part of the evaluation. As many of you are aware, HE'E has done a lot of work and continues to do work on the SQS trying to improve the content and access to make this survey meaningful. There are also two articles entitled "Are Hawaii Schools Safe?" and "Beyond Felix." As you recall, HE'E hosted a meeting with the reporter to give her input and identify potential resources for the articles. We are very pleased with the articles as they both reflect the tone and comments of our members. In addition, several of the individuals and organizations quoted in the articles were referred to the reporter by HE'E members. The quality and depth of the article would not have been as robust or thoughtful without your contributions. We want to thank members fort their participation in giving input to these articles--it really makes a difference in the quality of information. HE'E will continue to serve as a conduit for the media to get the voice of the community heard. Mahalo!
DOE Welcomes Participants for Communications Survey
As part of an ongoing effort to enhance communications, the Hawaii State Department of Education will be conducting a survey in May to hear from parents and community members about its public outreach. If you are interested in participating, please email the Department of Education here with a preferred email address, and they will send you a survey link. The DOE looks forward to receiving your valuable feedback. HE'E meeting notes posted on http://www.heecoalition.org/resources/hee-meeting-notes/ HE'E email archives on http://www.heecoalition.org/resources/hee-email-newsletter-archive |
