‘How Are We Supporting These Kids?’: Schools Add Emotional Development To The Curriculum 0 Hawaii educators hope new initiatives and programs will help students recover from social and academic setbacks caused by the pandemic.
At Waimanalo Elementary and Intermediate School, principal Wade Araki said his classrooms are finally starting to look like they used to before the pandemic. Desks are grouped together to promote collaborative learning instead of keeping students at least six feet apart, and more than 370 children returned to campus this fall.
For the first time in over two years, public schools in Hawaii resumed classes in early August with eased Covid-19 restrictions and no mask mandates or quarantine rules as coronavirus concerns ebb.
“While we’re still very mindful of healthy habits, schools are able to focus even more on our primary mission of education,” Superintendent Keith Hayashi said Thursday at a Board of Education meeting.