Public input sought on school calendar

Feedback collected by the online survey through April 22 will be used to help guide calendar development for the 2016-17 school year and beyond.

News Release from Hawaii DoE April 15, 2015

​​​​HONOLULU –The Hawaii State Department of Education (DOE) is seeking public feedback on school calendar models through an online survey. This survey opportunity is based on requests from the Hawaii State Board of Education (BOE), public and educators to review innovative approaches to the school calendar.

“Developing a school calendar is a complex task, and we look forward to analyzing survey responses from our families and the general public,” said Superintendent Kathryn Matayoshi. “We highly encourage parents to take part in this opportunity.”

Data from the short, three-part survey will be used to help guide calendar development for the 2016-17 school year and beyond. Public input will help ensure the calendar maximizes learning opportunities for students while meeting the needs of educators and families.

The survey is available at http://bit.ly/1CIq6ac through April 22.

Until now, the DOE has developed the school calendar based on prior models, with input from educators. The 2015-16 school calendar was approved by the BOE in December 2014.

A DOE School Calendar Workgroup of complex area and school staff met in school year 2014-15 to discuss challenges and opportunities with the school calendar. The workgroup identified clear tenets for calendar development such as completing first semester by winter break and –to the extent possible –having the same number of days in each quarter.

Survey results will be reviewed by the DOE’s Office of Strategy, Innovation, and Performance to inform development of the 2016-17 school calendar.

Read more about the state's public school calendar >>> The School Calendar