Furloughs hurt military's view of Hawaii schools

[February 01, 2010]  SCHOFIELD BARRACKS, Hawaii (AP) -- The third- to fifth-graders ran up to their instructor clutching a list of words using the letters "B," "D" and "E."

Split into boys' and girls' teams, the students offered the teacher "bed" and "bead." The boys spelled more words, beating the girls 18-15.

It's a Friday, but these students aren't in school. They're at a youth center where the U.S. Army is keeping soldiers' children engaged and learning on the 17 Fridays this school year the state of Hawaii has closed public schools to narrow a budget deficit.

The state's decision in October to shrink the school year by 10 percent, giving it the fewest number of instructional days in the nation at 163, is adding to the already dismal reputation Hawaii's public schools have among servicemen and women.

Col. Mike Davino, the director of manpower, personnel and administration for the U.S. Pacific Command, said the truncated school year is yet another concern for officials who have long heard about servicemen and women avoiding Hawaii assignments because of the state's public education system.

"We've gotten a lot of anecdotal information. For example, one of my neighbors just this week said she wasn't going to extend in Hawaii because of the education," Davino said.

Commanders are so concerned about the overall health of isle schools that the military is paying researchers from Johns Hopkins University $1.5 million to study military attitudes toward Hawaii public education over a three year period to see if there's any concrete data to support the unhappy anecdotes.

The study, now in its first year, will track families who have received assignments to Hawaii, those who are currently here and those who have left the islands. It will examine whether the education their children received in Hawaii put them at a disadvantage or prepared them well for their next school.

"Hawaii doesn't have the strongest education system as it is. So then to compromise by taking more hours away?" said Master Sgt. Tamatha R. Perkins, whose 6-year-old son John is in first grade at an Oahu school. "If they're in the bottom tier, they don't need to be cutting out days of education. They're going the wrong way."

The study will also document how many troops choose Hawaii's public schools and how many choose alternatives like home-schooling, private schools or even leaving their children with family on the mainland.

Military statistics indicate there should currently be about 23,000 school-age dependents in the islands, which are home to several major installations including Pearl Harbor. But there are only 13,000 to 14,000 military dependents now enrolled in Hawaii public schools, indicating thousands of parents are choosing to educate their children elsewhere.

Hawaii's school system was struggling even before the state shrunk the school year.

Last year, a record number of schools, almost two-thirds, failed to meet progress goals under the federal No Child Left Behind law.

Heather Miles, a graduate student in education at the University of Hawaii whose soldier husband is currently deployed to Iraq for a year, had been a defender of Hawaii schools. She noted some were better than others, just like in other states, and parents needed to be selective about where they enrolled their children.

But the Friday furloughs have darkened her view.

"I was not displeased with it -- until now," Miles said. "I'm quite displeased now."

She said one of her two sons started acting out after the furlough days began in late October.

"Going to school every day is something that he needs," Miles said. "With his dad deployed and everything else, he needs that constant."

The sixth-grader had gotten top grades during the first quarter of the school year. His As in science are now Cs.

Miles' husband won't return from Iraq until September, though he's due to come home for a short break in March. The situation has added to the stress of his deployment, she said.

Michelle Meador expects to have to arrange tutoring for her three children to compensate for the learning they've lost in Hawaii when her family moves to its next posting, which will probably be in about a year.

The Navy officer's wife thought about getting extra help now but realized it would be difficult to fill the gaps when it isn't yet clear where her children may be lagging.

"It's too hard to play catch-up when you don't know what it is exactly that you're missing," Meador said.

The military is doing what it can to make up for the shortfall in instructional time.

More than 300 children are enrolled in Army child youth services programs that focus on learning each Furlough Friday. Children work in the computer lab, do homework, and have been on excursions. Other services have similar programs.

John Penebacker, a state Board of Education member and a retired Army colonel, said the furloughs have been a setback to efforts to improve the military community's perceptions about Hawaii's public schools, but Hawaii students are still getting a good education.

"You get to the question of quality versus quantity. The results are not in yet, but I would guess that the quality is still there even though the days may have been decreased," he said.

Penebacker pointed out other school systems have laid off teachers and increased average class size -- something Hawaii chose not to do.

"We're not alone in this battle. This is a national situation where funding is a challenge," he said.

[Associated Press; By AUDREY McAVOY]

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