Some school districts facing increase in violence

1. What are ways we can create and maintain a safe environment at our schools that's still a great and fun learning environment, too.

2. How can we create an environment where kids and parents praise our schools for how safe they feel at the school--and how well disciplined and respectful the students and staff are so as to create a safe learning environment?

Video: Some school districts facing increase in violence, experts blame COVID

Some parents are concerned about the safety of their children during their school commute due to the possibility of fights and other behavioral issues. Over the past two years, there have been reported increases in fights, bad behavior, and challenges related to social media platforms like Tick Tock, which experts attribute to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. As the new school year approaches, districts are working to find ways to address and mitigate these problems.

Children have spoken out about experiencing increased bullying incidents, such as having objects thrown at them, and even facing threats of violence. The uptick in violence has been a concerning trend, with some incidents involving weapons and dangerous situations. Additionally, there have been instances of vandalism in schools, which experts link to the influence of social media platforms like Tik Tok.

The consequences of these behavioral issues can be severe, with tragic incidents like

shootings at school events, as witnessed during a football game last October. The

growing concerns over student safety and the prevalence of disruptive behavior

have even resulted in some teachers leaving their positions, feeling overwhelmed by

the challenging environment.

As the new school year approaches, educators and administrators are grappling with

finding effective strategies to address these behavioral issues and create a safer and

more conducive learning environment. Recognizing the complex interplay of factors

contributing to these problems, schools are looking for comprehensive solutions to

help students navigate [not control?] their emotions, behaviors, and interactions

with others.

In conclusion, the combination of COVID-19's influence on students' mental and emotional health, along with the effects of social media platforms and changing societal dynamics, has contributed to an increase in fights, bad behavior, and disruptive incidents in schools. School districts are actively seeking ways to mitigate these issues and create a safer and more supportive learning environment for students.

"I've showed you alarming fights happening in schools like at East Central Middle School or a student stabbed in the forehead during a fight at Union's Eighth Grade Center. 

Districts like Broken Arrow Public School (BAPS) say they're seeing more fights, and with the elementary kids, the issues have always been there; it just increased. We've seen a real big uptick in anxiety, and with that, kids' perceptions of others and what they think of each other and how that impacts them. I was looking at our data the other day, and you know some school sites have had a few more fights than they did last year; other sites had less. 

So it depends on the makeup of the students, the culture of that school, how they're addressing them. That's Derek Blackburn with BAPS. 

He says he's seeing a lot of repeat offenders; they're angry at whatever their situation is, either at home or what's going on at school. So, there are multiple things that play and come into play. He says staff are doing all they can to help students relieve their anxiety and work through problems. Even if we suspend a student for multiple days, they're still coming back; those two kids are still going to be in that school. 

See the video clip for more.

Public School Principals: Charter vs. Traditional

Are there unique skills and areas of expertise we should be mindful of as we find the best principal for our charter school?

Public School Principals: Charter vs. Traditional: Unique skills and expertise which may be uniquely required of a charter school principal over a regular district public school principal in the US for a middle or other charter school 

Here are some skills and expertise that may be uniquely required of a charter school principal over a regular district public school principal in the US for a middle or other charter school:

• Strong business acumen: Charter schools are typically funded through a combination of public and private sources, and they have more autonomy over their budgets than traditional public schools. This means that charter school principals need to have strong financial skills in order to manage their schools effectively.
• Ability to build and maintain relationships: Charter schools often have a strong focus on community engagement, and principals need to be able to build and maintain relationships with parents, community members, and other stakeholders in order to be successful.
• Ability to innovate: Charter schools are often free to experiment with new teaching methods and educational programs. This means that principals need to be open to new ideas and be willing to take risks in order to improve student outcomes.
• Strong communication skills: Charter school principals need to be able to communicate effectively with a variety of audiences, including students, parents, teachers, staff, and the school's authorizer.
• Ability to work independently: Charter school principals have a lot of autonomy, and they need to be able to work independently and make decisions without a lot of oversight.

In addition to these skills, charter school principals also need to have a deep understanding of the charter school's mission and vision, as well as the specific needs of the students they serve. They also need to be able to articulate the school's goals and progress to the school's authorizer and other stakeholders.

Here are some additional skills and expertise that may be helpful for a charter school principal:

• Experience in a charter school setting: While it is not essential, having experience in a charter school setting can be helpful for a charter school principal. This experience can give the principal a better understanding of the unique challenges and opportunities that charter schools face.
• Experience in a school with a diverse student population: Charter schools often serve students from a variety of backgrounds, and principals need to be able to work effectively with students from different cultures and backgrounds.
• Experience in fundraising and grant writing: Charter schools often rely on fundraising and grant writing to supplement their funding. This experience can be helpful for a charter school principal who needs to raise money to support the school's programs and activities.

Principal Performed Unlawful Strip Search Of High School Girls, Lawsuit Alleges

What can a school board and school leaders do to prevent similar incidents?

Principal Performed Unlawful Strip Search Of High School Girls, Lawsuit Alleges
The students' parents were not informed of the search, a violation of school policy, the complaint said.
Honolulu Civil Beat, July 7, 2023

Three former female students are alleging that the principal of their public charter high school performed illegal strip searches on them after they had been accused of vaping and smoking on a class field trip in September 2019, according to court documents. 

The allegations were originally laid out in complaint filed in 2020 when the students were juniors, and were represented by guardians in the court documents. The three plaintiffs who are no longer minors have now chosen to be publicly identified in an updated filing and to speak publicly about the allegations.

During the incident Kapolei Charter School by Goodwill Hawaii principal Wanda Villareal allegedly asked high school juniors Randell Akau, Chevelle Peter and Anuhea Morales Nelson to lift their shirts during the search which occurred four days after the field trip... 

After the search the students were told to return to class and each called her parents, according to the complaint. “I went into the bathroom and I called my mom crying,” Akau said.

Akau’s mother, Heidi, said the students’ parents had not been informed about the search. Akau was told that her mother had signed a consent form that allowed for her and her personal belongings to be searched, said Akau. “I was under the impression that my parents knew that this was happening.”

The complaint said that not informing the parents of the search violated “school policy and the law.” 

According to the 2019 Kapolei Charter School Student Conduct and Discipline Policy, searches are permissible if there are “reasonable grounds” to suspect a student has violated school disciplinary policy, which includes the possession of “drugs, drug paraphernalia, tobacco.”

Kapolei Charter School by Goodwill Hawaii had its state contract renewed for four more years on July 1. More than half of the 161 students enrolled in the 2021-2022 school year were Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander....

Athletics & Arts Includes...?

 Athletics:

• Sports

• Health

• Communications

• Business

• Leadership

• Football

• Basketball

• Tennis

• Martial Arts

Arts:

• Dramatic arts

• Fine arts

• Graphic design

• Performing arts

• Entertainment arts

• Theatre arts

• Culinary arts (within the hospitality industry)

• Musical arts

• Digital arts

• Cinematography and Film/Video Production

• Fashion Design

FYI:

Languages:

• Hawaiian

• Chinese (spoken?)

• Japanese (spoken and written?)

• Korean (spoken and written?)

• Spanish?

Educational Insights - Elon Musk

Elon Musk's views on education  Elon Musk started the "Ad Astra" school which came to be in high demand and which then converted to Astra Nova, an online school for students ages 10-14.

Elon Musk Wants To Revolutionise our Education

Most teaching today is a lot like Boredville. As a result, just not that compelling. It's like

somebody's standing up there and lecturing to you, and they've done the same lecture

several years in a row. They're not necessarily all that engaged.

People learn and are interested in different things at different paces. Some people love English or languages, some people love math, some people love music. And different abilities, different times.

You really want to disconnect the whole grade level thing from the subjects. Allow people to

progress at the fastest pace that they can or are interested in in each subject. From like fifth

grade to sixth grade to seventh grade. Like it's an assembly line. But people are not objects

on an assembly line. That's a ridiculous notion. That seems like a really obvious thing.

We generally want education to be like as close to a video game as possible. You do not need to tell your kid to play video games. They will play video games on autopilot all day. So if you can make it interactive and engaging, then you can make education far more compelling, far easier to do.

It's important to teach problem-solving or teach to the problem, not to the tools.

Let's say you're trying to teach people about how engines work. You could start by a more traditional approach. You would really say, "Well, we're going to teach you all about screwdrivers and wrenches." And you have a course on screwdrivers, a course on wrenches, and all these things. This is a very difficult way to do it.

A much better way would be like, "Here's the engine, now let's take it apart. How are we going to take it apart?" "Ah, you need a screwdriver, that's what the screwdriver is for." "You need a wrench, that's

what the wrench is for." And then a very important thing happens, which is that the relevance

of tools becomes apparent. When you see something like the Khan Academy and stuff like that,

it's probably going in the right direction.

Sal Khan here from Khan Academy, and I just wanted to give a huge shout out and thank you

to Elon Musk and everyone at the Musk Foundation for their incredibly generous support for

Khan Academy. They just recently gave a 5 million dollar donation to Khan Academy.

So, how would you educate your five boys? Actually, I created a little school. They liked it.

Going to keep them away from regular schools. No, I just didn't see the rigorous rules. They

weren't doing the things that I thought should be done.

You're maybe creating a school will be better. And I actually hired a teacher from the school

they were at who also agreed with me that there was a better way to do it. What kind of

school could you subscribe to? Sure, it's only got 14 kids now, and it'll have 20 kids in

September. It's called Ad Astra, which means "to the Stars."

That's maybe a bit different from most other schools. Is that there aren't any grades? There's

no like grade one, grade two, grade three type of thing. I'm making all the children go in the

same grade at the same time.

Do you agree with Peter Thiel about the unnecessariness of university higher education?

I do agree with Peter's point that a university education is often unnecessary. That's not to

say it's unnecessary for all people, but you've probably learned about as much or the vast

majority of what you're going to learn there in the first two years. It introduces you to

concepts you would otherwise have to learn empirically. There are examples of successful

entrepreneurs who never graduated high school, those that have PhDs. So, I think the

important principle is to be dedicated to learning what you need to know, whether that is

in school.

A lot of companies, they do want to see the completion of the degree because they're looking

for someone who's going to persevere and see it through to the end, and that's actually what's

important to them. So, it really depends on what somebody's goal is if the goal is to start a

company.

I would say, no point in finishing college. Any advice? What could we as citizens do? What

could the US government do to make this a better place, to support business, make America an

even better place to start a business?

And I think the United States is pretty great, honestly, definitely the best place in the world to start a business. I think certainly we need to take a look at our immigration laws. There are really talented people doing graduate courses in Engineering at our universities. We really don't want to send them home. We want to try to do everything we can to keep them here because for every one person who's like an ace engineer, there are probably like 10 jobs that will be created if that person stays here. It's a huge multiplier effect. And conversely, if you're missing that special ingredient, it's very difficult to create them.

I think you can learn whatever you need to do to start a successful business, either in school or out of school. Schooling theory should help accelerate that process. But I think people can choose to be not ordinary. I think it's possible for ordinary people to choose to be extraordinary.

Start-up of a charter school (Nonprofit organization) HRS 302D

Hawaii Revised Statutes (HRS) 302D 

§302D-13 Start-up and conversion charter schools; establishment. 

(a) New start-up and conversion charter schools may be established pursuant to this section. 

 (b) Any community, department school, school community council, group of teachers, group of teachers and administrators, or nonprofit organization may submit a letter of intent to an authorizer to form a charter school[,] and establish [a] an applicant governing board [as its governing body, and]. An applicant governing board may develop a charter application pursuant to this section; provided that: 

 (1) An applicant governing board established by a community may develop a charter application for a start-up charter school; 

 (2) An applicant governing board established by a department school or a school community council may develop a charter application for a conversion charter school; 

 (3) An applicant governing board established by a group of teachers or a group of administrators may develop a charter application for a start-up or conversion charter school; and 

 (4) A nonprofit organization may: 

 (A) Establish an applicant governing board that is separate from the nonprofit organization and develop a charter application for a start-up or conversion charter school; or ...(B)...conversion....)

Social Emotional Learning (SEL)

Social emotional learning (SEL) is a methodology that helps students of all ages to better comprehend their emotions, to feel those emotions fully, and demonstrate empathy for others. These learned behaviors are then used to help students make positive, responsible decisions; create frameworks to achieve their goals, and build positive relationships with others." National University

SEL represents a modern and growing approach to help students develop the social and emotional dimensions of their lives. The following is one of the SEL models that HAALA is considering utilizing to help students in this area.

Yale University's RULER approach is a framework for social-emotional learning (SEL) developed by the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence. RULER stands for Recognize, Understand, Label, Express, and Regulate emotions. The approach is designed to support the emotional intelligence and well-being of individuals, particularly in educational settings.

Here's a breakdown of each component of the RULER approach: Recognize: This step involves developing the ability to recognize and be aware of emotions in oneself and others. It includes paying attention to facial expressions, body language, and other cues that indicate emotions. Understand: The next step is to deepen the understanding of emotions by exploring their causes, triggers, and effects. It involves recognizing the links between thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. Label: In this step, individuals learn to accurately label and describe their emotions using a rich and diverse emotion vocabulary. This helps in developing emotional granularity and precision in articulating one's feelings. Express: The RULER approach emphasizes the importance of effectively expressing emotions. It encourages individuals to express their emotions in a constructive and appropriate manner, considering the context and the impact on others. Regulate: The final step focuses on developing strategies to regulate and manage emotions. This includes learning techniques for coping with stress, handling conflicts, and fostering positive emotional experiences. The RULER approach is typically implemented in schools as a comprehensive SEL program. It involves integrating SEL into the school curriculum, training teachers and staff, and creating a positive emotional climate within the school community. RULER provides a framework for enhancing emotional intelligence, empathy, and positive relationships, ultimately promoting well-being and academic success. The program includes various strategies and activities, such as mood meters, charter creation, and emotional check-ins, to foster emotional awareness and create a supportive environment. By equipping individuals with the skills to understand and manage their emotions, the RULER approach aims to cultivate emotionally intelligent and resilient individuals who can navigate challenges effectively and build healthy relationships. It's important to note that the information provided here is based on the RULER approach as of my knowledge cutoff in September 2021. The program may have evolved or been updated since then. For the most accurate and up-to-date information, it is recommended to visit the official website of the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence.