Bill Text: HI HR177 | 2012 | Regular Session | Introduced

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Bill Title: Education; School Closures

Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Democrat 6-3)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2012-03-20 - (H) Referred to EDN, FIN, referral sheet 50 [HR177 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2012-HR177-Introduced.html

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HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.R. NO.	177
TWENTY-SIXTH LEGISLATURE, 2012
STATE OF HAWAII

HOUSE RESOLUTION

 

URGING THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION TO EXPLORE OPTIONS IN PREVENTING LIKELIKE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL FROM FUTURE CLOSURE.

 

 

 

     WHEREAS, Likelike Elementary School is a public school founded in 1922 to serve the Kalihi-Palama community where most of the students come from either densely populated multiple family apartments or government subsidized housing; and

 

     WHEREAS, Likelike Elementary School's motto is Dignity, Pride, and Respect; and

 

     WHEREAS, Likelike Elementary School is named after Princess Likelike, who was born Miriam Kekauluo'hi Likelike on January 13, 1851 and was the daughter of High Chief Kapaakea and the Chiefess Keohokalo'le; and

 

     WHEREAS, Princess Likelike was also the younger sister of King Kalakaua and Princess Liliuokalani, who was to become Hawaii's last reigning monarch, and was third in direct line of succession to the Hawaiian throne and was the mother of Princess Kaiulani; and

 

     WHEREAS, fourth graders at Likelike Elementary School honor their namesake, Princess Likelike, with their annual program put on every January 13^th, her birthday; and

 

     WHEREAS, Likelike Elementary School's administration, faculty and staff are committed to creating a positive learning environment; working to bring to the students the help needed to learn, mature and grow mentally, emotionally and socially in a dignified manner befitting a school named after royalty; and

 

     WHEREAS, the students at Likelike Elementary School exhibit the utmost pride in everything they do, remembering that respect cannot be learned, purchased, acquired nor given, it is earned through hard work, perseverance and having respect for others; and

     WHEREAS, there is a high concentration of immigrant and single parent families whose children attend Likelike Elementary School of which all know that education and learning is a life-long commitment, a commitment many of them made when they immigrated to Hawaii; and

 

     WHEREAS, the school community consists of multi-unit apartments, government subsidized housing, residential homes and small businesses creating a diverse socioeconomic and ethnic population of families and students; and

 

     WHEREAS, student ethnicity for the 2010–11 school year was comprised of 15.6 percent Micronesian, 36.9 percent Filipino, 15.6 percent Native Hawaiian, and 5.3 percent Chinese with the remaining population being a mixture of other ethnicities representative of everything in Hawaii that makes our state a melting pot of cultures; and

 

     WHEREAS, the school’s mission is to provide a well-rounded educational program for all students in an effort to support its families in helping their child get a good head start in their education; and

 

     WHEREAS, Likelike Elementary School continues to provide a family literacy and preschool program funded through the Federal Even Start program, and

 

     WHEREAS, in addition to offering a plethora of programs to support students in meeting their academic goals, Likelike Elementary School participates in many of the State’s and Complex’s initiatives that focus on preparing students to be college and career ready, and currently boasts optimistic test score increases such as nine and ten percent increases in reading and mathematics respectively, from the school years 2009-2010 to 2010-2011; and

 

     WHEREAS, the proposed alternative facility, Lanakila Elementary, already utilizes all classrooms for intervention classes and also partners with Head Start and other organizations which use classrooms on a regular basis; and

 

     WHEREAS, the English as Second Language Program (ESL) program offered by Lanakila Elementary has also seen a surge over the last two years, from about 40 to about 100 students, mainly owing to our influx of Chinese immigrant families from the Fu Xian province, and small student groups at Lanakila have allowed for specialized interventions, precipitating a success record unfeasible given larger student-resource ratios; and

 

     WHEREAS, Princess Likelike died at the early age of 36 on February 2, 1887, the Department of Education is urged not to end her continued legacy in the lives of the students that have graduated and those that currently attend Likelike Elementary School with any foreseeable possible school closure; now, therefore,

 

     BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-sixth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2012, that the Department of Education and the Board of Education are urged to keep Likelike Elementary School safe from future school closures; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Resolution be transmitted to the Chairperson of the Board of Education and the Superintendent of Education.

 

 

	OFFERED BY:

Report Title: 

Education; School Closures