Aloha Notes: My career as a School Psychologist in Hawaii

“No Questions or Comments please.” Ever walk out of an Eligibility meeting and get a sense that it was rushed?  That maybe the academic, cognitive, speech, occupational, and/or behavioral evaluations that were reviewed were skipped over so much that when the question was finally asked, " Any questions ,"  no one really knew what to ask? Are you taking your time to explain and implications of the standard scores & percentiles in the  evaluation report? How do you know? Admin : Hi. Thank you for coming this morning. Today is the Eligibility meeting. I have  an agenda. If you have comments, please talk to me afterwards. We have to stick with the agenda so we can let the teachers go back to their classrooms.  Parents : uh. sure.  Admin : ok. everyone, please introduce yourselves...Now, you've already had the procedural safeguards, right? I think our SSC gave it to you at the SST? or did she send it home with the PWN? Anyhow, if you have...

Parent Support - Classes Last chance this school year to attend these award-winning and nationally recognized parent classes. What parent couldn't use more tools in their toolkit? Parents who have attended the Parent Project classes have told us: "Whether you're having any challenges with your child or not, every parent should get this information! We loved the updates on issues facing our children today and what to do about it." "We learned great 'tweaks' to our interactions with our teen that smoothed out our home climate. Fewer arguments and rolled eyes at our house!" "It provided concrete help when our child began to get more argumentative and we began this downward spiral of confrontation. Things are much more peaceful at home now." The Parent Project® First Class: Wednesday, January 18, 2012 from 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM at Niu Valley Middle School Library Are you a frustrated parent trying to get your child 10 years to 18 years of ag...

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Aloha! As many of you know, HASP board members have been busy finding ways to promote School Psychologists throughout the state. Part of that battle is bringing awareness to the community and key members in Hawaii government. This article, found on the Civil Beat website, is a great outline of the Hawaii State Government structure. Enjoy! <3 Kels Hawaii State Government Hawaii’s governing structure has evolved from disconnected tribes to a monarchy to a republic to a U.S. territory to a state. During World War II, it was also under martial law. That evolution can be traced through a series of governing documents and key events. Constitutions The first version of Hawaii’s constitution was enacted by Kamehameha III for the Kingdom of Hawaii in 1840. It organized the government and its functions as a constitutional monarchy with a ruling king and democratic principles such as a bicameral legislature with a House of Nobles and a House of Representatives. Twelve years later, prompted b...

Happy New Year Hawaii! I've been ready to wrap up 2011 and begin a new year, make some goals (that I'll likely keep until March) and look forward into the future. Sadly, the Honolulu District has lost co-workers who go home (mainland) for the holidays and don't come back to Hawaii. It's not only school employees who are getting island fever though... My little brother has also managed to throw in the towel on school, UH Manoa--leaving his car, a messy rented room, and a trail of panic behind him. (((SIGH))) So--Living in Hawaii isn't a piece of cake? Hardly. It's a lot of shifting. A lot of shifting that sometimes feels like we're going backwards... and when you are moving to Hawaii from the mainland--it's a difficult transition to make, one that not everyone is cut out for. Well future Hawaii resident s, there is an amazing website that you must check out. It has EVERYTHING!! where to live, how much stuff costs, how to get a job, what to do in your spa...

Hawaii first state at risk of losing education money Posted: Dec 22, 2011 11:56 AM HST HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - The Hawaii Department of Education is struggling to make the grade and now the state has been warned it could lose $75 million in federal funding as a result. Hawaii is one of 10 states in line to get millions of dollars for education and the state has to speed up its new policy plans if it wants to keep the money. Slow progress and missed milestones are a couple reasons why the state was put on high risk status for the Race to the Top money. "Because of Hawaii's unsatisfactory performance during the first 14 months of the grant, we are placing Hawaii's race to the top grant on high-risk status," wrote Ann Whalen, U.S. Department of Education Policy and Program Implementation Director, in a letter to Governor Neil Abercrombie. "The State has not demonstrated adequate progress implementing its approved plans," wrote Whalen. "The Department ...

Changes Ahead For Hawaii Special Ed By Katherine Poythress 11/14/2011 Civil Beat The achievement gap between Hawaii's public school special education students and their peers is wider than the national average, partially because they are isolated more than they should be, an evaluation agency reported this week. But that and a host of other things in the special education program are about to change. The Hawaii Department of Education and education research agency WestEd Center for Prevention and Early Intervention shared the results of a formal review of the state's special education program in a joint briefing before the House and Senate education committees Monday. Schools Superintendent Kathryn Matayoshi told legislators the evaluation shows it is time to make some big changes to the way special education services are delivered in the state's public schools. About 10 percent of the state's 179,000 students are on Individualized Education Programs , which are ...