On day one of school, these 3- and 4-year-olds at Fern will mainly just be learning to let go of their parents’ hands, to eat school lunch, find the potty, and make friends with each other and the wiggly tetra and guppies in the class aquarium. Read more
While many educators and students are embracing AI and looking for ways to leverage it to elevate education, others are arguing it is hurting students by giving them a tool many are using to cheat. Read more
The Honolulu Star-Advertiser logged into the ChatGPT 3.5 platform last week to explore its capabilities and look for accuracy and bias. Read more
Of about 70 English students he taught last year, Chapin said he sent warning letters home to the families of 10 students whose schoolwork appeared to be copied from AI content. Read more
Researchers at the University of Hawaii at Manoa have been awarded $10.7 million by the National Institutes of Health to study how human health is affected by microbiomes — collections of microbes, such as bacteria, viruses and their genes. Read more
The main findings of the Department of Education’s vulnerability assessments conducted so far provide a glimpse into the challenges faced in preparing the nation’s only statewide school system against the possibility of an active shooter. Read more
Periodic requests over the past year by the Honolulu Star-Advertiser to accompany Hawaii public school officials on “campus vulnerability assessments” have all been denied, and requests to view documents from the campus assessments already conducted remain at an impasse. Read more
The state Department of Education has prevailed in a lawsuit brought by a contractor that sought $1 million in damages for its claims that the department breached contracts for fire alarm systems at eight Hawaii public schools. Read more
A worsening shortage of school bus drivers is leading to the partial or complete suspension of bus services at 14 public schools on Oahu and Kauai for the new school year, adding to transportation woes already long plaguing public schools on Hawaii island and Maui. Read more
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After drifting thousands of miles, the boat found its way Friday to Punaluu on Oahu’s windward coast. Read more
In his first meeting as the new chair of the state Board of Education, Warren Haruki said Monday that he believes the board is poised to bring about significant progress at the islands’ public schools, and urged strong leadership and changes so that more graduates can stay in Hawaii. Read more
Maui Mayor Richard Bissen said that the county has granted a temporary permit of occupancy to allow Kulanihako‘i to begin operations with access only by vehicles, such as cars and buses. Read more
Hawaii’s public schools are lagging behind severely on student monitoring to prevent school shootings, with only one out of the state’s 295 public and public charter schools operating a “behavioral intervention threat-assessment team” that meets national best practices, some local and national experts said this week. Read more
Free workshops to learn about head safety, concussions and the importance of head protection are being conducted by the University of Hawaii at Manoa College of Education this month and next on three islands. Read more
As the University of Hawaii is at a critical crossroads as an “indigenous serving institution” — co-manager of the cultural flashpoint that is Mauna Kea, keeper of a long-beleaguered athletics program, political victim of severe budget cuts and a governance tug of war and more — revving at its center is Alapaki Nahale-a, the newly elected chair of the UH Board of Regents. Read more
Despite a two-year wait to fully launch Hawaii’s first public stipend program for early-childhood educators, state officials are hopeful that it will make big strides toward solving a chronic and severe shortage of teachers and caregivers for keiki ages 0 to 5. Read more
Measures giving the state’s new School Facilities Authority access to millions more dollars and dramatically broader flexibility to build teacher housing and preschool classrooms were among a group of education-related bills signed into law by Gov. Josh Green in a ceremony Monday. Read more
The admissions policy at the private Kamehameha Schools is to “give preference to applicants of Hawaiian ancestry to the extent permitted by law,” following the will of Bernice Pauahi Bishop, who died in 1884. Read more
A too-full morgue has led the University of Hawaii’s John A. Burns School of Medicine to reluctantly announce it cannot take any more body donations to its Willed Body Program until probably 2024. Read more
Three Hawaii congressional delegation members assailed the U.S. Supreme Court ruling Thursday that struck down affirmative action policies at two major American colleges, with Sen. Mazie Hirono blasting the ruling as “shortsighted and detached from reality.” Read more
The Honolulu Fire Department Investigator has classified the cause of the fire that occurred on Jun. 27 at 125 Lakeview Circle as incendiary. Read more
