Currents Sept 05 - Punahou School

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In the know at ePUNAHOUThe successful pilot of ePunahou wrapped up over the summer, with more than 1,200 parents participating. Among the feedbackprovided by parents was a strong need for individual (rather than household) ePunahou accounts. New ePunahou accounts havebeen created for each current Punahou parent. Letters, containing the new login information, have been sent to all currentfamilies.What will you find when you log into ePunahou? Lots!Now, more than ever, parents can access important information about Punahou life by accessing ePunahou. Several new channelsare available to make your day easier:• Parent Volunteer Form – Now you can sign-up, adjust, and monitor your volunteer commitments online• Carnival Information – This busy multi-activity event is planned throughout the year. Stay up-to-date with Carnival byreading this channel.• Coming soon!: Classifieds – Want to sell that old lanai furniture? Or, perhaps look for a helpful house painter? The newclassifieds can help.Still helpful resources:• Daily Bulletins – These helpful tools provide information to parents, faculty, staff, and students about goings-on aroundcampus. They include deadlines for athletic tryouts and arts auditions, upcoming scholarly activities, even club meetings!• Parent Links – Contains information about the junior school breakfast and lunch menus as well as links to Admissions andAthletics.Have questions? Send an email to connect@punahou.edu.2005 CELEBRATION OF THEYEAR OF WORLD LANGUAGESDo you suffer from xenoglossophobia, the fear of foreignlanguages? Fear no more! 2005 has been designated thenational Year of Languages, and programs have been initiatedacross the country in support of language learning.Punahou School is pleased to be doing itspart in promoting awareness of the benefitsof learning another language.In November, during InternationalEducation Week, the world language teachersof Case Middle School and theAcademy, in cooperation with the WoInternational Center, will present A WorldShaped by Words, a campus-wide programwith interactive classroom activities, such asgames, stories, songs, dances, and otherprograms for elementary school studentsthat promote second language learning.Punahou School will include our students in these activitiesand also invite elementary/middle school studentsfrom our “ahupua`a” -- the neighboring public and privateschools in Manoa and Makiki -- to join us.In addition, we are also planning a panel discussion oncareer possibilities using second language skills. We willhave prominent speakers representing professional occupationsin business, government, the arts,sports, diplomacy, research, science, and theculinary arts who can address the importanceof a second language in their careers.More detailed information will be forthcoming.Should you have any questions, pleasecontact Terrina Wong at the Wo InternationalCenter at twong@punahou.edu or 944-5883.12 CURRENTS
FROM DR. KEVIN CONWAY, ACADEMY PRINCIPALImplementation of Attire PolicyWe begin each school year refreshedfrom a summer break, having hadsome time for reflection and theongoing examination of what we do,why we do it, and how it is going.In rejoining our school community,we share the stories of our time offand then quickly we move to theexcitement of the arrival of students,new classes and the learning ahead.This year, our second academy faculty meeting turned our focusto the cultural shift we spent last year planning: a new attirepolicy that would be in force on our first day of class. A yearprior, I had announced the formation of an Academy AttirePolicy Steering Committee. Its purpose was to define our concernsabout student attire and to recommend solutions. Thetasks of the committee included:1) developing a statement of educational philosophythat framed the problem and any potential solutions2) taking the temperature of the community regardingvarious types of dress codes or attire policies3) researching the issue and looking at how otherschools have done this4) identifying challenges and obstacles to the implementationof a new policyLast December, our faculty met again and listened to a presentationby the Attire Committee on their work and findings upto that point in time. Between December and April, the committeespent an enormous amount of time listening to faculty,students, and parents and discussing the various options.In April, the committee presented their recommendation to theadministration and, ultimately, the Trustees. The recommendationwas accepted with some modifications, and we immediatelynotified faculty, students, and parents of the change and went towork on the specifics of implementation: the selection of a vendor,and the identification of clothing options, styles, andcolors.extremely supportive. We could not have attempted a culturalshift of this magnitude without the support and cooperation ofthe faculty and parents. My experience here is that the more difficultand complex the challenge, the more creative and cohesivewe become in working together to address it in a thoughtfuland student-centered manner.Cultural change such as this is hard. We did not want studentsmissing class because we believe that what we do in class is tooimportant for them to miss. We did not want attire policyenforcement to disrupt our classes, but as Jim Scott remindedus, we made this change because we want to create and sustain ahealthy learning environment during the school day and weneed to take a stand as educators.I promised that there would be a change and on the first day ofschool, we saw what it looked like for the first time. With creativity,style, and even humor, our students had taken on theattire policy. The wide variety of responses celebrated the diverse“in policy” options available. There remain issues of enforcementand we know that change takes time. We remain committedto making this work and will continue to make usefuladjustments and review the situation in order to achieve ourshared goal.I’d like to share the following quote from an article entitledRevisit Your Dress Policy in the August issue of IndependentSchool Management.“Believe it or not, more students than you realize agree that certaintypes of clothing just have no place in an educational environment.A recent Gallup Youth Survey polled students, ages 13to 17, about what types of clothing public schools should readilyban. About half of the respondents agreed that "provocative"clothing, such as shirts that expose the midriff or short skirts,should not be allowed…Students attending private schoolsexpect to contend with stricter rules regarding their dress andgrooming - especially when uniforms are required. In fact, yourstudents may even agree with your school's fashion police!”Throughout the year, the people on the committee wereextremely mindful of process and bent over backwards to ensurethat all voices were heard. In what I have come to consider typicalPunahou fashion, the overall response of the community(students, faculty, and parents) was thoughtful, sincere, andSeptember 2005 13
Page 1: A PFA publication for the Punahou S
Page 5 and 6: FINANCIAL AID INFORMATIONFOR 2006-2
Page 7 and 8: Brain PointersThis summer, two Juni
Page 9 and 10: Two Major Enhancements toCampus Saf
Page 11: New Attire in the Academykokua line
Page 15 and 16: PFA thanks and recognizes:Margie an
Page 17 and 18: MathCharles DeckB.A., Chinese Langu
Page 19 and 20: Aloha United Way Drive Helps Kick o

Currents Sept 05 - Punahou School

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