Pam Coulter Blehert art

“I am one, but still I am one.

I cannot do everything, but still I can do something;

and because I cannot do everything,

I will not refuse to do something that I can.”

— Helen Keller

(Media release) — Friday is yet another DOE Furlough Friday – no classes statewide for all regular public school students.  But for Waimea Middle School students, it will be classes as usual because teachers and staff have decided to remain open – a local decision they are empowered to make having voted to because the state’s first public conversion charter school in 2003.

Staying open – and funding these work days out of the limited budget for public charter schools – is not without challenges.

For example:  The DOE has decreed that Waimea Elementary School cafeteria staff, who are contracted to regularly feed middle school students, may not prepare and serve breakfast and lunch on Furlough Fridays, even though they are UPW members and are “on the clock.”  It’s beyond the control of the cafeteria staff.  So, Waimea Middle School is faced with providing hearty, healthy snacks to support student learning and encourage attendance on DOE Furlough Fridays.

This week, WMS students will participate in a special school-wide “lesson” about everyone doing what they can by first reading the story about “Stone Soup,” and then making a local version of this famous magical soup. Read the rest of this entry »