Categorized | Education

Waimea Middle School urges incoming 6th graders to attend free Summer Jump Start

MEDIA RELEASE

To begin catching up on missing as many as 17 instructional days in 5th grade due to DOE Furlough Fridays, Waimea Middle Public Conversion Charter School is urging the families of incoming 6th grade students to register their child for a free 20-day Summer Jump Start program from June 15-July 15, 2010.

Now in its third year, WMS’ Jump Start was originally launched to smooth transition into middle school, where students go from a single self-contained elementary classroom with one teacher to changing classroom throughout the day with four or five different teachers. The program was also intended to provide academic skill building and help develop organizational techniques needed to have the right textbooks and homework completed at the right times and also learn to deal with the personal changes of adolescence.

But this year, “Jump Start is an absolute must,” said WMS Principal John Colson. “It will be fun and get students acclimated, but even more important, it will help make up for this significant reduction in instruction time in 5th grade due to DOE Furlough Fridays.”

Helping underwrite this year’s 20-day free program are Waimea Elementary School, as well as Waimea Middle’s Local School Board, Ho’okako’o Corporation, and Kamehameha Schools.

Families have two choices to consider:

  • An entirely free morning Jump Start program – 8 a.m. to Noon: To include free bus to school, free breakfast and lunch and Jump Start classes but no bus ride home at noon (County’s free shuttle available in-town); or
  • Free morning Jump Start program and an $80 afternoon Kamehameha Schools Enrichment Program – 8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Includes all of the above plus afternoon classes and free bus transportation home. The afternoon will include cultural lessons, PE, several excursions and a ho’ike grand finale. The afternoon program will include learning about the Hawaiian Moon Calendar.

Alu Like, Inc., in collaboration with Kamehameha Schools, is offering scholarships for the $80 afternoon program under the Native Hawaiian Summer School Assistance Program. Application forms are available in both Waimea Elementary and Middle Schools offices.

For both options there will be no classes on Fridays, June 18 and 25 unless HGEA and UPW furloughs are resolved before then. Also, there will be no class on Mon., July 5 in observation of Independence Weekend.

Applications are being sent home to all current Waimea Elementary School 5th Grade families and are available in both the elementary and middle school offices for incoming 6th graders from other schools and home school families making the transition. Deadline for registering is Mon., June 7, 2010.

To learn more about summer “Jump Start” and what to expect when transitioning to WMS, which is the state’s first public conversion charter school, current 5th grade students and families are invited to an Incoming 6th Grade Family Orientation from 5-7 p.m., Mon., May 3, 2010 in Classroom L-03 near the basketball court.

The gathering will include a free light supper and a briefing about WMS academic programs and student supports.

“Being a public conversion charter school has enabled our teachers, staff and families to decide what’s best for students, which this year included not furloughing students on DOE Furlough Fridays,” said Colson.

“Being a public charter school has also helped us keep classes smaller and focus on individual student needs to support academic progress,” he said.

For more information, call Michelle Kauhi in the school office at 887-6090, Ext.221.

One Response to “Waimea Middle School urges incoming 6th graders to attend free Summer Jump Start”

  1. Curt Koussa says:

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