Mike Rockers, superintendent of Catholic Schools in Hawaii, addresses educators at the Mass of the Opening of the School Year for Catholic School Personnel at St. Ann Church in Kaneohe on Aug. 15. Rockers spoke after Mass about “Supporting your Students’ Spiritual, Emotional and Social Growth.” (Photo courtesy of Dann Ebina)
Superintendent Mike Rockers points to some of the positive things happening in Hawaii’s Catholic schools this year
By Anna Weaver
Hawaii Catholic Herald
Hawaii Catholic Schools superintendent Mike Rockers would like more people looking over his shoulder.
“I mean if people could be in my shoes and they could follow me around, I don’t think we’d have a problem with financing our schools because they’d see what a great job they’re doing,” he told the Hawaii Catholic Herald in an interview this month before the start of the 2019-2020 school year.
“I have the best job to really see, practically, how the schools are changing the lives of students,” Rockers said. “Because I get to go to each one and I see the Kingdom of God being present at each one of these places. And I see how these teachers, the faculty and administration are modeling and working their tails off to provide that.”
But since it’s not possible to have every Catholic in the diocese shadow him for a day, Rockers instead shared several “good news” stories taking place in local Catholic schools that he thinks more people should know about.
21st century classroom
After being approached by a donor, the Diocese of Honolulu and the Augustine Educational Foundation helped coordinate the creation of a “21st century learning space” in a fourth grade classroom at Our Lady of Good Counsel School in Pearl City.
Teacher Brie Haner and principal Chantelle Luarca oversaw a complete renovation of Haner’s classroom. The new space has 30 dry eraser-top mobile desks, chairs and supply carts, Chromebook charging carts, a projector and specially designed cubby, backpack and mailbox centers.
The goal is to use this as a model classroom to share with other Catholic schools and seek funding for more state-of-the-art rooms like it. Those interested are invited to come and take a look at the new space, Rockers said.
Visualizing a virtual school
St. Michael School in Waialua, on Oahu’s north shore, is pursuing the creation of a virtual Catholic high school to expand the current preschool through eighth grade school. Dallas Carter is leading the initiative and looking for the best online high school program to work with Hawaii’s time zone difference and other unique challenges.
The idea has been raised that St. Michael’s virtual high school could collaborate with a local Catholic high school to provide real-time courses to St. Michael’s students for at least certain subjects, without their having to leave the north shore.
Mandarin immersion program
Maryknoll School has found success with its Mandarin language immersion program, which Rockers said is the first school-day program of its kind in Hawaii. Students in grades kindergarten through second grade can choose either the Chinese language program or a traditional classroom.
The program has been so successful that the school is struggling to find more space for the Mandarin-focused track, which spends half the school day with instruction in Mandarin and the other half in English.
A second kindergarten
Mary, Star of the Sea School in Waialae-Kahala has added a second kindergarten class to its main school. The separate Montessori-based Early Learning Center already has kindergarten-age students in its mixed-age preschool classes.
But now parents can choose to have their students in either the ELC’s kindergarten or the kindergarten on the main school campus, depending on if they want a Montessori or a traditional class experience for their child.
Blended learning model
A Hawaii Catholic Community Foundation grant is allowing fifth to eighth graders at St. John the Baptist School in Kalihi to use a “blended learning” model this school year. The goal is for students to have math and language arts classes set to their individual pace by using computer coursework.
The school’s middle school teachers have undergone training for the new format.
Tests at the start and end of this school year will allow St. John the Baptist to see how the new class structure is working. Rockers said he’s excited to have that data along with a planned survey of students, teachers and parents, and a cost-analysis comparing a traditional and blended curriculum, all of which will help other local Catholic schools learn from St. John the Baptist’s experience.
School governance
Rockers is also happy about the formation of a new “School Governance Committee.” The group of about a dozen local educators and business leaders will look at new ideas for school oversight and leadership in Catholic schools throughout the diocese. The committee’s first meeting was Aug. 13.
