Maryknoll students John and Michael had an in-home classroom set up ready to go for distance learning, which begins for all Hawaii Catholic parochial schools on March 30. (Photo courtesy Kate Chang)
Hawaii Catholic parochial schools will extend students’ time away from campus through April 30 due to COVID-19, mirroring the Hawaii public schools’ schedule.
“Due to our social responsibility, and in solidarity with our State leaders, all parochial schools will extend the postponement of ‘in-person’ classes through Thursday, April 30, 2020,” wrote Mike Rockers, the superintendent of Hawaii Catholic Schools, in an email to school administrators and pastors on March 25.
This again pushes back a “return to campus” date for local Catholic schools, which had first been set to go back to in-person teaching March 27 and then April 13. Coronavirus cases continue to rise in Hawaii as of the end of March.
The Kuhio Day holiday on March 26 and the Good Friday and Easter Mondays holidays on April 10 and April 13 were to remain days off with no instruction if parochial schools had already planned to take them off.
Hawaii has 25 parish-based Catholic schools and early learning centers, including Maryknoll School, along with the three independent Catholic schools. The latter have mostly mirrored the parochial school campus closures and plans for distance learning.
Sacred Hearts Academy, Saint Louis School and Damien Memorial School also announced plans to keep its campus closed until April 30 and continue distance learning.