O‘ahu Public Schools Will Start Fall Semester With Distance Learning

Public schools on O‘ahu will start the 2020-21 school year with distance learning for the first four weeks, Ige announced during a press conference this afternoon.

The first day of school statewide remains Aug. 17. O‘ahu public schools will switch to a blended learning model on Sept. 14. The switch to fully online learning was made as a result of the surge of COVID-19 cases on O‘ahu.

Conversations have begun on neighbor islands and each county will determine whether there is a strong rationale to follow Oahu’s plan, said State Superintendent Christina Kishimoto. Plans for each county will  be discussed next week.

“Each solution is to be catered to each county as the virus is acting differently on each island,” Ige added.

This plan, Kishimoto said, will drastically reduce the number of students who will be on campus.

“I appreciate the support and shared commitment of this plan,” State Superintendent Christina Kishimoto said. “Our complex superintendents (on O‘ahu) came together to pull this plan together collaboratively.”

This story will be updated.