With three furlough fridays behind us and another 14 more left, public school teachers are finding new ways to make up lost classroom time.
In order to minimize the impact upon their students some teachers are finding new ways to help them keep learning.
Saturday, elementary, intermediate and high school teachers gathered to discuss ways on how they can improve their proficiency in math.
Gaylen Ramolete a teacher at Kalihi Waena Elementary hopes to get new ideas from other teachers so her students can avoid any negative impact of furloughs.
"I feel more pressured to cram more instruction during my instructional time during the day so what i make are furlough friday packets," says Gaylen Ramolete, Kalihi Waena Elementary School teacher.
The take home packets include work her students can do independently covering all major subjects like math, writing, and reading.
"We do extra work during recess or lunch time after lunch I carry over and do writing before I get to math," says Ramolete.
Puohala Elementary, is one school that just got approved to switch their three professional development and waiver days to instructional days, though the school principal feels her teachers still feel pressured.
"They're worried and some of them are stressed especially the teachers who's students will test," says Alexis Kane, Puohala Elementary School principal.
"Even with all the regular school days it is always such a stretch to cover all of the benchmarks that are going to be covered on the assessment," says Kane.
Michael Takeda, a sixth grade teacher at a charter school in Nanakuli is one of few charter schools that agreed to furlough fridays to avoid faculty layoffs.
This next month December every friday is gone so it's a tremendous impact it's a horrible tragedy," says Michael Takeda, Ka Waihona O Ka Na'auao teacher.
A tragedy, Takeda says is tough to deal with trying to squeeze as much instructional time out of school as possible.
"Hopefully it will be settled soon so that we can go back and do what we are to do which is to give the best education to our children not only academically, but physically, emotionally and socially," says Ramolete.
A hearing is scheduled in federal court Monday to discuss public school furloughs.
