LIHU‘E — When the public school calendar opens later this year, Kaua‘i High School will be the final of three public high schools that will have a schoolwear policy in place. Wednesday morning was the first time that students could
LIHU‘E — When the public school calendar opens later this year, Kaua‘i High School will be the final of three public high schools that will have a schoolwear policy in place.
Wednesday morning was the first time that students could pick up their selections, and for most, they were satisfied with the orders they had placed.
“It’s pretty good, but the printing could be better (quality),” Karen Muraoka, a parent said. Muraoka, who picked up an order of seven shirts for her daughter, browsed through the selection, noting, “It’s good, but I wonder why she chose so many ‘boy’ styles.”
The schoolwear pickup coincided with the first of two days of registration for school, and Muraoka said she had to take an hour vacation to complete everything after standing in line from the 7 a.m. start.
Registration will continue through 1 p.m., Thursday at the school’s main office with most of the parents and students noting that the wait to get to the processing point was about 30 to 45 minutes.
During this time, they were visited by representatives of the school’s PTSA/P.A.I.R.S program, and other agencies that offered services to the school.
Following the payment, the shirt selection as well as other school-related activities took place in a separate area, most combined to offer additional schoolwear-approved apparel to spice up the wardrobe of the schoolwear selections.
Linda Smith, the school’s principal was working through the various stations, noting that the process for schoolwear was going pretty smoothly.
Smith added that on a recent newscast, she heard that even private schools like Punahou were considering adopting a school-wear policy.
Charlene Quinones, the school’s athletic director, anchored an offering of athletic wear, many of the designs new this year. Students who stopped to check out the offering noted that they could use athletic wear as part of the schoolwear, “as long as it’s not a tank top.”
Additional offerings were available in the Band Boosters program as well as the individual classes, the Class of 2008 adding a Red Raider Power bracelet of the type made popular by the Lance Armstrong cancer bracelet.
Holly Shimazu was anchoring the table where orders for the basic economic shirt could be made for $5, while Josh Bradbury anchored the “new orders” table. Both students were not as busy as some of the other stations.
During their idle time, Bradbury noted that almost 7,000 shirts have been ordered. “And, that’s only half the school,” he said, wondering when the rest of the orders would come flooding through.
Although they were not confident in their reply, the pair noted that if a student did not have a school-wear-approved piece on, they would be issued an approved shirt by the security guard to wear. That shirt had to be washed and returned the following day, they said.
This policy follows the other two high schools’ schoolwear policy.
Randall Machado, Krystyn Ishibashi, Diandra Melchor, and Tyson Chihara were part of the school’s Schoolwear Committee that have spent most of their summer getting things ready for Wednesday.
“We’ve been here almost every day for at least six hours a day,” Ishibashi said. “We had to separate the order forms, and help package.”
The Schoolwear Committee formed the major part of the crew that greeted parents and students who were picking up orders.
“It’s been good,” they said. “Some people even like it (the designs and selections).”
Wanda Shibata was picking up for her two children who attend Kaua‘i High School, noting that the process was “user friendly” because if you had multiple children in school, you could take care of everything on one stop instead of having to come back on different days.
Kaua‘i High School will open for instruction on Thursday, Aug. 24.
