Field trips for thousands of students statewide are among the activities hanging in the balance as administrators juggle calendars and try to figure out how to accommodate the 17 planned furlough days for the school year.

The issue is particularly acute for schools and parents who have already paid large sums for planned national or international trips — and would lose that money if the trips are canceled.

Since Tuesday, when public school teachers approved the furloughs as part of a new contract to help the state save money, schools have been bombarded with phone calls from concerned parents about how the furloughs will affect planned trips to the Neighbor Islands, the Mainland or foreign destinations, as well as parent luncheons and grade-level picnics.

Teachers and administrators have been poring over their master calendars to determine whether the trips conflict with the scheduled Friday furlough days and whether any of those events can be rescheduled to another day.

Some schools are already considering canceling some field trips to avoid losing any more instructional days.

Other schools have trips planned to Washington, D.C., or Japan that have been at least partially paid for and cannot be canceled without losing the money. Those will require special approval from the state and unions to allow the teachers to go.

It's uncharted waters for the schools, said Lauren O'Leary, principal at Holualoa Elementary on the Big Island. "We don't have all our field trips planned out. Now we'll pay attention to the calendar. But we may not do as many field trips in the future because of the loss of instructional days."

DOE officials are working out the guidelines for schools on handling various effects of the furloughs, said Ronn Nozoe, Kaiser-Kalani-Farrington complex area superintendent.

Nozoe said it is his understanding that no one will lose out on previously committed travel or field trips.

Those would be honored even if a furlough day falls during that event, but any future travel or field trips need to take the furlough calendar into account, he said.

"No one will lose any of their money and we'll honor their good-faith deposits," Nozoe said. "We will be looking at travel on a case-by-case basis."

The solution may be to give the teacher a different furlough day or ask if the trip can be changed without incurring any penalties, he said.

"School principals are sorting through a lot," Nozoe said. "Travel and field trips are just a part of the many things affected by the furloughs at this time."

If a student activity cannot be rescheduled, the event must either be canceled or approved by the principal, the DOE has said.

The state is allowing student activities to occur on furlough Fridays if those events are after 3 p.m.

Furloughed teachers would be volunteering to participate and doing so during nonwork hours, DOE spokeswoman Sandy Goya said in an e-mail to The Advertiser.

Furlough days are creating even more headaches at the four Hawai'i public schools that operate on a multitrack schedule.

At Holomua Elementary School in 'Ewa, principal Norman Pang is juggling four different schedules, as the school is a multitrack year round. Some of the furlough days that have been set by the contract fall on intersession days, when students and teachers are not in school. A plan must be approved with the union and the DOE to accommodate all the different schedules, Pang said.

"We've married up the dates where we can and created more furlough days where we couldn't," Pang said. "The teachers are working now to either reschedule field trips or cancel them."

CONTRACT DETAILS

Even though teachers are often willing to put in extra time or dip into their own pocket for items they need in the classroom, state labor laws require that employees, whether hourly or salaried, not work while on unpaid leave in a furlough. That includes reading or responding to e-mails, calling or responding to calls from colleagues and being on site at any time during furlough days.

But state workers are exempt from state wage and hour laws, said Michael F. Nauyokas, a labor attorney and arbitrator.

"Because state employees are exempt from wage and hour laws, you have to look at the contract," Nauyokas said. "If the contract states the teachers are entitled to wages for field trips or other school-sponsored trips, then they get paid. You have to look to the contract for the wording."

On Tuesday, Hawai'i public school teachers ratified a two-year contract that includes 17 days a year of Friday furloughs, beginning in October. That amounts to a 7.9 percent pay cut for the state's 170,000 public school teachers.

The furloughs were decided on to help offset $227 million in cuts to the public school system mandated by the governor. The state Board of Education voted to seek $117 million in furloughs and other labor savings, while cutting the rest from programs and school-level funding.

AWAITING DECISIONS

Off-island travel is often the highlight of the school year for many students, and much planning and expense goes into such trips.

In some cases, field trips or live performances are tied to specific lesson plans, and some field trips may be canceled rather than rescheduled if the date is set too far away from the lesson.

"My parents have been calling, but I can't tell them anything" yet, said Michael Miyamura, Kapolei Elementary School's principal. "I'm sad we're losing instructional time. Our calendar is already short.

"We'll have to figure out some way to keep the kids focused on education."

Hokulani Elementary School has been working on a cultural exchange trip to Japan for more than a year. Trips are also planned to Washington, D.C., and to the Big Island. All of these trips required fundraising and planning, said Al Carganilla, school principal.

"Our teachers are so resilient," Carganilla said. "The biggest thing for our teachers is that the students get the experience. Money is the last thing on their mind. They want to make sure the trips can happen.

"A lot of parents are concerned and we're telling them to hold tight until we get clarification from the district."