Letters to the Editor
Politicians don't care about public schools
Hawai'i has a two-tier school system. On one side, we have the top-notch private schools of Punahou, Kamehameha, Iolani and others. These schools are competitive with the best college preparatory schools the Mainland has to offer.
On the other side, we have one of the worst-ranked public school systems in the nation.
It is no surprise that most of the people with wealth and power in Hawai'i send their children to the private schools. These same private schools allow the politicians to continuously neglect the public schools.
The bottom line is this: In Hawai'i, the children of the politicians, the children of the neighbors of the politicians and the children of most of the families in the upper economic bracket do not attend public schools. Therefore, when the school budget is cut, the children of the politicians do not suffer.
When a school does not have enough books for all its students, it does not affect the politicians' children. When the most qualified teachers refuse to work at public schools because of the low pay, it is not the children of the politicians who lose out on that teaching talent.
In fact, the private-school children gain from the public schools' loss because these same teachers are often hired by the Hawai'i private schools. And when the public-school teachers finally have the resolve, courage and unity to exercise their only power to make a change, that is, to rally in a strike, it is not the politicians' children who have their education disrupted.
Therefore, it is no surprise that the politicians are slow to respond.
Edward Ka'imihana
Nobody was winner in UH faculty strike
The University of Hawai'i faculty strike is over, but the damage remains.
Gov. Cayetano has pronounced it a win-win conclusion. The truth is that it's a disastrous lose-lose conclusion.
The great loss for the governor is his credibility as a fair-minded, capable leader who is truly concerned with the welfare of the people of Hawai'i. The great loss to the faculty is morale, the sense of being recognized and respected for life-long dedication to the noble goals for which the University of Hawai'i was created.
Yes, the faculty has won a 10 percent increase in salary over the next two ears, but this meager increase does not make up for the many years there was no increase at all, and, over time, it only sets us still further behind our Mainland colleagues. The faculty has also lost "face" through the humiliation of being forced by the governor to deprive students of services they have a right to expect.
The university has lost an incalculable measure of its reputation: It will be harder to obtain accreditation, it will be harder to recruit new, competent faculty and, perhaps most important of all, it will be harder to persuade good students to put their educations at risk by attending the University of Hawai'i.
Richard M. Fand
Professor of Mechanical Engineering, University of Hawai'i at Manoa
Mainland teachers met with resentment
There is a greater crisis in recruiting teachers to Hawai'i than just money.There is the issue of compliance to the Federal IDEA and the attitude against Mainland haoles.
When Mainland teachers come here to teach, they discover their methods of teaching to students' needs contradict the teaching methods being used in the public school system here. The resentment from the other teachers who do not understand these methods becomes apparent. The new teachers are criticized and isolated. These new teachers who are not yet tenured have to deal with the controlling parties who do not want to upset their staff.
Administrators use a difference in educational philosophies as a tool to deny these new teachers employment. They hire unqualified personnel instead, since they fit into our system of incompetence.
The Board of Education says it is committed to providing teacher training to bring Hawai'i teachers into compliance under the Felix Consent Decree, but these positions are being filled by the very same people who do not understand these methods. So what we have are unqualified people training our teachers.
The favoritism that exists in the Department of Education will not tolerate outsiders, and new teachers will not be welcome here unless they turn their heads and are willing to sacrifice their ethics.
Nobody is always wrong, including Gov. Cayetano, who wants merit and accountability in our system.
I believe federal seizure is the only hope for the kids in our state.
Nancy Stone
'Second to none?' Perhaps, perhaps not
Perhaps my teachers all will be the best.
Perhaps economics will limit my education to Hawai'i.
Perhaps my dreams in Paradise will come true, anyway.
Perhaps I'll finish kindergarten this June.
Perhaps I'll find a fine job in Hawai'i by the year 2020.
Perhaps my parents, my teachers and my governor all believed in me and gave me the best education possible.
How did he put it? "Second to none?"
Perhaps.
Rod Todorovich
Waiahole School
How Mansho paid fine is totally outrageous
I can't believe this has happened. Perhaps only in Hawai'i can a person break the law and pay the fine with someone else's money.
I used to be a resident of Mililani and I contributed $25 to the Mansho campaign because I felt she could be a bright spot in the grumpy, hidebound City Council. She was a bright spot, all right.
Now, since I didn't authorize use of my campaign contribution to pay fines, I would like it refunded. Naturally that will not happen, but I hope those persons still living in her district take steps to get her recalled.
This is totally outrageous.
Bob Gaddis
Sakae Takahashi rose above politics
Sakae Takahashi was a citizen-soldier, a man who devoted much of his life to the betterment of Hawai'i regardless of race or ethnicity.
He was of the generation of natural leaders who became attorneys rather than attorneys who used their profession to become elected officials. He did not care for the trappings or symbols of power that have today become so much of local officialdom. Media "spin" was less important to him than actual accomplishment.
Few people cared as much or gave as much to the community as he did. Although he became wealthy, he sent his own children to public school. Although he was the creator of collective bargaining, he told me in an interview that it bothered him that "lack of accountability" had been institutionalized into the Hawai'i government process.
As Hawai'i stumbles into the 21st century, we should mourn Takahashi's passing. He believed that the key to building a better life in Hawai'i was by strengthening local institutions. Before he retired from politics, he invested a good part of his life in the hope that this could be done. His courage and the lessons of his life should not be forgotten.
Michael L. Markrich
Article shows what's wrong with system
Your story about the mother of a 20-year-old severely retarded son epitomizes what is wrong with our special-education system.
Many existing welfare programs could provide the mother with assistance as warranted, but not the public-school system.
Even His Omnipotence, Judge Ezra, should be able to understand this.
Dean Powell
'Aiea
Slater's math is fuzzy on teacher numbers
Columnist Cliff Slater is consistent, I grant him that. Remember Slater, the proponent of "road pricing" (a creatively goofy solution to O'ahu's traffic)?
Another offering was "The wrong teacher discussion" on April 18 of Cliff's view that the free market (whatever that means in modern economics) is the answer while government is the problem. Cliff sincerely believes this shibboleth. And yet, as I look closer at his argument, I sense fuzzy math.
Example: "Compared with 25 years ago, we have 5 percent more students, yet 70 percent more teachers." Wow, Cliff, our class sizes should be smaller now by a third? So, are we counting counselors as part of teaching staff? How about class assistants and special-education teachers?
Zero-based budgeting sounds interesting, even in the public sector. But we need to add to that a true referendum on what public services our residents want eliminated or reduced to hold to a balanced budget.
Notwithstanding my comments, thank you, Cliff, for reminding us of the "wake-up" call of the last election.
Gerry Siegel
Mililani
Hawai'i Kai needs to have skate park
It is in everyone's best interest to get a skate park in Hawai'i Kai up and rolling.
I was saddened to hear disapproval over the skaters' current use of the Park and Ride near Costco. Why are people so hard on these kids?
I remember when that parking lot was built years ago and how amused we were at the "kiss and drop-off" sign. It seemed rarely used by carpoolers then, so we took our boards and skated it. We were the first ones to skate there back in the '80s, and the skaters today still seem to make more use of it than anyone else, along with the weekend corn sellers.
Maybe we should convert the Park and Ride into a skate park and farmer's market. We could save a lot of money by putting up a couple of banks, rails and a half-pipe right there.
At any rate, I hope the current debate over the other two locations is resolved with the skaters' well-being in mind. Sometimes those skaters grow up to be state representatives.
William Stonebraker
Democracy is eroding in Legislature
A new amendment to legislative procedures gives any one chair of the all-important and now ongoing conference committees the right to veto any conference proposal otherwise agreed to by a majority of conferees.
This amendment, changing existing procedures providing for majority rule, was agreed to April 12 by the presiding officers of the House and Senate without advance approval of their memberships.
The task of conference committees is to resolve differences between House and Senate versions of bills, and virtually all key bills have to be approved by conference committees led by several chairs. Customarily, co-chairs have sought agreement among themselves prior to passing a bill out of conference.
Occasionally, however, where a sole chair has refused agreement despite the will of a majority of conferees, the chair's objections have been overridden. For example, in 1999 a bill to provide webcasts of legislative proceedings on the Internet was reported out of conference by majority vote despite single objections.
The April 12 amendment would cast into stone a formal procedure binding both House and Senate that would require concurrence of all chairs regardless of majority sentiment. That procedure obviously heightens the power of individual chairs (and affiliated special interests) to virtually singlehandly block initiatives supported by a majority.
We support pro-democracy reforms to the legislative process and applaud legislative leaders for making significant progress this session, e.g., budget worksheets. But explicitly granting committee chairs veto power over legislation is anti-democratic and will prevent change.
The public should communicate their concerns with this step backward to the Senate president and House speaker.
Rep. Ed Case, former majority leader
Rep. Galen Fox, House minority leader
Sen. Les Ihara Jr., former majority leader
