Hawai'i PTSA celebrating 75th anniversary

By Jennifer Hiller
Advertiser Education Writer

The Hawai'i State Parent Teacher Student Association will celebrate its 75th anniversary at an annual convention this weekend in Waikiki.

Delegates will be able to attend 16 workshops on topics ranging from arts education to the standards and accountability movement, the new Hawai'i-based standardized test and leadership.

But they'll also learn about the history of their organization. "We really want to concentrate on our past leadership and what they have done," said president Carol Nafus.

The Hawai'i association was founded in 1926 and held its first convention in 1927. Until statehood it was called the Hawai'i Territory Parent Teacher Association, and in the 1970s the name changed to the Hawai'i State Parent Teacher Student Association. It remains the only state organization attached to the National PTA to include students in its name.

Photos, memorabilia and archival material from the past 75 years will be on display at the convention at the Pacific Beach Hotel, and Linda Hodge, president-elect of the National PTA and a former president of the Hawai'i State PTSA will be in attendance.

Hodge, state PTSA president from 1992 to 1994, now lives in Connecticut. "I've been more enmeshed in Hawai'i education than in Connecticut education," Hodge said. "I know more about Hawai'i. It's interesting to look at from a national perspective, though."

Nafus said she wants to highlight some of the work parents have done in recent years. She noted that many schools wouldn't have playgrounds if not for the work parents do.