Posted on: Friday, December 6, 2002

Student leaders tackle school issues

By Jennifer Hiller
Advertiser Education Writer

Whereas 137 student leaders gathered this week to discover the finer points of Roberts Rules of Order and hammer out ways to improve Hawai'i education, be it resolved — they hope — that at least one of their ideas becomes law in 2003.

At the annual Hawai'i Secondary Student Conference, teens from every public school district and private schools statewide met at the state Capitol and the University of Hawai'i to make a legislative session's worth of suggestions.

They're calling for healthier food at school concessions and soda machines, more money for textbooks and safe bike lanes near school campuses.

Some of the issues they tackled will create controversy, such as the one for better sex education, including access to condoms through school health rooms and peer education programs to help stem the state's teen pregnancy problem.

Others dealt with improving campus safety, including a requirement that all students and teachers wear ID badges so it's easier to tell who belongs on campus and who doesn't.

Students will take their resolutions to lawmakers later this month, have them molded into the legalese required of a legislative bill and lobby for their passage during the session, which starts in January.

"Just by getting one through it's like telling people, telling society, that we do have a voice and we shouldn't be treated like children anymore," said Kelsey Yamasaki, a Roosevelt High School junior and the chairman of the conference.

The students spent months researching and writing resolutions on everything from drug dogs to merit pay for teachers before bringing the issues to a vote at the conference this week.

"You need to lobby," Francisco Heftel-Liquido, a junior at Punahou School and the vice chair of the conference, told the 136 other delegates. "We want these bills to become law. We want to make a difference."

The conference has met since 1968 and has managed some legislative victories. The recent constitutional amendment approved by voters, which allows private schools to sell tax-free bonds for construction projects, was a Hawai'i Secondary Student Conference resolution seven years ago.

To read their resolutions, visit www.bigislandstyle.com and click on Hawai'i Secondary Student Conference.

Oh, and legislators who plan to meet with students mid-month should be advised that the students noticed that the drinking fountains at the Capitol, being clean and in working order, are much nicer than the ones they have on their school campuses.

They'd like some of those, too.

Reach Jennifer Hiller at jhiller@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8084.