EDITORIAL
Outstanding teachers bright light for schools

If you have attended a political rally or talked to a candidate this election season, you've almost certainly received an earful of what is wrong with our public schools and what the candidate will do to make things right.

And, no question, there are problems with our schools.

But it would be a serious mistake to think because some things are broken, everything in public education is broken. Far from it.

For instance, public opinion polls always turn up a phenomenon that has respondents grading their own child's school — their own child's teacher — much higher than they grade public schools overall.

That's really no surprise, particularly when the teacher might be someone like Lyn Aki Johnson, Leonard Villanueva or Roberta Zarbaugh.

These three were honored this week for their work with Hawai'i's children. They are among legions of teachers who do good work, day in and day out.

Johnson, a third-grade teacher at Aikahi Elementary, and Villanueva, a fourth-grade teacher at Honowai Elementary, won the Milken Family Foundation National Educator Award. This prestigious award honors outstanding teachers nationwide and comes with a $25,000 prize.

Zarbaugh, a seventh- and eighth-grade language arts teacher at Kapa'a Middle School on Kaua'i, was named state Teacher of the Year on Thursday. She will compete now for National Teacher of the Year.

Our congratulations to Johnson, Villanueva and Zarbaugh and the the thousands of others like them who labor so hard to bring out the best in Hawai'i's students.