By Jennifer Hiller
Advertiser Education Writer

A tradition at Lahainaluna High School keeps getting popular mention from Gov. Linda Lingle.

In her State of the State address and a few times since, Lingle has talked about the hassle the school has had in keeping the graduation date that it wants.

While students at Lahainaluna, the oldest public high school west of the Rockies, always graduate on the first Sunday in June, the Department of Education has wanted a later graduation date to conform with the school calendar. Otherwise, students could miss up to eight days of class compared with their peers statewide.

School officials, students and parents all want to keep the first Sunday tradition, but the school has had to mount a massive letter-writing campaign to the Board of Education so it can march to "Pomp and Circumstance" when it wants.

"That's a tradition that goes back before statehood," said Herbert Watanabe, state school board chairman.

Although state school board members agreed with the Lahainaluna High community and allowed seniors to graduate a few days before the rest of the school's students end classes, the issue has struck a chord with the governor.

She's using Lahainaluna as an example of the failure of the School/Community-Based Management System, which keeps decision-making at the campus, and says that more local control at schools would result if the state had local school boards.

She said it's a waste of time for the state school board to consider things like the graduation date at just one high school.

Watanabe disagrees. "I felt the tradition was important at Lahainaluna," he said. "But I think we have a very good appeal process." Watanabe and most other school board members like the system the way it is.

But Lingle is calling for letting voters decide whether Hawai'i should keep its single, statewide school district or splinter the Department of Education into seven smaller districts separated by geography.

Changing the school governance structure is one of her top education goals. House Bill 1082 would create locally elected boards for Kaua'i, Maui, the Big Island, Honolulu and Leeward, Central and Windward O'ahu.

And it would push decisions on things like graduation dates and school-by-school issues to the local boards.

Although the DOE has district offices that follow the geographic lines specified in Bill 1082, adding more boards with decision-making and spending authority would require voter approval of a constitutional amendment.

Laura Thielen, who was recently elected to the school board, has spoken out in favor of local boards, arguing that smaller districts that are closer to students will increase community involvement and encourage tailor-made programs at the schools. Thielen said her brief time on the school board has further convinced her that local control is more important than ever. "Consider the dissatisfaction with the current system," she said in testimony to House Education Committee members last week.

Watanabe, though, says that more school boards would cost the district more money and create chaos in a system that sorely needs stability.

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