By Anner Harpham

A story on the front page on Feb. 6 highlighted an issue that is a flashpoint for some residents and communities: the proliferation of portable classrooms on public school campuses.

As staff writer Catherine Toth wrote in the story, some community leaders and legislators are criticizing plans to use portable classrooms at the new Mililani 'Ike Elementary School, which isn't open yet.

No one has taken issue with the story. But the two photos used with the story proved to be problematic. The photo on the front page showed the principal of Mililani Mauka Elementary and a portable classroom. Another photo, on Page A8, showed a third-grade teacher inside her portable classroom.

Neither the principal nor the teacher was quoted in the story. In the absence of any statements to the contrary, the use of their photographs implied they agreed with the anti-portable classroom sentiments expressed in the story. And that's not the case.

As Mililani Mauka Principal Carol Peterson said in a letter to the editor published on Thursday, she is happy with the portable classrooms at Mililani Mauka. They are air-conditioned and have glass windows instead of wooden louvers. And they help handle increasing enrollment while Mililani 'Ike is being built.

The teacher, Audrey Amona had, in fact, told Toth she doesn't mind teaching in her air-conditioned portable, which is larger than other classrooms.

Toth included Amona's comments in her story, but that portion of the story was trimmed out by an editor for space. By cutting those quotes, the story gave the impression that there was universal unhappiness about the portables, which was not the case.

The pictures were chosen by editors on the news desk, who did not see the quotes that were taken out of the story. And even though the photographer who took the photo of Peterson noted on the caption information that Peterson liked the portables, that fact didn't make it into the caption that appeared in print.

The handling of the story and photos was a reminder to editors that in the rush of editing on deadline, we need to be careful not to cut relevant information that provides a different perspective. We also need to remember that news photos convey as much information as words, sometimes even more powerfully. That's why it's essential that the photos reflect the reality of the reporting.

A reader called me a couple of times this week with thoughtful comments about the number of letters to the editor in The Advertiser about Iraq. There is no more important issue facing the public today, he argued. Yet, he said, we have published relatively few letters about Iraq. Surely we are getting more, he suggested.

While letters about Iraq are not dominant in the daily mailbag, we have gotten more than we have published, according to editorial page editor Jerry Burris. The Advertiser favors letters about local issues because, while there are other forums for opinions about national issues, there are only a few places for discussion about issues unique to Hawai'i.

That said, The Advertiser did ask past and current members of its community editorial board to share their thoughts on the U.S.-Iraq conflict. They appear today in this section. And as the potential for conflict escalates, we will publish more letters about the Iraq crisis, Burris said.

We erred in a front page story Thursday in attributing a quote that was critical of the city administration's handling of a park issue. The statement was made by City Councilman Charles Djou in a hearing to impose fees for the use of some city parks. But we put Parks Director Bill Balfour's name to it.

Advertiser staff writer Treena Shapiro correctly reported the exchange at the hearing. An editor wove her story into a story by another reporter about the new tennis complex at Central O'ahu Regional Park. In doing that, he inadvertently mixed up the quotes.

Djou said he felt the council was misled about the costs of operating the parks, but that quote was attributed to Balfour. The city administration was understandably upset.

The error was corrected in the online version Thursday morning and in the P.M. edition Thursday afternoon. And no one feels worse about it than the editor who made the mistake.

The State of the Union, State of the State and State of the City speeches were major focuses for a lively Advertiser Community Editorial Board that met with us for the past few weeks. They are:

• Richard Soo, retiring from a position as captain and spokesman for the Honolulu Fire Department. He's taking up a new job at the Department of Education.
• Tom Macdonald, former president of Hawaiian Trust Co., had retired to the Mainland and then moved back to Hawai'i. He began his career as an English professor and served as an infantry officer in Vietnam.
• David Duffy, a professor and ecologist who runs the Pacific Cooperative Studies Unit at the University of Hawai'i. He has lived in Alaska, the Galapagos, Peru and elsewhere.
• Sue Tetmeyer, a Hawai'i-born senior human resources professional with long experience in business, both in for-profits and not-for-profits.

Senior editor Anne Harpham is the reader representative of The Advertiser. Reach her at 525-8033 or aharpham@honoluluadvertiser.com.