Posted on: Wednesday, February 4, 2004

Letters to the Editor

Public, private schools must reject junk food

Recent health reports have reported that childhood obesity is increasing rapidly, leading to increased risk of heart disease, high blood pressure and diabetes among our kids.

Given the skyrocketing childhood obesity rates, it is shortsighted that our public and private schools sell junk food to our children. Children's calorie intakes have increased dramatically. The increases in calorie intake are driven by increased intakes of foods and beverages high in refined sugars. Studies show that children who drink more soft drinks consume more calories and are more likely to be overweight. Sugary soft drinks are nothing more than liquid candy.

Schools will not necessarily lose money if junk foods are replaced with healthier options. As a community, we must fund our schools through means that do not undermine our children's health.

Hawai'i should set nutrition standards for all foods sold or served out of vending machines, cafeterias, fund-raisers and school stores. Citizens concerned about the health and wellness of our youth should write or call their state representatives to support legislative bills SB2147 and HB1891, which establish nutrition standards for Hawai'i's schools to help prevent childhood obesity.

Throwing more money at schools won't work

Regarding Harold Irving Jr.'s letter of Jan. 26: As I recall, Gov. John Waihee threw plenty of money at education and the money was promptly swallowed up by the bureaucracy. Let's see some competition in our school system, as we see in the universities and colleges across the land.

Currently, the state of Hawai'i has a market-share monopoly in grades K-12. If we had vouchers, parents could select between public, private or parochial. Competition would create jobs, improve the product, give parents a choice and create diversity in our education system. Life would be pretty boring if everyone comes from the same mold.

I favor decentralization and depoliticizing of the educational system. Give local school boards more flexibility in setting the pay of the teachers and more flexibility in taxing to pay for education. I agree that our public teachers are underpaid when compared to those on the Mainland. The HSTA is nothing more than a lobbying group and appears to be more concerned with getting its way than improving education.

Let's try decentralization and vouchers (with pure competition) and, hopefully, improve our education system.

Unions are roadblocks to improving education

Education reform proposals by Linda Lingle and Pat Hamamoto have elements of obtuseness they're apparently blind to, and they need to gain "real world" insights.

Both of them want to put principals on performance contracts. The main reason why schools are ineffective is that principals lack authority, which would go from worse to worst as badly performing teachers would think and, even worse, say to others, "Why should I do as the principal requires? In three years, he'll be gone and I'll still be here!"

Putting both principals and teachers on contracts would be defeated soundly by the unions, which do what unions do — protect jobs. Unions aren't to blame. Blame belongs to Congress and the courts, which created and nurture the "me first" monster of collective bargaining, a euphemism for a monopoly over the supply of labor. And all monopolies are bad, just as it's true that letting competition flourish will solve many problems.

If there's a "magic bullet" to reform public schools, it's competition. Imagine ending competition among our high school sports teams — there would be an uproar. Injecting competition into our school system is progressing — both Lingle and Hamamoto urge adopting school choice. The ideal (competitive) environment, which may evolve in a few decades, would be as Libertarians advocate — privatize our public schools. Many Libertarians and other desperate parents would gladly make this trade-off: Let government run the supermarkets in exchange for privatizing our public schools.

Hamamoto's address was truly impressive

Superintendent Patricia Hama-moto made a clear and concise speech and was given every right as a citizen, much like the chief justice of the state Supreme Court, to address the Hawai'i Legislature. I read the speech courtesy of HonoluluAdvertiser.com and was truly deeply impressed with this speech.

I agree with the superintendent wholeheartedly and think that these ideas will hold very well with the Legislature. As a former student of Superintendent Hamamoto, I don't mean to write this as favoritism, but more as "this is someone whose ideas I would concur with." And I foremost am proud of being given guidance under then-principal/now-superintendent Hamamoto.

Teachers' 11-month contracts may not work

I agree with Superintendent Pat Hamamoto's ideas about overhauling SCBM councils, but putting teachers on 11-month contracts, with 10 months of teaching and a month of paid training may not work.

Any professional wants to be able to engage in development that is logically connected to her relicensing. And paid for, in the case of teachers in the state of Hawai'i, either by the step increases on the salary pay scale that have not been funded by the Legislature, or, even better, by a grant fund set up specifically for that purpose. I honestly believe that all professionals want to choose how, when and what resources on which to spend their money for professional development to gain or upgrade skills.

It is important to tap resources beyond those hired and organized by the DOE for professional development because it is in this way that teachers can obtain an unadulterated perception of ideas in education that will improve student achievement and teacher performance.

No professional wants to be spoon-fed ideas or have ideas for professional development selected by others. That's the definition of a professional, someone who keeps up with a field of knowledge based on free choice connected to an understanding of change, innovation and a view of what is needed to best serve the community where they practice their profession.

New crop of movies shot here disappointing

I am always happy to hear about business booming in Hawai'i. But I must admit to being personally disappointed by the recent crop of movies and TV shows being filmed in the Islands.

Aside from the Travel Channel, has there been a recent movie or TV show filmed in Hawai'i I would want to see once, let alone again? The answer so far has been no.

Hawai'i appears to be the stomping ground for idiocy. "Average Joe," "Big Bounce," "Along Came Polly" and "50 First Dates" all feature the bottom of the brain barrel. These films and shows are the "plastic poo" of the media world.

Is it too much to ask for a great movie to be shot in Hawai'i that is not an insulting farce — a movie that has some timelessness about it?

Again, I am glad for whatever jobs, money and tourists these projects bring to the Islands. But frankly, I'd be less embarrassed stumbling out of a porno movie than be caught watching any of these recent additions to the national unconsciousness.

Give Ala Wai parking lane to moving cars

What was the reasoning that allowed 24-hour free parking on Ala Wai Boulevard?

Just when we are fighting plugged-up traffic, the decision was made to take away a much-needed traffic lane during rush hour and hand over around-the-clock free "parking stalls" to as many car users as can be packed in. (Other people pay at least $100 a month for parking stalls.)

No parking meters? How come?

On the several occasions that I have experienced this new and unnecessary traffic mess, not only were we deprived of that lane, but traffic was slowed even more by jams in the next lane. The second lane is plugged because the line of traffic accommodates a driver waiting for a parked car to emerge and then parallel parking into the just-vacated parking slot — as if the whole boulevard is a parking lot. The time for such a parking exchange is probably about the same as an average stop light.

The only real solution is to take the lane back and give it to the moving traffic.

Bureau not an advocate of gas-cap legislation

I am writing to correct any misconceptions that may have been created by an article in The Honolulu Advertiser on Jan. 28 ("Gasoline price caps not on Lingle list").

In that article, which discussed the absence of any bill in the administration's package addressing the gasoline price caps to take effect July 1, Ted Liu, director of the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism, was quoted as saying that "DBEDT proposed a draft bill along with the Legislative Reference Bureau that included the Stillwater recommendations."

I am concerned that the article implies that the bureau is somehow proposing or endorsing the foregoing legislation. We are not.

The bureau is a nonpartisan service agency in the legislative branch of government. We take that role very seriously — all aspects of it. When the Legislature enacted the gas-cap legislation, it included, as part of section 5 of Act 77, Session Laws of Hawaii 2002, that "The attorney general and the Legislative Reference Bureau shall assist the department (DBEDT) by conducting legal and policy analysis, as appropriate, and in drafting legislation."

The bill is, in no uncertain terms, DBEDT's bill.

The bureau drafted the foregoing legislation for DBEDT in discharging its legislatively mandated duties under Act 77 — nothing more. I therefore wish to reiterate that the bureau is not endorsing, much less proposing, any gas-cap-related legislation.

Don't wait for callback

Regarding the headline in The Advertiser business section Jan. 26 "Job seekers often wait in vain for callbacks": Well, then I guess that's the problem, isn't it? No one ever called to offer me a job. I had to pester the hell out of them, and they probably only gave me one to get me to stop.

Moloka'i water ruling a victory for many

The recent decision from the Hawai'i Supreme Court protecting Native Hawaiian traditional gathering rights and water reservations by the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands is the result of many groups coming together for the welfare of the Hawaiian community on Moloka'i ("Moloka'i water plan struck down," Jan. 30).

We want to commend our clients, Wayde Lee, Martin Kahae, Judy Caparida, Louise Bush, Robert Alcain and Walter Mendes, who, almost eight years ago, foresaw the harmful effects of Moloka'i Ranch's plan to drill a new well in the Kamiloloa Aquifer. The well's impact on the shoreline and freshwater springs would have severely altered traditional gathering practices that not only provide food for the table but sustain and nurture a unique way of life.

We also want to point out that this decision is the result of collaboration between public and private entities, such as the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands and the Native Hawaiian Legal Corp. — the last two are frequently on opposite sides of the table. It was the realization that no group alone could do justice for the Hawaiian community on Moloka'i that led to this joint effort.

Education reform in Hawai'i not misguided

In reply to Joseph Gedan's Jan. 23 Island Voices commentary ("Education reform misguided"): Perhaps Hawai'i's one-district system is the envy of all the nation's education professionals; however, it does not shine so brightly where it counts. Last year, Hawai'i ranked among the worst schools in the country concerning basic skills such as math and reading and consistently does so.

I can attest to the character lacking in Hawai'i's schools, as I attended kindergarten through ninth grade in the state. It is inconceivable that in some classes I lacked textbooks to take home and had class sizes of up to 40 students (this has not changed in many districts). The superintendent, however, has a salary of $150,000. This is absurd and is a clear sign of the ineptitude of the DOE.

Mr. Gedan makes good points about the factors leading to good student achievement; however, he does not acknowledge the failings of the DOE. If the DOE has failed our children, it is time for a change, starting with the DOE.

Air ambulance crew will be remembered

There is no greater calling in life than to be in the service of serving others.

The untimely death of Mandy Shiraki and Joseph Daniel Villiaros and the pilot of the downed air ambulance flight on the Big Island will no doubt leave the city of Honolulu with a void that will be hard to fill.

The families are in our thoughts and hearts. God bless.