AFTER DEADLINE

By Treena Shapiro
Advertiser Staff Writer

As a parent, I am always intensely interested in reading articles with advice on how to help my kids.

But as a reporter, I have always tended to seek out "official" voices for my stories — bureaucrats, experts and the like.

So I was intrigued when I joined The Advertiser's education team last month with instructions to aim my education coverage at parents. While Derrick DePledge continues to look at issues in education and how they fit into the bigger picture, my job is to bring the issues home to parents and let them know how the news affects them.

Practically speaking, the biggest change will be that instead of having educators and policy-makers offer advice to parents, I'll be looking for parents who can tell me what it is like to follow that advice. Parents' voices will carry my stories. They don't have to be people with degrees in education, just parents who have a good idea of what does and doesn't work in their own families.

Initially, I thought coming up with story ideas would be a breeze. My 7-year-old son, Corwin, gives me tons of story ideas every day. He suggests I write stories about sharks and dinosaurs, while I'm more interested in extolling the virtues of the reading tutor who has helped him progress so far that he's now eager to teach his 7-month-old sister, Sloane, what he has learned.

Corwin is in his third year at Voyager, a small public charter school in Kaka'ako, where Chinese and Hawaiian languages are part of the curriculum and lunch is followed by silent reading instead of recess. Academically, Voyager seems to be on track. Financially, it's a different story. Every time the school starts a new fund-raiser,

I want to do a story exploring how different schools approach fund raising and how parents cope with it.

However, Corwin has been at Voyager since kindergarten, so I have no recent experience with the traditional public schools, or private schools for that matter. And, since he's only in second grade, I'm not in touch with the struggles parents with older children face. For example, I can still help him with his math homework. The last time I really thought long and hard about issues that affect Hawai'i high-schoolers is when I graduated from Kailua High School in 1990.

This is where I need your help.

I need to know what you already know, what you want to know and what you think other parents should know. That's the only way

I can be sure I'm covering issues parents care about.

I want your phone calls, e-mails, letters and faxes. If you want to know what an issue in education means to you, let me know. If you hear about changes in the schools and want to know how they will affect your child, feel free to ask me about it. If you have figured out something that makes education easier in your family, please share. I can't guarantee you space in the newspaper, but I can promise to give careful consideration to all your questions and suggestions.

Reach me by phone at 525-8014; e-mail at tshapiro@honoluluadvertiser.com; fax at 525-8037 or mail to:

Treena Shapiro
The Advertiser
605 Kapi'olani Blvd.
Honolulu, HI 96813

I'd like to thank you for your help.