It’s a different kind of county council — one in which high school students run the show.
The 2012 Hawaii High School County Council — nine students elected from four Hawaii Island private and public schools — convenes at 9 a.m. Thursday at the Hawaii County Council chambers in Hilo, said County Clerk Jamae Kawauchi, whose office implemented the pilot project. There, the students will hold their own version of the island’s official legislative body, the Hawaii County Council.
The students will consider five still-being-edited measures during the meeting, Kawauchi said. The student-drafted measures touch on a variety of topics including the quality of health care on Hawaii Island, teen pregnancy and bus stops and shelters.
“These measures were all up to (the students),” she said. “These are the topics and concerns they’ve selected to discuss.”
Residents, as well as students, can watch and provide public testimony during the meeting, which will be broadcast from Hilo to the Kona, Waimea and Pahoa council district offices, she said. The meeting will also be aired at a later date on Na Leo o Hawaii television.
The measures, as well as an agenda for the meeting, will be available online today at hawaiicounty.gov/county-council-student-project.
Following public testimony, the students will consider their measures for passage to the official Hawaii County Council for discussion.
“If (the high school council) passes legislation, we will put the matters on the (Hawaii County Council’s) real agenda,” Kawauchi explained. “It’s just like real.”
The Hawaii High School County Council is a pilot project coordinated by the Office of the County Clerk to get students interested in civic participation, Kawauchi said. She noted the project is funded by the office to meet its mission of increasing public interest in government.
“Government should be reaching out to our population, our citizenry, and engaging them in the process,” Kawauchi said, noting the importance of understanding the legislative process. “The government can’t exist without public participation and this project will help a part of our population to understand how to engage in government.”
Four high schools took part in the project during its first year: Honokaa, Konawaena, Keaau and Kamehameha.
At those high schools, the office worked with students, between the ages of 16 and 18, during civics classes to get “well over” 700 students pre-registered and registered to vote. Students were also trained in how to operate a voting precinct, Kawauchi said.
Students were then urged to seek election to the 2012 Hawaii High School County Council, she said noting similar to real Hawaii County Council elections, the candidates had to sign up and submit five nomination papers. An election, run by the student precincts, was held at each of the schools during April.
Nine students, not necessarily assigned to a County Council district, were elected by the students, she said.
From West Hawaii is Honokaa High School’s Cheyneille Pacheco and Lauren Busby and Konawaena High School’s Chris Jones, Matthew Yamada and Casey Wooten. Keaau High School is represented by Ayanna Silva, Nitasa Freund and Phoenix Simeona while Kamehameha by Makaala Gahan, according to the Office of the County Clerk.
Those students then received in late April in-depth training from office staff on topics such as drafting legislation and parliamentary procedure.
“They’ve been informed and educated on the process,” she said. “They’re getting a pretty good snapshot of what it’s like to be a council member.”
Kawauchi hopes the program will continue next year, though it will require approval from the next Hawaii County Council, under which the Office of the County Clerk falls. Council members will be elected during the Nov. 6 general election and assume office in early December.
