Not all kids learn the same
I do hope the Board of Education finds a successful and realistic plan that works for the community. The previous plan “No child Left Behind” was simply too ridiculous to work. In a perfect world it might have been OK but let’s face facts, in this real world there are some kids who simply cannot function in a normal setting.
It’s no wonder that NCLB did not work. Parents have to take responsibility for their own creation. If their child cannot function at home, how can they expect the schools to baby-sit their child at taxpayers’ cost? Parents with handicapped children should find an agency that can work specifically with their child’s challenges. I do not believe it’s the public school’s responsibility to do this. Let us hope that the BOE will come up with a workable solution that doesn’t involve baby-sitting but one that focuses on student learning and the success of everyone in school.
Colleen Miyose-Wallis
Retired teacher
Comic was ridiculous
Well, I am not sure that I should call it a comic item, but I do not know what else to name it. In the July 28 paper on page A4, there is a name on the messy drawing in the middle of the page, but he is not a comic or funny, or a meaningful person. It must be the popular Bernie name that we see every day in the news and on TV, but this one has no story or meaning whatsoever.
In fact, we relate it to that Bernie politician so popularly named in everyday news but there is no meaningful story in association with the name. It is so shameful that you did not even label the drawing with the author’s (or so-called artist’s) title.
It is a mess of scribbling and meaningless garbage with the one name of Bernie up on one side of the picture of all the donkey characters fighting at the Democratic National Convention, so we assume it relates to the socialist who was running for the Democratic nomination. But maybe all that junk in the picture is a pretty good description of Bernie himself after all.
Robert Paddock
Kailua-Kona
Mocking hot classrooms just disgusting
I just sent a letter last week and I apologize l do not mean to monopolize this column but I could not believe that someone would write the letter I just read, “Water needed more than AC” on Aug. 6
I ask James Duke, what’s wrong with you? You mock a teacher for fainting from heat in the classroom, you put your needs for water before the safety of our children. You moved into a catchment area because it was cheap, the same reason I live on catchment. You disgust me, I won’t waste anymore words on you except to inform you that Washington state has all the water your selfish heart desires go east, James Duke, go east the sooner the better.
Paul Santos
Ocean View
Hot schools not a joke
I’m guessing Mr. Duke believes that global warming is a liberal myth, and has signed up to join Donald Trump’s quest to build walls and make America great again. I didn’t appreciate the sentiments he expressed in his letter printed Aug. 6 that public outrage is laughable, that the government should prioritize one issue over another as if the well-being of our children isn’t a priority, and that a public school teacher passed out in school for reasons other than the heat, an insinuation that shows a lack of empathy.
Mr. Duke probably hasn’t had to sit in those classrooms, which is why he is oblivious to the pressing need. He says “luxury” and we say “necessity.” I don’t know where Mr. Duke has been the past two summers, but its been hot and humid. And, often unbearable. Whether he wants to accept it or not, it is a public health issue.
What is laughable is his comparison of residents living on rainwater catchment to life in the African nation of the Congo. It is this sense of privilege which is disturbing to me, that someone living in the United States of America would dare to compare his or her life to, or pretend to understand, the conditions of Africans in the Congo.
Is the state slow to respond to the needs of local residents? Yes. Should our state make providing water lands to South Kona residents a greater priority? Yes. But, don’t diminish the importance of this issue in order to advocate your own. And, don’t make silly insinuations or privileged comparisons.
This isn’t just about Oahu schools. It’s about our schools and our children, too. If you don’t like what’s being done, you are free to go elsewhere. That’s the freedom guaranteed to citizens of the greatest country on Earth.
W. Keoki Kiwaha
Honaunau
Thank you, Big Island
I fell in love with the Big Island, Kailua-Kona, Captain Cook, Honaunau, Napoopoo Road, Painted Church Road, poi and Pidgin back in 1992. I came back more than five times until 1997 when I was married, but I came back again with my husband and we had our one and only daughter baptized at St. Benedict’s on Jan 16, 1999. I came back with our daughter to experience the Big Island.
Thank you for your time. I wept on the drive to the airport as I knew I would most likely not return. Many, many special memories.
Suzanne Richards de Perez
San Marcos, Calif.