10 percent of isle students receive special-ed services

Question: What is the percentage of special-ed students in the public schools?

Answer: Almost 10 percent of Hawaii public school students were enrolled in special education during the 2017-18 school year, according to the state Department of Education. Of 179,255 students overall, 161,976 were enrolled in regular education, and 17,279, or 9.6 percent, were enrolled in special education, which is tailored to meet the needs of students with disabilities.

These numbers include students in department and charter schools, both of which are public.

Depending on the student’s need, special-education services might include academic, speech, language, psychological and counseling services, and physical and occupational therapy, according to the DOE website. Services are available to students ages 3 to 22, at no charge to their families, once the student is evaluated and deemed eligible.

Renewal reservations

News of long lines at satellite city halls for driver’s license renewals (808ne.ws/714sty) prompted plenty of feedback from Kokua Line readers, mostly of the “auwe” variety.

Among the complaints, though, were some constructive comments. The most specific came from Kaimuki resident Mark Shimabukuro, who suggested how the city could improve its online reservation system:

“There was an article in Saturday’s Star-Advertiser on the long wait time/line for walk-ins for driver license renewal. The article also mentioned an online option for making an appointment for driver license renewal — AlohaQ — including an observation by a city official that about 30 percent of appointments made online were ‘no-shows.’

“I point out that the AlohaQ app includes an option to ‘manage’ a previously made appointment that allows a person to view/cancel that appointment ticket. However, a confirmation number (which is different from the ticket number) must be typed in to get to the ticket — providing the ticket number instead of the confirmation number does not work. Therefore, if one does not make note of the confirmation number when the appointment is first made, there is no way for the appointment-maker to cancel the ticket.

“Furthermore, a person can make another (other) appointment(s) without canceling a previously made appointment. In other words, there is no ‘incentive’ to not canceling a previously made ticket — which may be a contributing reason why the ‘no-shows’ from online appointments are as high as 30 percent. (Those uncanceled reservations) also decrease the open appoint­ments available.”

We passed along Shimabukuro’s observations to the city’s Department of Customer Services on Monday, asking whether his suggested solutions would be feasible for the city to pursue. We’ll let you know what we hear back.

To answer a related question: No, the city does not have a call-in phone reservation system for driver’s license renewals, only the online system using a cellphone app. That’s been a perennial complaint which we’ve previously passed along to the city.

Auwe

I use the H-1 (Lunalilo Freeway) often, and heading westbound I noticed no drivers yield at the University onramp even though there is clearly a yield sign. It is so dangerous; please yield and follow the law, for your safety and others’! — Scared driver

Mahalo

Mahalo to the middle-age couple who assisted my mom when she became slightly disoriented on her morning walk. She was slightly dehydrated, which contributed to her unusual confusion. Although she was embarrassed, she also was grateful that you were there to assist. Mom wanted you to know that she is fine now. — Grateful caregiver

Write to Kokua Line at Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 7 Waterfront Plaza, Suite 210, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., Honolulu 96813; call 529-4773; fax 529-4750; or email kokualine@staradvertiser.com.