Adopt a school, adopt a classroom, adopt a teacher, adopt a principal, adopt public education in your community.

Nothing was said, everything was felt during our school administrative meeting day: It is the public persona and the image of the public school teacher that is at stake here.

Can you put a price tag on a good reputation?

Can you name a price for the kind of care, nurturing and guidance that at least one of your public school teachers gave you? Teaching is about human interaction at its best.

The good people of Hawaii, with their heartfelt aloha spirit, can put aside the political drama and look into the hearts of our public educators and the children they teach.

Here is my theory of what is happening with public education.

Messages continue to bombard us throughout adulthood. Incoming signals are greater than the outgoing responses. The public is passively receiving tons of information. The reception of these messages has become the current mode of operation. We receive and then we react. But there is an enormous need to be proactive about sending your own positive messages out into your community. Due to the barrage of choices, deciphering or filtering incoming messages can become overwhelming. At times, internal focus is lost on what matters most. Public education is necessary and so are the teachers in this state.

We need to lessen the impact of all those messages coming at us. We are more than capable of rolling up our sleeves and going into the schools and classrooms where we can physically make a difference. In the time it takes to complain about a public school, get in there and volunteer this valuable time to assist a student with reading. We don’t have to succumb to the negativity toward teachers and public educators because then we become part of the problem, not the cure, and no matter how much we dislike something, it won’t change without the public’s positive action here. The students and teachers in this great state of Hawaii need activated, proactive people to help us.

We gain back our true selves by actively helping others, and the schools benefit from the time and energy that we put into them. Our deeds, projected out in the world, will outlive us.

So let’s get out there and support the teachers. I can assure you the great majority of them are doing their jobs, and more than their jobs, to teach and help the children in Hawaii. Send your letters and comments into the papers/TV/media and turn the tide of the "bad teacher syndrome." Tell them about the good public educators in your lives, tell them the stories, and tell them how they have helped you and your children. This way you will be an active part of the solution, because you live in Hawaii and because you care.

You might ask: Why can’t the teachers project their own positive attitude into the public arena?

Marketing is not their training. Most people teach because they love it. And often they are wiped out after working a full day of school, grading papers, prepping for the next day, meeting with students/parents, keeping up with the standards, assessing/planning to assure that all their students — both special needs and regular education — meet school requirements, and volunteering for additional school activities whenever necessary (art, music, sports).

So please, go out and adopt a school, adopt a classroom, adopt a teacher, adopt a principal, get into the public school and see how many wonderful "things" are happening every single day, and become part of the process of change.