Question: I’ve been involved in a group discussion on what the English standard schools were back in the 1930s or 40s. Was there ever one in Kailua? The ones we could remember were Kapalama, Lincoln, Aliiolani and Jefferson.
Answer: Nine official English standard schools were established over three decades in the islands, according to “Integration in Hawaii’s Schools,” published in 1959 by Bernhard Hormann, a University of Hawaii sociology professor, and Lawrence Kasdon, a consultant in language arts for the state Department of Public Education.
None were in Kailua.
Judith R. Hughes, an American-studies professor at the University of Hawaii (retiring as dean of the College of Arts & Humanities in 2006), listed the schools in her article “The Demise of the English Standard School System in Hawaii,” in the 1993 Hawaiian Journal of History.
On Oahu they were Lincoln Elementary School, the first, in 1924; followed by Roosevelt Junior High School, which became Roosevelt High School in 1929; Stevenson Intermediate; Kapalama Elementary; Jefferson Elementary; and Aliiolani Elementary.
On the neighbor islands the schools were Maui Standard (renamed Kaunoa), Holomua on Molokai and Hilo Standard (Riverside) on Hawaii island.
In other places where there were not enough qualified students to warrant an entire English standard school, a separate class or section was designated the English standard program, according to Hughes.
The schools were created over concerns that English-speaking children were not getting the best education and were slowed by non-English-speaking children.
Entry into an English standard school was supposed to be based solely on an oral test, but critics saw the schools as a form of discrimination and segregation.
The schools were gradually phased out as Hawaii changed culturally and politically; the last graduating English standard students made up Roosevelt High’s Class of 1960.
Question: A while back, we were able to take sand from the beach. Is that still possible in Hawaii?
Answer: Yes, up to 1 gallon per day for personal use.
Under Section 171.58.5 of the Hawaii Revised Statutes, the mining or taking of sand, dead coral or coral rubble, rocks, soil or other marine deposits seaward from the shoreline is prohibited with four exceptions:
>> A maximum of 1 gallon per person per day “for reasonable, personal, noncommercial use.”
>> For replenishment or protection of public shoreline areas, or construction/maintenance of approved projects.
>> For clearing of drainage pipes, canals and stream mouths.
>> For cleaning of areas seaward of the shoreline for state or county maintenance.
According to the state Department of Land and Natural Resources, “Taking of sand on a regular basis for use as a product for sale would be considered as constituting a commercial use, which is not permissible.”
Mahalo
To a fellow passenger on the Route 57 bus Waimanalo-bound on Monday, Feb. 27. Though I don’t know who it was, he or she was noble enough to pick up my laptop in its case that I left on my seat when I disembarked and turn it in to the bus driver. I chased down the bus and was able to get it back, but I haven’t always been so lucky. So thank you to that unknown person, and every person who has the decency to not take advantage of someone else’s misfortune. — Lani
Auwe
To those who have a handicap placard and park on the lined accessway when there is no handicap parking available. You are not supposed to park there … read the rules of having a placard. You are just as wrong as someone who parks in the handicap parking space without a placard. — Anonymous
———
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.
