Should private entities operate public parks?

The closure of America’s national parks and historical monuments as part of this week’s federal government shutdown didn’t have to be. Private entities could have been operating those sites under contract to the federal government and, conceivably, could have stayed open regardless of the political shenanigans going on in Washington, D.C.

Many parks and monuments are operated privately now, including some in Hawaii such as the Battleship Missouri Memorial and the USS Bowfin Submarine Museum and Park, both at Pearl Harbor, and the U.S. Army Museum of Hawaii in Waikiki. (Blocked federal access to the sites at Pearl Harbor is another issue, though.)

With such venues being so important to the visitor experience in a state like ours, perhaps it’s time to give this idea, or something like it, consideration.

Bring vocational professionals into the classroom

The phrase "win-win" can be overused these days — but in the case of Leeward Community College’s two new teaching-certification programs, it seems to fit the bill.

Seeing a need to get more career and technical educators through the training pipeline, LCC has launched the programs to expeditiously qualify vocational professionals to share their knowledge in classrooms.

Of the two online, fast-track programs, one allows a teaching certificate to be earned within a year; the other allows a teaching degree to be earned in 18 months, to become an educational assistant or part-time public school teacher.

That means those with trade or professional skills who also want to share them in the classroom can now earn a teaching credential efficiently online; meanwhile, the risk of some vocational-education programs being shut due to shortage of qualified teachers is being eased.

As we said, win-win.