Only teachers held to ‘instructional time’

Act 167 states school instructional time is time when students "are engaged in learning activities including regularly scheduled instruction and learning assessments within the curriculum."

Between Jan. 24 and May 5 this year, student-athletes at my school lost an estimated 7,050 instructional minutes to athletic commitments. This is time out of class, for athletic purposes. The further teams go into the playoffs, the more instructional time is lost.

Athletics participation holds tremendous value. Painfully, my data indicate that student-athletes missed a total of nearly 26 percent of second-semester instructional minutes.

If student-athletes can make up lost instructional time through alternative assignments and tutoring, can’t all students learn this way? What value is there in more instructional minutes?

The state Department of Education mantra for the past decade is that standards-based grading does not require attendance. We have no bite in our truancy laws. Tardiness is not relevant. The only party being held to the instructional minutes is the teachers.

Scott Gruzinsky
Mililani

Sedona, Ariz., offers example for DLNR

Regarding the state Department of Land and Natural Resources’ hiking trail woes: Sedona, Ariz., has found a way to fund its shared use trail system.

Sedona residents can purchase yearly passes for $30, while day use visitors (tourists) pay from $3 (walk-in) to $7 (for vehicle trailhead parking) at pay-on-site kiosks at trail heads.Either way, a windshield sticker is displayed in your vehicle.Patrolling officers then can ticket illegal vehicles without having to wander along trails.

A similar system created by DLNR would allow it to raise funds, which seems to be the reason given for its lack of initiative and leadership in establishing new trails or maintaining our trails on Oahu.

Also, there are many interested trail users who would gladly donate volunteer time to assist with these goals, if DLNR would take leadership in establishing weekly or monthly trail building and maintenance days, which could be a feature of its website.

Jim Blattau
Haleiwa

Plan provides upside for Kawainui Marsh

Parks, nature trails and educational/cultural centers are extraordinary positives for communities.

We have the opportunity to build an exceptional park in Kailua, save a polluted wetland and preserve important archaeological sites.

The draft Kawainui-Hamakua Complex Master Plan includes clearing pollution and opening ponds for endangered birds, creating nature trails and building an educational/ Hawaiian cultural center.

A landfill, quarry, model airplane facility, light industrial area, roads, housing developments, cattle grazing and an auto junkyard have been our community’s approach to making use of the marsh area so far. We must do better.

Hawaiian environmental/cultural preservation organizations are the main caretakers of Kawainui and have been working for decades to restore sacred sites, build trails and clean up the marsh.They were heard when this marsh master plan, which will protect an area that is sacred to them, was forged.

Ignore the negativity being voiced and realize the beauty of this plan.

Beth Anderson
Kailua

Marsh plan will benefit just a few

The draft Kawainui-Hamakua Complex Master Plan is inconsistent with the requirements for listing as a Wetland of International Importance under the Ramsar Convention and its eligibility for listing on the National Register of Historical Places.

It would be very unfortunate if Kawainui Marsh were to lose its Ramsar designation because of the construction of 37 buildings, 11 parking lots, eight pavilions, 10 viewing decks, 4,155 feet of boardwalk, approximately 5.7 miles of trails, nine maintenance access roads, three bridges/causeways, four plant nurseries, four staging areas and a canoe launch in a rare and sensitive wetland.

This is not an update of the 1994 Kawainui Marsh Master Plan as it was originally intended; this is yet another development plan that will benefit the construction industry and a few select private groups at the expense of the last large wetland in Hawaii and the Kailua community.

The state should not award land leases to private organizations, nonprofit or not, inside the Kawainui Marsh Ramsar wetlands and the Kawainui Marsh archaeological district.

Linda Paul
Kailua

Incentive isn’t there for affordable housing

Affordable housing is a huge issue in Honolulu and many people are supporters of it, but then they turn around to criticize developers wanting exemptions to build the affordable product.

Land and entitlement being so expensive in Hawaii gives developers incentive to build ultra-luxury high-rises for mainlanders and foreigners.

Without incentive to build affordable housing instead of top-dollar luxury condos, developers will almost always choose luxury.

People in Hawaii need to get this idea and realize that if the Hawaii Community Development Authority and city gave leeway to developers for affordable housing, then there would be a lot more of it in and around town.

Hunter Goo
Kapolei

Foam food containers toxic mess for Hawaii

Life Foods is a Hawaii-based specialty food company committed to sustainability, and we stand in strong support of City Council Bill 40 and the movement to ban expanded polystyrene foam containers.

Life Foods uses only biocom- postable containers for our food service needs, including plates and takeout containers. Avoiding styrofoam and choosing biocompostable products supports our core missions of health and sustainability.

We encourage other local businesses to take a stand and put health above profit. Numerous studies demonstrate health risks associated with styrofoam, and this alone should be enough for the Council to require a ban on these products.

But sustainability is equally important: thousands of takeout styrofoam containers, made from nonrenewable resources, are burned each day at H-Power or buried in the ground. This is an embarrassing toxic mess for Hawaii’s fragile island environment.

Andrea Bertoli
Pearl City

Polystyrene exposure safe in small amounts

The safety of polystyrene food containers has been questioned because of City Council Bill 40.

As a toxicologist with 35 years of experience, I’d like to set the record straight:No government agency considers polystyrene to be a carcinogen nor pose any health risk. These products have been used safely for 50 years, and while there is a small unreacted amount of styrene within polystyrene, the truth is that you get 3,000 times more exposure from cinnamon than from a polystyrene foam cup.

Whether naturally occurring in foods and beverages such as strawberries, coffee beans or cinnamon, or produced synthetically, most people encounter small amounts of styrene as a part of their daily lives. Scientific studies have shown the small amounts of styrene that consumers may be exposed to are not harmful. The FDA’s acceptable level, in fact, is 10,000 times more than the average consumer’s exposure to styrene.

George Cruzan
Bridgeton, N.J.

FROM THE FORUM

Readers of the Star-Advertiser’s online edition can respond to stories posted there. The following are some of those. Instead of names, pseudonyms are generally used online. They have been removed.

“Backyard aquaponics a path to self-sufficiency,” Star-Advertiser, June 23:

>> There’s a ton of people doing this and many commercial ventures, too. There are at least five commercial aquaponics farms on Oahu and more on Maui and Big Island. Windward Community College offers classes, and you can also visit several farms and learn, too. For more info, please visit aquaponicsinparadise.com.

>> Finally, a feel-good story! We need to expand this program, if possible.
———
“Cost of living spoils Hawaii’s retirement rank,” Star-Advertiser, June 23:

>> I have been to North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah and Wyoming. If people want to retire to those states, go ahead. Yes, living in Hawaii is expensive, but given the people, the wonderful multicultural way of living and the weather, there is nowhere else I would rather be. (Yes, it helps that I grew up here.)

>> I was a schoolteacher. I never in 30 years made more than $55,000. Not a lot but with a good retirement plan, life is good here.

>> How much higher the cost of living is in Hawaii also depends where you are moving from. For example, New Jersey has relatively high property, income and sales taxes compared to Hawaii. The cost of food is much higher in Hawaii, which is why it’s good to have your own garden, even a small one.
———
“Regents’ assets might stay private,” Star-Advertiser, June 24:

>> What do they all have to hide? Those who oppose Senate Bill 2682 are not fit to serve.

>> If the bill passed unanimously, the governor can veto it, but the Legislature can also override a veto, given its unanimous vote. The question is, does the Legislature have the willingness to do so?

>> There is no reason to make these volunteer board/commission members’ personal financial information available to the public. Disclosure to the Ethics Commission is good enough to identify potential conflicts of interest. We would lose the best candidates for these positions if all these volunteers are required to open their finances to the public.
———
“Water and sewer rates will go up next week on Oahu,” Star-Advertiser, June 25:

>> This is just the beginning. At some point, these rates will represent a significant percent of the income of working-class people. This will be a highly regressive tax.

>> I would hope that they will be fixing and maintaining all the sewer and water lines with this money.
———
“Sit-lie ban sought for all of Oahu,” Star-Advertiser, June 25:

>> If an Oahu ban on sitting or standing is imposed, it will include residents and tourists. Will you then define, in the law, what a homeless person must look and act like? Or what they will generally have in their possession?

>> This law will never pass muster. Just wait until the ACLU gets involved.

>> Put the homeless in the ACLU’s front yard or office and let them deal with this problem.
———
“Pot dispensaries long overdue, task force says,” Star-Advertiser, June 26:

>> The task force should study what the states with dispensaries are doing and adopt the most efficient yet patient friendly aspects of those systems. They don’t need to reinvent the wheel.

>> We don’t need marijuana or want a marijuana dispensary in Hawaii. Marijuana should be dispensed only by a physician. No dispensaries needed.

>> It’s time to legalize it. We tolerate alcohol abuse, but one puff of the evil weed and people go ballistic.
———
“Conduct at Native Hawaiian meetings bemoaned,” Star-Advertiser, June 26:

>> Until we can collectively come to an agreement as to the path we are hoping to take, we cannot even take the first couple of steps, let alone even think about reaching our goal.

>> There can be no consensus to the “path.” Hawaiians have been trying to do that for over 30 years. But we do need more rational discussion to make progress. At this point, going in the right direction is plenty even if the goals are not clear.

>>  Everyone’s on a soapbox, grandstanding in preparation to run for the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Department of Hawaiian Home Lands or Bishop Estate boards. True Hawaiian royalty would never tolerate this type of behavior.

>> It’s embarrassing. Too many trying to get their 15 minutes of fame; 15 minutes of drama is a more accurate description.