In this #MeToo era, our state’s leaders missed an opportunity by failing to replace former House Speaker Joe Souki with a female representative (“Ige appoints replacement to Joe Souki’s House seat,” Star-Advertiser, Top News, April 17).

We are stunned that no female was among the three candidates sent to Gov. David Ige by the Maui County District Council Committee.

At least two capable women applied. Given the circumstance of a male politician resigning due to sexual harassment allegations, replacing him with a qualified female would both acknowledge gender imbalance in the Legislature and show respect and support to women, especially those brave enough to speak out about the harassment they’ve endured.

The council committee could have recruited strong female candidates. The governor could have requested that at least one woman be among the finalists.

We have nothing against new representative, Troy Hashimoto.

We congratulate him and look forward to working with him to ensure harassment-free, safe, respectful and representative workplaces and schools in Hawaii.

Nicole Woo and Ann Freed

Women’s Caucus of the Democratic Party of Hawaii

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Parents have a right to homeschool

The earliest public schools in America were established to advance the Christian faith — a system that lasted for about 200 years. Now, about that many years later, Christianity is banned from public schools, making them centers of indoctrination in humanism and naturalism.

Parents, not the state, have the primary responsibility to educate their children. Therefore, they have every right to object to what’s being taught to their children in the public schools if they so choose, contrary to the view of teachers like Carol Pierpont (“Children should be taught in schools,” Star-Advertiser, Letters, April 23).

To deny them this right is the goal of socialism, not the American system of government based on unalienable rights.

Removal of Christian principles and values from public schools is one reason parents choose to homeschool. In the past, Russia banned religion from their schools, but they now mandate religious instruction. Ask them why.

Frank Lutz

McCully-Moiliili

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Kids can get better education at home

Regarding Carol Pierpont’s stance against homeschooling (“Children should be taught in schools,” Star-Advertiser, Letters, April 23), I’ll follow up her questions with even more questions:

Do traditional classroom teachers have the flexibility to allow students to chase their passions with impromptu field trips or shifts in curricula?

Of course not. Reducing homeshooling to “mom or dad at the kitchen table” is laughable considering the challenges in public schools.

What is the typical “public education” student-to-teacher ratio? I have yet to see a kitchen table filled with 35 students and a single teacher.

Do classroom teachers believe they know what is better for a child than his or her parents? As a parent who is currently homeschooling his children, I’d put my curriculum, materials, philosophy and results up against any “public education” in the nation.

Children have a right to an education, not necessarily one designed by the government.

Kris Schwengel

Hawaii Kai

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How can GOP support a liar?

As we learn more about our current president, we’re finding out things that all Americans should be made aware of, or are aware of already.

President Donald Trump truly is a prolific liar. From his younger days to now, he continues to lie to the American public.

How can the Republicans continue to support this president, knowing that he rumbles on and on, and in some instances shocks his own administration?

I don’t understand the Republicans, as it will be the demise of their party if the president is found to have obstructed justice or colluded with the Russians.

Republicans should be embarrassed that Trump is leading the U.S. into unknown territory with his speeches and the hiring of unqualified people to fill some of the highest offices of the nation.

We all should be worried about the Russian interference with our future elections.

William T. Pirtle

Waipahu

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Physician-assisted suicide a bad idea

It was a bad idea for Hawaii to legalize physician-assisted suicide. Once you legalize physician-assisted suicide, the safeguards go out the window. The door gets opened more and more.

First they start with terminal illnesses, then to children with disabilities, then mental illnesses. It never ends. Terminal illnesses are not always terminal. I know a woman with terminal cancer and now she is in remission and living today.

We have strong medication to kill pain, not the patient. We don’t need physician-assisted suicide.

Dean Clark

Kihei, Maui

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Groyne walls help build up beaches

On Oahu shores there are more than 60 groyne walls. Rock wall or cement, old Hawaiian or modern, all have sand beaches.

Like Makapuu, when there is an arm of land perpendicular to the beach, sand build-up occurs. Waves move sand up to the shore. Backwash, longshore drift and rip currents push sand along.

At Kualoa Park, waves were broken up with off-shore cement blocks. This did nothing to address the ongoing effects of rip currents, backwash and drift.

Hawaii can have groyne walls that trap sand that will continue to move in with waves and build back our beaches.

David Lemke

Palolo