An award-winning news reporter, editor, columnist and digital manager, Infante has worked for The Honolulu Advertiser, USA Today and other local and national media outlets. Previous to her return to full-time reporting at the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, she worked as newscaster and host on the highly rated “The Rise & Drive Morning Show with Devon & Esme” on 94.7 KUMU. Other prior positions include communications director for the late Congressman Mark Takai; promotions director for Islandwide Crafts & Food Expos; founder, chief executive and editor of Moms In Hawaii LLC; and founder of the broadcast journalism program at Mililani High School.
The education beat is close to Infante’s heart. She covered education in the 1990s for The Honolulu Advertiser. She is a proud graduate of Mililani High School, and the University of Hawaii, where she graduated with distinction. Infante is also a former classroom teacher who hails from a family of educators, and her two grown children are products of Hawaii public schools and the University of Hawaii system.
At just 20 years old, Skye Yasuda is a fully certified sixth grade English and social studies teacher at Waipahu Elementary School, but she frequently gets mistaken for a kid at work. Read more
Connecting students and job seekers with local technology companies is the goal of a series of free events sponsored through April by the University of Hawaii and the Chamber of Commerce Hawaii. Read more
Glancing at the new temporary school on a grassy slope in Pulelehua, Maui, casual onlookers might perceive a simple cluster of boxy modular buildings hurriedly erected in just over three months, but Gov. Josh Green calls the school’s rapid construction “a small miracle” in the wake of a disaster, and he and others also see the beginnings of healing and hope. Read more
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A year and four months after the University of Hawaii Board of Regents approved a strategic plan that in part calls for UH to “fulfill kuleana to Native Hawaiians and Hawaii,” officials are preparing to select an administrator to implement that “imperative” across the 10-campus system, and meanwhile launching a two-year cultural initiative on the flagship Manoa campus. Read more
Ongoing snarls with the new form have led local organizers of the FAFSA Hawaii Hotline to extend its hours, and push its end date back to May 31. Read more
The state Department of Education will update graduation information as needed on its website. Read more
That Ed Noh grew up in California and got his start in school leadership in Seattle ironically works in his favor in some ways now that championing the charter-school cause is a big part of his job as the first permanent executive director of the Hawaii Public Charter School Commission in four years. Read more
A new inventory of fire alarms at all 258 of Hawaii’s regular public schools plus six public charter schools has found 15 schools’ fire alarm systems to be inoperable, and replacements for most will take three to 10 months, according to state Department of Education officials. Read more
A proposal to remove the $250,000 salary cap for the state superintendent of Hawaii’s public schools and allow the amount to be set by the state Board of Education passed out of a divided state House Education Committee on Monday, despite opposition via dozens of pieces of testimony and “no” votes by two former teachers on the committee. Read more
Belated awareness of the severe disrepair of some student housing was among the key issues that led state senators to reject Alapaki Nahale-a for a second five-year term as a University of Hawaii regent. Read more
The learning loss that Hawaii students suffered during the COVID-19 pandemic is expected to lower their lifetime earnings by an average of 3.7%, spurring a 1.2% loss in Hawaii’s gross domestic product, or $31.3 billion in present value, according to a new report by the Hoover Institution of Stanford University released Thursday. Read more
A deeply divided state Senate voted 13-12 on Tuesday to deny University of Hawaii Board of Regents Interim Chair Alapaki Nahale-a a second five-year term. Read more
Nahale-a, who has been serving as chair of the board since July, was joined in the Senate chamber by approximately 60 supporters, many dressed in red to represent Hawaii island. Read more
Following a flurry of eleventh-hour meetings and negotiations Monday at the state Capitol, state senators are set to vote today on whether to confirm embattled University of Hawaii Board of Regents Chair Alapaki Nahale-a for a second term as a regent. Read more
About 60 specially raised and tagged papio, the juvenile stage of ulua, also known as giant trevally, were released last week at Maalaea Harbor. Read more
Despite being voted down by a five-member state Senate committee this week, University of Hawaii Board of Regents interim member and Chair Alapaki Nahale-a said Thursday that he has decided to continue seeking confirmation for a second term as a regent. Read more
Nahale-a said an outpouring of supportive calls, emails and comments from supporters and the public sparked his decision to push on. Read more
Moanalua Middle School social studies teacher Kimberly Kim received the 2024 state Teacher of Promise award from the Milken Educators of Hawai‘i organization in a surprise ceremony Wednesday. Read more
A new online dashboard has been launched by the state Department of Education to help the public and community leaders follow progress on a six-year strategic plan for improvement of Hawaii public schools. Read more
A state Senate committee Tuesday voted against recommending confirmation of University of Hawaii Board of Regents interim member and Chair Alapaki Nahale-a for a second term as a regent. Read more
State education officials say that between a new round of possible state budget cuts on top of a looming “federal fiscal cliff,” they are are bracing for a triple punch to the funding of Hawaii’s public school system. Read more
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