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Esme Infante

Esme M. Infante is a former education reporter at the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. Her beat covered everything related to education in Hawaii: preschool, K-12 and higher education; public and private schools; on all islands. She came with more than three decades’ experience in communications spanning radio, TV, print and digital media, and marketing and public relations.   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.
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Latest Stories by Esme Infante

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Temporary school called ‘small miracle’ after Lahaina fire

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

UH moves toward an ‘indigenous-serving’ institution model

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

Fire alarm systems out of commission at 15 Hawaii schools

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

Hawaii schools superintendent salary cap bill advances

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

Hawaii students’ learning loss from COVID may cut wages 3.7% lifetime

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

Support for Nahale-a as UH regent swells before vote

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

Regents chair vows to seek second term

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

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