Public Corruption: Hawaii Ranks 26th
Hawaii Congressional Delegation How They Voted June 16, 2014
Grading teachers can't be too easy
SA: ...In the school year that just ended, nearly 16 percent of public school teachers were rated as highly effective, 82 percent as effective, and a mere 2 percent as marginal or unsatisfactory. Obviously, then, the administrative work load related to classroom observations will plummet.
We suspect, though, that the rating criteria should be tougher if 98 percent of the teachers are considered effective in a school district that misses the mark on many national benchmarks.
Worrisome, too, is how the revisions diminish student voices in the evaluation process, which is called the Educator Effectiveness System. Starting in the 2014-15 school year, the opinions of students in grades kindergarten through second grade won't be sought at all through the Tripod Student Survey, and older students will fill out the survey once a year, rather than twice. Annual surveys are enough, and will reduce the administrative burden, but it's a shame that the youngest students are excluded; the simple questions captured vital insight into how children perceive their own classroom experiences.
Even more problematic is the fact that the student surveys will no longer be a stand-alone component of the EES, affecting a teacher's overall rating. Instead, they will serve mainly as feedback. The best teachers will internalize students' praise and constructive criticism to improve their craft, the worst will ignore and dismiss this information. Students are the educational consumers here, and their opinions should count....
It's worth noting that Hawaii's EES overhaul, generally lauded by the Hawaii State Teachers Association and the Hawaii Government Employees Association, was announced the same week as a landmark court ruling came down in California....
A judge there struck down that state's tenure system, seniority rules and dismissal procedures for K-12 teachers. The judge ruled in favor of students who had sued claiming they were deprived of their constitutional right to a quality education....
read ... Grading teachers can't be too easy
Aiona Proposes Homeless Court, Greater Outreach to Veterans
CB: Duke Aiona, a Republican running for Hawaii governor, today announced what he called a bold plan to reduce homelessness in Hawaii that would have immediate results.
Speaking to reporters in the Kakaako Makai area that has recently become dotted with people living in tents, Aiona said as governor he would establish a homeless court along the lines of existing drug and other specialty courts.
The homeless court would allow homeless people and their families to petition the court to help them receive services and reunite with families....
And, if elected governor, Aiona said he would contact governors of other states whenever he learned that those states had been providing homeless people one-way tickets to Hawaii. Aiona would send the homeless back to their home state and direct the attorney general to collect on the costs.
Aiona, a former Republican lieutenant governor, called his approach to the homeless “compassionate yet tough justice” and predicted it would reduce by two-thirds the number of homeless living on the streets.
read ... Aiona Proposals
Compassionate Disruption: Mayor's sidewalk strategy to Push Homeless in to Shelters
SA: Two new bills being proposed by Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell would give his administration further ammunition to conduct his "compassionate disruption" campaign to remove the homeless from the sidewalks of Waikiki.
Drafts of the measures, expected to be formally unveiled this week as part of a revamped strategy to fight homelessness, were contained in a memorandum sent Thursday by Caldwell to City Council Chairman Ernie Martin.
The first bill would bar people from sitting or lying on public sidewalks within the Waikiki Special District, defined in city land use laws as the area east and south (makai) of Ala Wai Boulevard and west of Kapahulu Avenue. The bill is patterned after Seattle's so-called "sit-lie ordinance," which was upheld by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
The second bill would prohibit urinating and defecating in public areas and privately owned areas open for public use within the Waikiki Special District.
A similar prohibition currently exists, in the form of a state law, for downtown Honolulu.
read ... Sidewalk Strategy
Kauai Anti-GMO Initiative Will Ban Experimental Hemp Farms
KE: ...up on Wednesday is a Council committee review of Councilman Tim Bynum's politically-driven bill to “punish” the seed/chem companies by eliminating their ag tax deduction. His proposed Bill 2456 would exclude horticulture and “lands that are used primarily for the research and development of crops or parent seed production, which do not directly gain monetary profit from the ultimate consumer.”
But in the typical blinders-on fashion that narrows and distorts everything to do with the seed industry on Kauai, it fails to consider the broader picture, who else and what else might be affected.
Like experimental hemp crops, or the future cultivation of hemp for fuel, food or fiber. Research on biofuels. Taro, cows and pigs raised for home consumption. The north shore organic ginger and turmeric farmers producing seed for export. Flower growers making keiki. Taro huli banks. Fruit farmers and beekeepers selling to the meadery. Anybody producing a wholesale ag product rather than peddling directly to a consumer.
Aside from hindering non-GMO ag activities that most of us would support as positive contributions to the island, the bill arbitrarily, and bizarrely, bans crops and seeds from the definition of agriculture. For some inexplicable reason you can grow trees, though we have no lumber mills here, and no direct consumer market exists for such a product, but you cannot grow seeds.
Which opens the door to another discrimination lawsuit....
read ... Musings: Something Else
Today is Deadline for Obama Library
ABC: The submission deadline for sites interested in hosting library is Monday. Three Chicago universities, Columbia University in New York City and University of Hawaii are all in the running.
Chicago leaders have heavily pushed the idea, as the city has already submitted five separate bids. Four of the proposed sites are on the South Side, where Obama started his political career - including University of Chicago, Chicago State University and University of Illinois at Chicago. A private developer wants to build the library on the former lakefront U.S. Steel site in South Chicago.
SA: Isles file pitch for Obama library at elevation 3' above 'rising' sea level
read ... Monday Deadline
Hawaiian Airlines Tightens Grip on Its Home Market
MF: Hawaiian Holdings (NASDAQ: HA ) subsidiary Hawaiian Airlines has been the top airline in the island chain ever since being founded 85 years ago. Nevertheless, for most of its history, it faced significant competition, primarily from Aloha Airlines.
However, the demise of Aloha Airlines in 2008 removed Hawaiian Holdings' main competitor. This allowed the company to fill the vacuum and gain a dominant position in the interisland travel market almost overnight. Now Hawaiian Holdings is poised to solidify its dominance by expanding its Ohana by Hawaiian turboprop operations in Hawaii.
read ... Motley Fool
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