January, 2011 Letters To The Editor

Hawaii Daily News Read

Monday, January 17, 2011

January, 2011 Letters To The Editor
By Letters to the Editor @ 1:25 AM :: 15802 Views

Warning to Mokapu: Age and Sex discrimination at Gulen Charter School

Dear Editor,

I read your article about the Gulenites trying to establish a charter school on the Marine base. Your research was outstanding. I worked for Horizon Science Academy Denison Middle School in Cleveland, Ohio as a Dean of Students for two years. I was formerly an assistant principal who retired from the Cleveland Municipal School District. I had no idea what I was getting into until I started searching the web. I was non-renewed or terminated after two years. I was 59 years old at the time and I and another Dean, Gloria Catalusci, filed EEOC complaints that finally wound up as a lawsuit. Gloria won a sex discrimination lawsuit which was settled out of court. She was being paid much less than I for the same work being done.

My case went to Federal Court and was dismissed for summary judgment which is interesting because the SAME judge who arbitrated wanted me to accept $60,000 to settle the case in arbitration. I refused. There was no guarantee that Horizon would agree to that amount anyway. My case went to the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals here in Ohio and I am awaiting the decision of the three judge panel as to whether my case should be heard before a jury here in Cleveland.

I can personally vouch for discrimination on the part of the Gulenites running these schools. They are not even citizens nor do they desire to be. I wondered from the beginning why a group of Turkish people would even want to start schools here in Cleveland. When I asked that question I was told that they were "building bridges". I now understand what they were trying to do.

Best regards,

Ron Gehrlein

Cleveland, Ohio

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Sovereignty Activist rejects SPLC claim of tie to Tucson shootings

Dear Editor: January 17, 2011

I was shocked by your headlining the maligned thinking of the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) in your recent article that associated David Wynn Miller with our lawful Hawaiian Government movement for independence and the extreme act of a demented killer in Arizona. What you failed also to allude to was the fact that the “Asing” faction on Maui is not extreme but does exist as a faction of questionable status at this time. Most Hawaiians do not support the likes of Mr. Miller and I personally do not feel that your misrepresentation by association was in the best interest or in proper proportion to the actual status of facts. Do you do investigative journalism? Unfortunately, the article represented to me an attempt at sensationalism that was not fully based upon lawful facts, and did a disservice to both the Hawai’i Free Press in the eyes and thinking of Hawaiian Nationals, this Government, and to the peaceful, not extreme, Hawaiian movement for independence.

I trust my letter to you is not too harsh, if so, I apologize, but I am concerned when individuals such as David Wynn Miller and others like him are associated with lawful, righteous and law abiding Hawaiian Nationals such as ourselves, and when any non-violent Hawaiian Group like the Asing Group are mislabeled and associated by misrepresentation with a demented Arizona killer on foreign U.S. soil.

It is time for actual, truthful facts in proper perspective to be reflected, especially in journalism. Can we start with the “Hawai’i Free Press”?

Respectfully, with Aloha,

Aran Alton Ardaiz, Attorney General, Pro Tempore

Ke Aupuni O Hawaii, Ko Hawaii Pae Aina

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Teacher: Welfare payments should be tied to children’s school performance

Dear Editor, Jan 14, 2011

In the 10 years I've taught at Waianae Intermediate, I've watched the school go from a place where 3% of the student population met the standard to over 60% meeting the standard in English and nearly 50% in math. Every year consecutively we have gone up English and with one exception every year we have gone up in math. So you can understand my confusion when the public comes down hard on teachers. I won't lie it makes me very upset. This is the kind of stuff you never hear about Waianae Intermediate HSA test scores have gone up 2000% since 2001. Similarly, early this year we had elected officials come down to our school (after school of course) and imply that we weren't doing a very good job. This made me furious. We are really doing everything in our power to do our best.

Do you realize that in my school 20 percent of students are excessively absent and the school has no real attendance policy to deal with this chunk of the population missing school. What should be done? Well, my fellow faculty members seem to think that there is a direct correlation between welfare and missing school or at least welfare and lack of education. How about if you're on welfare and your kid doesn't come to school, maybe you don't get as much welfare. Or how about welfare incentives, if a child gets all A's the parent gets this much amount, B's this much amount and so forth. Yeah, I know how that sounds, but the reality is, if the students aren't in school I can't teach them.

Joseph DeMarco

Kapolei, Oahu

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DoE Teacher: Waianae, Hilo, Hana Students are Degenerates

Dear Editor,

I wish the Star Advertiser and the think tank demanding teacher flexibility could spend just a few minutes in our schools. What might they see?

They would see a dedicated teacher trying to convey their knowledge to a dilapidated, overcrowded room full of degenerates who are either busy text messaging each other, talking, sleeping, or staring out the window. But wait, let's make the teachers work more hours without paying them more. Longer hours should bring up HSA test scores. WRONG. In places like Waianae, Hana, Hilo where 20 percent of the students don't show up for school and another 20 percent of the students just plain don’'t (sic) give a rip, you can make them go to school for 20 hours a day and they still won't learn anything, because they just plain don't care. They have parents that don't care and the cycle goes round.

Teachers don't need to be more flexible, they need smaller class sizes, less behaviorial (sic) outbursts and students who actually care about education. I've heard people say teachers need to make class more interesting. Again I have to plea, the students who don't want to be there would be bored if we were going on a rollercoaster to study centrufugal (sic) force. If the system is broken it's because the parents and students aren't doing there part. Teachers see students about an hour a day, five days a week, we can hardly correct the behavior of a student who has been conditioned to do whatever they want when they want. If the students aren't learning, maybe we should start blaming the students.

Joe DeMarco

10-year teacher, Waianae Int. School

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Shindler, Sugihara, Bingham

Dear Editor,

Shindler, Sugihara, Bingham: Were there others? Probably, but maybe we never will know. I was in Japan at the time Sugihara amazing contributions became noticed. I was in Chicago when Hannah Arendt was a faculty member, and got to know her, albeit briefly. We've had our film about Shindler, and it was excellent, but isn't it about time for films about Sugihara and Bingham?

James Barney Marsh, Professor of International Business Economics, Shidler College of Business

University of Hawaii at Manoa

Sugihara: The Sugihara Project

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Sen Malama Solomon: Comment about plastic bag ban

Dear Editor,

As I ride up one of the highways on the west side of Hawaii island, I see a lot of trash throw along the highway. I see beer cans, soda cans, liquor bottles, a couch and abandoned cars. Regularly we see large bags of trash dumped along the road. Tax money would be better spent doing something about the roadside dumping. Police enforcement of abandoning cars is a better protection of the environment than doing an EIS on plastic bags. The problem with plastic bags is a people problem.

Senator Malama Solomon (D-Hamakua)