• District should let student eat lunch • Extending school year a bad idea • Taxi experience leaves sour taste District should let student eat lunch I have kept quiet about this until now. I see how it has
• District should let student eat lunch • Extending school year a bad idea • Taxi experience leaves sour taste
District should let student eat lunch
I have kept quiet about this until now. I see how it has become a huge issue nationwide and has created quite a stir. I suppose it is time to say something now publicly. My 13-year-old has had her lunch taken away from her at least four times at her middle school here on Kauai due to an insufficient lunch account. Not only did they take it away, they didn’t throw it away, they put it back for other kids to buy. I am sure this is a violation of health code, no? What if she had sneezed on it? I was notified that she was behind, but since it was her father who had assured me that he would put money on it each time, I didn’t think about it. I am upset that my daughter was humiliated like this in front of her peers at school and that she didn’t get to eat. She told me she had math next and she was really hungry this last time. And then to find out that it happened multiple times, something should be done. Has this happened to anyone else?
Chandra Rivers, Lihue
Extending school year a bad idea
Michael Kline was absolutely right on in his letter regarding lengthening the school year. Mr. Kline, a national board certified teacher, has been teaching in Hawaii for over 15 years and has worked closely with students, parents, colleagues, HSTA and the Kauai community. He understands what it takes to teach, to counsel, to work with students through out the years. There are hundreds of other teachers who also regard their profession as a valued experience to improve children’s quality of life.
Hawaii Sen. David Ige has never been a public school teacher. His proposal to extend Hawaii’s school year by two weeks has no merit. It seems to be yet another knee-jerk reaction that politicians make year after year without any teaching experience and without spending time in a public school classroom.
When mandating public school legislation, legislators never directly consult teachers or visit schools. The disconnect between what legislators postulate and how life in a classroom actually works is huge.
Sen. Ige is campaigning against Gov. Abercrombie, who is the third successive governor who has cut education funding, reduced teacher benefits and salaries and piled excessive testing on students. The last governor who truly valued public education was Gov. John Waihee. It would be wonderful to have another such akamai governor.
I invite Sen. Ige to visit classrooms and listen to teachers. He needs to see and hear what’s already successfully happening with our children. Ten extra school days won’t help an already beleaguered education system.
Terese Barich, Lihue
Taxi experience leaves sour taste
My wife and I are from Victoria B.C. and have visited your beautiful island four times in the last five years.
We have had wonderful vacations and when we are back home we encourage our friends to visit your island.
This last time we had a disappointment that I will share.
On Sunday night we arrived from Vancouver. We and three other couples were waiting for a taxi. We were first in line and when the taxi arrived we put our luggage in the car and told the driver we needed a ride to Island Car rentals (about a $10 fare). The second couple in line were going to a resort very close to the airport. The driver overheard that the third couple in line was going to Princeville.
He then proceeded to tell us to take our bags out of the car and that another taxi was coming for us and the second couple. He then loaded the Princeville couple and was off.
I understand what the driver was all about but I just was too tired and annoyed to do deal with the situation. I mentioned this to the owner of the car rental place and he said he is not allowed to pick up his customers at the airport and yet the taxi companies make the cheap pick up as a last resort.
I do appreciate that it’s all about the dollar but I do think that in order to operate a successful business one has to take the bad fare along with the lucrative one. I love visiting your island and will come again but these kind of stories do get around quickly.
Walter Bonderoff, Victoria B.C.
