Chiefess Kamakahelei Middle School students anxious to receive their class yearbooks Thursday instead took home a note signed by their principal, Debra Badua, and yearbook editor, Darcy Kunimoto. The letter, dated May 31, says the 2006-07 yearbooks will not be
Chiefess Kamakahelei Middle School students anxious to receive their class yearbooks Thursday instead took home a note signed by their principal, Debra Badua, and yearbook editor, Darcy Kunimoto.
The letter, dated May 31, says the 2006-07 yearbooks will not be distributed due to “substantial errors.” On Friday, Badua said some 700 yearbooks “have been destroyed.”
Students want the picture-filled memento. Parents want further justification, according to the mother of an eighth-grader at CKMS.
“I’m very, very upset,” she said Friday, requesting to remain anonymous. “(School officials) should at least give answers. Let the parents judge if the errors are bad enough to not distribute the yearbook.”
The students do not care about the errors, according to a 13-year-old at CKMS.
“We just want the pictures and memories,” she said. “I still look at my kindergarten yearbook and wanted this one to show my kids some day.”
Two sixth-grade students on the yearbook staff echoed these sentiments.
“It’s really sad. I don’t think it’s fair because the yearbook staff worked very, very hard throughout the year to get it nice and now they’re just taking our yearbooks away and just destroying them — all that effort and money and paper gone to waste,” the 12-year-old said.
Kunimoto deferred comment to the principal.
Badua and Complex Area Superintendent Daniel Hamada on Tuesday “jointly” made the decision to not distribute the yearbooks, the principal said. Hamada was unavailable for comment at press time.
“Most of the parents understand that we are sorry we can’t provide the yearbook, but the issue of it being poor quality just prohibits us from doing that. We want to make sure we provide our students and our parents with a quality product that truly represents Chiefess Kamakahelei Middle School,” Badua said.
Students are circulating petitions around school and waving signs on campus demanding the yearbooks be distributed, according to an eighth-grader and two sixth grade yearbook staff members.
“The whole school is talking about it,” the 13-year-old said.
No new yearbooks will be made, according to Badua.
“We’re not able to do that in the time remaining in school. Students were provided with a $20 refund and are encouraged to take photographs and create their own scrapbooks,” she said.
A yearbook staff member said she was glad to see teachers bending the rules this week for her fellow classmates by allowing cameras and students to sign each other’s shirts.
Badua declined to offer examples of the errors that prohibited distribution. She said there was a “wide variety” that “detracted from the quality.”
Some parents and students suggested the “Living Local” title on the yearbook cover may have offended some people or presented legal issues, but the principal, parents and students denied this claim.
“That’s totally incorrect. The title and the theme had nothing to do with the decision not to distribute the yearbooks,” Badua said.
Some misspelled names may have been a reason to not hand out the yearbooks, according to a yearbook staff student.
“But the kids don’t care about mistakes. We just want our friends’ pictures and the tradition of signing it,” she added. “We aren’t blaming anybody. All we want is the yearbooks.”
The principal said she could not comment on potential staff disciplinary action or the financial outfall, but said the yearbook staff members are not at fault.
“The students are not responsible for the errors,” Badua said, adding yearbook class students’ grades are determined by the process, not the final product.
Parents and students are encouraged to contact the principal or vice-principals at 241-3200 with any questions, according to the letter sent home with students.
More than 900 students attend CKMS, Badua said. The school was built on the Puhi plain, located just south of Kaua’i Community College, and services grades 6-8, who live in the Hanama‘ulu, Lïhu‘e, Puhi, Koloa and Kalaheo neighborhoods.
• Nathan Eagle, staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 224) or neagle@kauaipubco.com.
