• Against localizing school board Against localizing school board By Sherwood Hara I have been asked what my position is on the governor’s initiative to establish local school boards. I do not and have not supported this initiative. There has
• Against localizing school board
Against localizing school board
By Sherwood Hara
I have been asked what my position is on the governor’s initiative to establish local school boards. I do not and have not supported this initiative.
There has been so much focus on the local-school-board issue that it is easy to lose sight of a broader, more-important issue, that of our individual rights in our state and nation.
Let me digress a bit in saying that we as a democratic nation have fought many wars, beginning with one battle against England, to gain and maintain our individual rights. We have participated in world wars to protect those rights. Our individual rights are the linchpin and foundation upon which our nation is formed.
When the framers of our state Constitution formatted its content regarding education, it placed within it a basic foundational premise which was upheld by the people of our state: that the people would elect their Board of Education representatives. Education is such an important part of our society that it was determined that right belongs to the people.
The governor’s initiative proposes establishing seven elected local school boards, but at the same time have an appointed education commission appointed by the governor.
We should not give up the right to elect all our education representatives at any level. We should not give up the right to elect someone our community believes can represent them for parents and their children.
For our community to be healthy, we need you who are actively engaged in self-governance; we need you who care about your child’s education; we need you who are not willing to abdicate your right to elect your representative.
We should not have someone appoint that representative for us. No one should be given that power to direct and influence your child’s education. That power or influence belongs to you. Why should we give that power to our governor, present and future, who will appoint someone that you may not know? Someone who may not be committed to representing your child and his education? The appointed education commission takes away your authority as parents. You should have a direct say in your child’s education.
Sherwood Hara is the Kaua‘i and Ni‘ihau representative on the state Board of Education.
