• Article was poor representation of school • Let’s be creative with athletic participation • Why punish a third of the population? Article was poor representation of school I am terribly disturbed and disappointed in the article written in Wednesday’s
• Article was poor representation of school
• Let’s be creative with athletic participation
• Why punish a third of the population?
Article was poor representation of school
I am terribly disturbed and disappointed in the article written in Wednesday’s Sports section regarding Pierce Murphy and Kula High School (“Kula’s Murphy must sit out track season,” B1, March 5).
I am not sure what the motivation or point was; however, after reading it several times over the course of the day, I am most frustrated with how poorly it represented a school and one of its most phenomenal and dedicated employees.
I am not sure if The Garden Island is aware, but Suzanne Messinger, the athletic director of Kula Intermediate and High School, is not only the AD, but also works full time as one of the most inspiring, passionate and remarkable elementary teachers I have had the pleasure of coming across.
Suzanne Messinger took on the athletic director position in summer of 2007, not because she needed another full-time job, but because Kula was entering into a new school year without an AD. I have never seen a professional give so much of herself to the children and athletes of a school.
On top of her positions as an elementary teacher and athletic director did you happen to know that Suzanne was also Pierce’s cross country coach this fall? Do you know that Suzanne was seen running every day, many times twice a day all over Kilauea, Princeville and Hanalei with her seven-member cross country team? Do you know that Suzanne would leave her teaching job, drive Pierce and other runners down to Hanalei Bay (where she would run and coach with them for over an hour each day), then drive any runners who needed rides back to their homes in Kilauea (even though her home is in Hanalei)? I hope TGI didn’t know all this, because if the paper knew anything about Kula Intermediate and High School, Suzanne Messinger and any other present employee, then I think the tone of the article would have been presented quite differently.
As far as Kula’s not having a track team. There is no student or family (other than maybe the Murphys) who thought Kula offered track and field. Please refer to their Web site: www.kula.org. Kula prides itself in its mission and philosophy which attempts to honor each student and his/her gifts, talents and dreams. Under the former administration, Kula has a formal policy for selecting the sports it will participate in each year. Being a small school it is impossible to offer every sport that the public schools with significantly larger populations are able to offer. At Kula, the student body (of which Pierce is a member) was surveyed in the spring. The sports that the students were most interested in competing in were chosen by the former athletic director and principal based completely on the interests of the student body as a collective. The students were most interested in: cross country, girls volleyball, canoe paddling, swimming, golf and tennis. Track and field received hardly any student interest. Since schools are required to declare the sports they will participate in to the KIF board by the spring of the previous year, Kula declared, under the recommendations of its students, former principal and former athletic director, the sports listed above. Kula followed its “fair” procedure and selected sports not based on the interest of one student, but rather the entire body. Nowhere on the Web site, in any school information packets has it ever said that Kula would be offering a track team in the Spring of 2008.
Thank you, TGI, for writing a more accurate article next time. Thank you, Pierce, for being such a dedicated cross country runner and thank you, Suzanne, for all that you do for Kula Elementary, Intermediate and high schools.
Ann-Marie Glynn
Princeville
Let’s be creative with athletic participation
What a shame that Pierce Murphy is not running track (“Kula’s Murphy must sit out track season,” B1, March 5).
He is a talented young man and ought to be able to compete. His situation highlights one facet of a situation that many young people on Kaua‘i face. Because Pierce attends a KIF member school, he may not play for any other KIF school, even if his school does not offer a particular KIF sport. Further, Hawai‘i state law prohibits home schooled and non public school students from participating in public high school sports. The net effect is to decrease overall participation in high school sports, as well as provide an incentive for non public school student athletes to either reluctantly change their current educational situation or leave Kaua‘i altogether.
Being a small community, we need to devise creative ways to increase athletic participation and promote educational diversity. On a seemingly annual basis, bills are introduced in the Hawai‘i state Senate aimed at increasing access for non public school students to public school sports, cheer, band, etc. These bills consistently die. It is time that one passes into law. Additionally, KIF rules should be amended to reflect the unique circumstances of Kaua‘i’s student athletes. Finally, Kaua‘i independent schools ought to explore the possibility of following the Pac-Five model on O‘ahu, creating a conglomeration of small schools that pool their athletes in order to field teams.
Eric Wortmann
Kalaheo
Why punish a third of the population?
Ernest Benn insightfully told us: “Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it whether it exists or not, diagnosing it incorrectly, and applying the wrong remedy.”
He was talking about Bernard Carvalho threatening dog owners with $500 fines for walking on the Eastside path and the mayor and councilmembers who give him their tacit approval. He was talking about a police force with a severe manpower shortage devoting time to keeping the path dog-free. Forget the fact that this is where dog owners have always walked. Forget the fact that owners of at least one dog make up 33 percent of the resident population. Forget the fact that he’s punishing 33 percent of the population for irresponsibility they haven’t committed. Forget the fact that every potential problem can be mitigated just like on paths elsewhere. Forget the fact that this is the complete opposite of a rural lifestyle.
In 2006, the Eastside Path Committee, after untiring work and actual research, drafted a management plan (see www.kauaipath.org) that recommended the Offices of Community Assistance submit an ordinance to amend the Kaua‘i County Code to allow animals on the path. Guess what? Bernard Carvalho is also the Director of Offices of Community Assistance. Did he do it? Of course he didn’t.
Then there’s the part about making a loud noise about enforcement. On Kaua‘i, only a political nitwit would go out of their way to threaten people doing what they’ve always done. We will have Bernard Carvalho maintaining an unjustified, nonrural status quo for at least another two years. He can be bypassed.
If you are a dog owner, love dogs, love a dog owner, or just love justice, make this an issue in the council elections this year. How a candidate stands on this issue will tell you whether they possess common sense or uncommon nonsense.
Peter Antonson
Wailua
