Newswatch
Test results that rank Hawaii eighth-grade students as among the worst in the nation in their knowledge of science and their problem-solving ability are "disappointing," a state Education Department spokesman says. Isle eighth-graders
score low in science"We recognize there is considerable room for improvement," said spokesman Greg Knudsen. "It is the first year that Hawaii has participated, and it's good in the sense that it shows us where we are and where we need to go."
Only the District of Columbia, Guam, Louisiana and Mississippi scored lower than Hawaii in the National Assessment of Educational Progress test, designed to give a snapshot of science education and provide a benchmark for the future.
Knudsen said it is too early to pinpoint reasons for the results but felt difficulties in recruiting science teachers and keeping them from going to more lucrative jobs add to the problem.
Sixty Waianae High School students have some prominent folks among their ranks, like Lt. Gov. Mazie Hirano and Paul Brewbaker, chief economist for the Bank of Hawaii. Valuable school program
threatened by budget cutsThe students belong to the Pacific and Asian Affairs Council High School Program, which has acquired about 40,000 alumni from Hawaii's private and public high schools over the last 43 years. Many former members are leaders today, and the Waianae students wear their memberships like a badge of honor.
But the students, as well as at least 140 more in 22 high schools in Hawaii, may be squeezed out of the council's programs next year if $123,000 is not raised. The Legislature cut the program's funding from the Department of Education budget. Such cuts are starting to sink in as teachers and students realize what they will be missing next year and search for other sources of funding.
Teachers say the council's program is one of the few opportunities students get to think internationally, especially about the Asia-Pacific region. This year 180 students gathered on Maui for the 1997 Model APEC 2020, a mini-summit in which the students represented countries in the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation. They debated such issues as child labor, reached a consensus, then drafted a summit statement.
Children were playing in the yard of a Nanakuli home Sunday afternoon when Norman Montira, 47, stopped his car in the middle of the street and walked up the driveway carrying a gun pointed toward the sky, a witness said. Victim's family tells
of Nanakuli shootingSeventeen-year-old Travis Botelho told a judge Friday that Montira was looking for his former girlfriend -- Botelho's aunt -- Cheryl Botelho, and walked to the garage, followed by two of her relatives. "They were telling him 'No, Norman' because he had the gun pointed at her," Botelho said.
Montira then shot the two relatives and a family friend sitting in the garage, Travis Botelho said.
After hearing testimony from Botelho and others, a District Court judge ruled yesterday that there was enough evidence to send the case to trial in Circuit Court.
Police charged Montira with eight counts including murder, attempted murder and terroristic threatening. He is being held on $550,000 bail.
David Eli, 24, was killed in the gunfire, and Ronald Botelho, 43, was treated for gunshot wounds. Timothy Calderon, 53, was hospitalized and is still recovering from his wounds.
