Ed board hears
textbook case of
lost funds

A rule is proposed to have
students either pay for lost and
damaged books or work off
the amount owed

Panel looks to rebuild playgrounds

By Crystal Kua
Star-Bulletin

Hawaii secondary schools spend an average $20,000 a year on lost or damaged textbooks, and the Board of Education wants that to stop.

The board last night gave preliminary approval to a proposal that would require students who lose or damage textbooks to either pay to replace them or take part in a program to work off the amount if they can't afford to pay.

The board will take the proposed rules to public hearing before final approval.

Special-education teacher Laura Lee Bolles said she once had a student who purposely threw away a textbook to avoid doing the work.

"I had no recourse (to get the book back)," Bolles said in telling the board that she favored the rules.

Board member Denise Matsumoto said the work element in the proposed rules "gives the student a way to pay it off."

State Schools Superintendent Paul LeMahieu said that besides providing compensation, the work program also provides a way for students to assume responsibility for their actions.

Francine Grudzias, the Department of Education's Systems Group director, said the rules were intended to put teeth into a regulation that already allows the department to charge for lost or damaged books.

Grudzias said that for years students were not held responsible for lost or damaged books.

Details of the restitution-by-work program are not final, but one suggestion included linking the amount being worked off to the minimum wage, Grudzias said.

The proposed rules said students who fail to make restitution wouldn't be allowed to participate in student activities including athletics, clubs, proms, class banquets, May Day and other organized festivals.

While the rules will apply to all grades, they were originally intended for high school students, Matsumoto said.

Bolles, who teaches at Solomon Elementary, said responsibility for textbooks should be taught from kindergarten.

She also said the rules should be specific in making special-education students more accountable for their textbooks.

Besides assigned textbooks, the rules also apply to library books, school equipment and other learning materials.

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Panel looks to rebuild
playgrounds

By Crystal Kua
Star-Bulletin

The Department of Education is working on a plan that could provide much-needed assistance to parents and schools looking to replace jungle gyms, swings and other playground equipment that were dismantled because they did not meet federal guidelines, the state schools chief said.

State Superintendent Paul LeMahieu said the department should be appreciative when parents offer monetary help or assistance, and he will be looking into complaints made by Hickam Elementary parents last night that the department turned down money offered to help replace playground apparatus at their school.

Hickam Air Force Base offered $10,000 each to Hickam and Mokulele schools along with secondhand playground equipment from the base Child Development Center. But the assistance was met with a "no thanks" from the department, parents said.

"We don't understand why," said Mary Anstett.

LeMahieu said he didn't know the specifics of the Hickam case because the department's facilities chief was out of the office yesterday, but liability may have been one of the concerns about accepting equipment from the child-care center.

Schools across the state have seen their playground equipment dismantled for failure to meet federal guidelines. As a result, many schools don't have playground equipment.

State Rep. Bob McDermott, who accompanied the Hickam parents last night, said the Legislature could be doing more financially to help schools replace playground equipment.

LeMahieu said there are also ways the DOE could help, perhaps by ordering and purchasing playground equipment in bulk. Schools could save thousands of dollars that way, he said.