A former National Football League player is defending a Republican Party paid ad that raised the ire of public school teachers because it criticized the state's school system. Former football player
clarifies school
criticism in adBy Crystal Kua
ckua@starbulletin.comIn the ad, Leo Goeas said: "I have been a Democrat all my life -- just like you. My wife and I have five kids, and we have chosen to home-school all of them or send them to private schools because we have lost any faith in Hawaii's public school system -- just like you."
Goeas said yesterday that the ad was not intended to bash teachers.
"It's not directed toward the teachers, saying that they're doing a bad job," Goeas said. "The problem and the intent of my statement was specifically, the system in which they are under or forced to work under is crippling them, is not giving them the necessary financial tools that they need to make a significant impact in these young people's lives."
Derek Minakami, the 2001 Teacher of the Year, said that he appreciates Goeas clarifying the intent of his statements, but he believes that the ad should be pulled or changed because it is too general and does not hone in on specific challenges and solutions.
"It's not so much that it's just him saying it, it's the expectation that the rest of the public feels the same or should feel the same," Minakami said.
"I think broad brushes are more harmful than they are effective because they do not take into account what the specific problems are, what exactly needs to be fixed."
Goeas said he does not regret doing the spot, especially because of the debate it sparked.
Minakami said that the advertisement discounts the successes in the schools and the improvements that he and others within the school system are trying to make.
"If a political ad is to help us understand a candidate better, then wouldn't it be better if we heard what exactly the candidate would do for us?" Minakami said.
Micah Kane, Republican Party chairman, said that the ad stopped running Friday, before criticisms of Minakami and several teachers surfaced over the weekend, but the commercial still can be heard on the party Web site.
"We sympathize with teachers, there's no question, but we need to take action," Kane said.
After elections, he said, politicians tend to forget about teachers. "That's why we have to make it an issue now."
That is because while the Hawaii State Teachers Association has decided so far not to endorse anyone in the governor's race, candidates are trying to gain the support of the union's 13,000 members.
Kane said that the current administration, which includes Lt. Gov. Mazie Hirono, should be held accountable for the failures in the current system including low teacher morale, lack of supplies and the court-supervised special-education system.
But Barbara Tanabe, a Hirono campaign spokeswoman, said Hirono agrees with Minakami.
"You can't paint the public schools as all bad, right? That's what he's saying. Essentially, that's Mazie's position, too," she said.
