[ BOARD OF EDUCATION ]

Majority of BOE seats
in play this election

8 of the 13 seats are up for vote; 2 are to
fill terms of seats left open by resignations

Board of Education candidates

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By Craig Gima
cgima@starbulletin.com

It requires a little bit of homework to cast an educated vote in the Board of Education elections.

It's not like most of the ballot, in which you vote for a representative from the area that you live in. Instead, there are two voting districts: Oahu and the neighbor islands.

If you live on Oahu, you vote for not only Oahu at large, but also the Windward, Leeward and Central Oahu candidates.

No matter what neighbor island you live on, you can vote for the Maui Board of Education seat.

Candidates generally don't spend a lot of money to get their message out, so it takes some effort to find out where they stand on the issues.

The Board of Education's duties are to set policy for the public schools and manage state libraries.

Eight of the 13 seats on the Board of Education are to be decided Nov. 5. Board members serve four-year terms.

But two of the elections -- the Leeward Oahu seat and one Oahu at-large seat -- are to fill the remaining two years of seats that were left open by resignations.

The top three finishers in the other Oahu at-large seats will win election. Karen Knudsen, Shannon Ajifu and Keith Sakata are hoping for re-election against the other three top vote-getters from the primary: attorney Randall Yee, minister Marla Wade and Kenneth Segawa.

In the open Windward Oahu seat, attorney Laura Thielen, the daughter of Rep. Cynthia Thielen, is facing attorney and former state Rep. Terrance Tom.

Community volunteer Grace Dixon and former bank teller and Aiea Neighborhood Board member Shirley Ann Robinson are both hoping to get the open Central Oahu seat.

The only neighbor island seat open is for the Maui District, where attorney Mary Cochran and former board member Kelly King are seeking election.

Running for the remaining term in Leeward Oahu are Breene Harimoto, a city official appointed to the seat; and Karen James, a former teacher who runs a computer resale business.

Garrett Toguchi, a former school board member appointed to the seat by Gov. Ben Cayetano, is facing Shannon Wood, publisher of an online newspaper and co-owner of a multimedia company, for the Oahu at-large seat formerly held by Donna Ikeda.