The recent decision to furlough teachers on 17 Fridays this school year will reduce the school year to 163 instructional days. This will leave Hawai'i with the shortest school year in the nation. With a 10 percent decrease of instruction days and lagging test scores, it will be difficult to justify that Hawai'i's educational system ranks on par with those on the Mainland.
This writer agrees that something needs to be done, but that all options were not looked at. We were presented with only one alternative. It was to ratify the contract or, as it was presented to me on more than one occasion by my union, face a possible strike. The way the contract was presented left many of us feeling that there was no way out of this dire dilemma. I personally felt bullied and pushed to vote yes. I did not.
Many years ago, I had a poster of a bulldog hanging on a bulletin board in my office. Underneath, the caption read: "Sometimes I sits and thinks. And sometimes, I just sits." I think this is what our state leadership has been doing the last four to eight years — just sitting.

silvia koch, ed.d. | Kipapa Elementary School counselor

FURLOUGHS

COMMUNITY SCHOOLS NOT IMMUNE TO CUTS

After reading the letter from Kim Koga (Oct. 5), I feel the need to set the record straight.

Ms. Koga suggested that the community schools had not been touched by budget reductions. This year, as well as last year, all community school budgets were reduced.

Ms. Koga implied that those of us who work at community schools would not be furloughed. Our HSTA members will be furloughed, according to the teachers' contract. As a member of the HGEA, we are waiting for the contract to be settled.

Ms. Koga also mentioned that she questions some of the courses we offer. As a community school, we are accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges. This is the same accrediting body that is used for all secondary and post-secondary schools in Hawaii. In our high school diploma programs, we graduate over 500 students a year with high school diplomas. In all, we service several thousand students a year.

It is unfortunate that Ms. Koga had the wrong information. The community schools are no different than every other public employee in this state.

susan meyer | Waipahu

CONTRACT TALKS

CATALUNA'S VIEW ON UH DISAPPOINTING

We were disappointed with Lee Cataluna's column (Oct. 13) about the UH faculty's rejection of the university administration's offer.

We did not turn down the pay cut because we think we're more deserving than others. We turned it down because the university administration will not fight the governor over the financial choices she is making, and if the faculty accepted the offer, we would have waived the right to challenge cuts to our public university for the duration of the contract.

The HSTA and the UH administrators have surrendered to the governor's decree that the only way of dealing with a temporary financial crisis is to cut state services. Teachers felt blackmailed — take a cut or we take your jobs. Here at the university we consulted accountants, economists and political scientists and concluded that cuts to education will make our current crisis worse. We are already witnessing a general outrage to the furloughing of public school teachers and the rippling economic effect on the residents of these islands who can least afford it.

We were surprised that Ms. Cataluna, admired for her empathetic populist instincts, wasn't with us on this one, but we shall stand and fight for an affordable and quality education for our people, even if we're the only ones who will.

Cristina bacchilega, meda chesney-lind, laura lyons, mari j. matsuda, jonathan osorio and cynthia franklin | University of Hawaii-Mänoa faculty

LANDFILLS

STOP TARGETING FOAM PLASTIC CONTAINERS

Maui County Councilman Mike Victorino says that foam plastic containers are filling out the landfill. In reality, all trash is responsible for filling the landfill, not only foam plastic containers!

What is more important — banning the foam plastic container, which makes it easier to dispense food, or to lessen the landfill? Foam plastic containers have been used by many of the food servers and people like it. There are more people who like using the foam plastic containers and a few environmentalists.

Doesn't Victorino represent the majority of the people or just his own idea and those few who are more concerned about the environment? Foam plastic containers are convenient, economical and insulate foods. Let's find solutions to problems instead of banning, which our council mentality is.

francis k. ibara | Kahului, Maui

GUAM JOBS

UNION WORKERS UNFAIRLY TARGETED

Unions are a great target for all the ills facing the U.S. According to some letters to the editor, teachers (union) should teach for free and U.S. workers (union) should be denied work upgrading facilities for the U.S military in Guam.

Now first of all, I think Mr. Gary Stark (Letters, Oct. 9) should be sent back to school to learn that the territory of Guam is part of the U.S. Guam is not paying workers to build the facilities. The U.S. government (military) will contract and have the facilities built and pay.

I suspect the appropriations bill says U.S. workers (meaning citizens), not U.S. union members. So, how does Mr. Stark think Hawaii dictates hiring practices? Oh, I get it, Rep. Abercrombie as a Hawaii representative is going to be the personal manager for these projects and check each worker's union affiliation.

I assume, instead, that Mr. Stark favors giving this work in a U.S. territory to a foreign company with cheap foreign workers just so he may pay a little less tax? There seems to be a lot of work to be done on Guam. I can't imagine there not being plenty money and work flowing into the local Guamanian economy for Guamanians.

peyton rowan | Kailua