Hannemann: I Alone Went to Public Schools
Seventeen student furlough days this past school year brought education into the bright lights of the political dialogue. The focus on public schools continued during a debate between the leading Democratic gubernatorial candidates Wednesday.
Asked by moderator Steve Petranik, editor of Hawaii Business magazine, what specific steps he would take to “improve public schools and put children’s learning first” — particularly if those steps would include performance-based contracts for teachers and principles — former Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hannemann started by touting his experience as a student.
“I am very pleased to be the only candidate standing on stage today to have gone to public schools,” Hannemann said. Given that his opponent, Neil Abercrombie, was the only other candidate on stage, that was an interesting way of framing the difference between them.
A few minutes later, Abercrombie pointed out that he had in fact attended the University of Hawaii. The on the 10-term congressman’s campaign website shows Abercrombie earned a Masters in Sociology and a Doctorate in American Studies at the state’s largest public school.
OK, so maybe most of us think about public schools as K-12 — and that’s probably what the question was getting at. Hannemann has already shown one of his campaign tactics is to highlight the fact that he was raised here — unlike his opponent.
In this case, it appears, based on what his spokeswoman told Civil Beat, that he’s using education as another way to emphasize that he’s a man of the people. But that’s where the problem arises. Abercrombie did attend at least one public school.
The Abercrombie campaign confirmed Wednesday evening that the upstate New York native graduated from Williamsville High School, a public school about 10 miles northeast of Buffalo. The school, since renamed , went so far as to honor Abercrombie by inducting him into its in 2000.
It’s not yet known where Abercrombie attended grade school. If his campaign is able to get that information for Civil Beat, we will update this story. Abercrombie received a bachelor’s degree in sociology from Union College, a private school in Schenectady, N.Y.
Contacted by Civil Beat about the public school statement, Hannemann spokeswoman Brooke Wilson clarified that Hannemann was referring to public schools in the state of Hawaii from kindergarten through sixth grade, “the foundational years of his life.” Hannemann attended Fern, Puuhale and Kalihi Kai elementary schools during those years. He announced his candidacy for governor at Fern elementary in Kalihi in May.
Hannemann worked so hard, Wilson said, that he earned a scholarship to Iolani, one of Hawaii’s most prestigious private schools. He graduated Cum Laude and earned the Headmaster’s Award, according to , was accepted to some of the best private colleges in the country — Brown, Cornell, Princeton, Stanford, and Yale — and attended Harvard. As a Fulbright Scholar, he went back to public school — in Wellington, New Zealand.
The question from Petranik was about education policy. Hannemann’s initial response was about his upbringing. But the way he approached the answer also made it about the childhood of his opponent. And what he said there was untrue.
