Hawaii Ed Board To Revote On Grad Policy
The Hawaii State Board of Education is Tuesday on new high school graduation requirements.
Sound like dej谩 vu?
That’s because it is. Kind of.
The board already unanimously passed the proposed amendments, two weeks ago. But the vote came in the wake of public testimony claiming the agenda for the meeting violated the Sunshine Law.
The agenda did not formally announce that there would be a vote on the graduation policy, one teacher said, and the board could therefore not vote on it. Others objected that the attachments describing the proposal were not posted in time for members of the public to adequately review them and offer informed testimony.
Board members met that day with the attorney general’s representative to make sure they were in the clear. Board Chairman Don Horner said then that the board was confident it had “properly sunshined,” and the members proceeded with a vote.
But when Civil Beat followed up with the Office of Information Practices to see if the attorneys there agreed that the board agenda met Sunshine Law requirements, we learned that the answer is not simple. OIP told us that the case is complex enough to require more than the general advice it offers through its “attorney of the day.” We requested a formal opinion, which could take a while since the office is backlogged with requests.
Meanwhile, the Board of Education posted for its Oct. 4 meeting, and include an item for the graduation policy already approved last month.
b. Discussion/Board action/ratification on course and credit high school graduation requirement amendments to Board Policy 4540, entitled “High School Graduation Requirements and Commencement Policy鈥 ***
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*** NOTE: this matter was also previously heard and testimony taken at the Board鈥檚 meeting on September 20, 2011
The resubmittal of the graduation policy for a vote is yet another fast response from the board in response to concerns from members of the public.
In June, a community member complained that by ending Neighbor Island meetings, Gov. Neil Abercrombie‘s appointed board had made itself inaccessible.
In July, Horner introduced the idea of informal community meetings, to ensure people on the Neighbor Islands and geographically remote areas feel in touch with their school board members.
