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Education is mainly on the minds of teachers. I found this out on Saturday morning.

Other adults have other issues on their minds. I had forgotten this, immersed as I am in my classroom, in my students, in pondering how to improve things at our tiny public school in the middle of nowhere that is indeed in the middle of 40,000 people’s lives.

Lots of times community meetings are frustrating us versus them déjà vu. Not so with Hawaii State Sen. Russell Ruderman, and his talk story session held in Pahoa on Feb. 23.

I spoke to Ruderman and asked him if he would support a new library and a new school for Pahoa students. I said that since there is no school librarian position at the school. They are expected to compete with others, globally, who know how to find books and check them out, others who know how to speak to a librarian and research anything they want in a free, democratic society. I said that we need a human services annex to be located at the campus for the many needs of students and their families. These are needs not remedied with a click of a mouse.

He said he supports these ideas.

Ruderman fielded questions, concerns, and agendas with familiarity and finesse. What I noticed was that public education was not on the top of anyone’s list. Yes, there were two faculty members from the very popular local charter school, Hawaii Academy of Arts and Sciences, but I was practically the lone voice in the crowd of 70 asking for a new public high school, a new public library, and support for Hawaii’s teachers.

Attendees of mostly retirement age with mostly Caucasian, Mediterranean, and Scandinavian features brought up: proposed privatization of all state hospitals under Banner Health Care, geothermal fracking, noisy dogs, medical care tax, hemp oil as fuel, clean elections, and the Public Land Development Corporation and others that are “mini PLDC’s” – private corporations “in partnership” with state government projects and initiatives.

Ruderman said that “opposition is a huge gift because it brings people together” regarding the fight against the PLDC, and that even if none of the 20 bills he introduced pass “then this is a fight (proudly) that is almost won,” namely the vote to repeal and abolish the PLDC.

He said that, “Everyone wants this repealed, including the governor himself.”

This just goes to show that if there are enough voters voicing their opinions, change can happen, the nobility of beauty can shine through in the art that is politics; in the art that is providing service for the common good.

Others brought up government conspiracy theories. Nobody mentioned the need for more services for the homeless such as more medical care, shelter, and counseling/substance abuse prevention and services.

This sounded a bit scary. It sounded like more of what is wrong with public education — that it is continually being privatized to an extreme where there is no regulation and no accountability for the benefit/profit of a few.

Ruderman commented that he did not expect such a large turnout. He also said that he worried he would not remember anybody’s name. He was endearing to a mostly appreciative crowd of voting citizens. Many identified themselves as homeowners. County Councilman Gregor Ilagan was also there, providing firm support for more county-state communication.

The hottest discussion was regarding the roundabout soon to be installed at Pahoa’s “meat grinder” intersection near a new but vacated Kentucky Fried Chicken franchise: the most dangerous intersection in the state. It is a place approximately 100 yards long on the highway that is fed by three different feeder roads. The nearest stoplight (at yet another very dangerous intersection by the high school — accidents galore) is a mile away.

There is nearly one accident per day on the stretch of Highway 130 from Keaau to Pahoa. What is in store for this site of death and demolition: a traffic island where drivers take turns yielding in a set circular pattern. These work well in other countries. Usually, police cameras are set up to record license plates and a ticket will then be mailed to those who do not obey the rules.

Brainchild of the State Department of Transportation and a private architectural firm, Ruderman said it is being put out in Puna “to prove it does not work.” He said this with an ironic smile. Ruderman hopes it works, as do many of his constituents. It might be a beginning to help solve problems of the very busy highway in this boom/bust area of the state.

UPDATE: After this column was published, Sen. Ruderman explained that he did not say the roundabout is being planned “to prove it does not work.”

“I said that many in the community have this attitude toward it. I also said that I am working in good faith with the Dept of Transportation to make the roundabout as effective and safe as possible.”

Ruderman also emphasized that he disagrees with people in the community who think the roundabout is a bad idea and that he has been working diligently with state officials to make it work.

When I ran out to my car in the torrential downpour, there was a gentleman holding out a syringe he had found, there, at the community center.

“Where should I put this?” he asked the security guard, “I don’t think this is from a diabetic.”

“I don’t want it,” the security guard said.

The gentleman headed toward the room where the chess club was meeting, instead. He wore a backpack, bare feet, and was carrying plastic garbage bags.

Susan Kay Anderson teaches English at Pahoa High School and Hawaii Community College on the Big Island. She has taught in island schools for nearly two decades.