Disappeared News

by Larry Geller

The Hawaii Board of Education has scheduled another vote on the same graduation policy that was before it at its September 20, 2011 meeting. Here is a snip from today’s posted agenda:

At the meeting, no public notice of a vote was given on the agenda, as required by the Sunshine Law. See: Hawaii Board of Education tramples Sunshine Law (9/21/2011).

The controversial issue of social studies requirements was further clouded by a “bait and switch” posting of documents on the Board of Education website. The first document, posting along with the meeting agenda, included this description of social studies credits:

But the day before the meeting the BOE posted another document that was different, and it appears that this is what the board voted on:

It appears that the BOE voted on the second version.

Parents in attendance or those who may have read the erroneous Star-Advertiser coverage of the vote may believe that the first version passed. This is a snip from

The sidebar resembles (but is not the same as) the BOE’s original posting. No BOE minutes have been posted on their website to indicate what Board members think they might have voted on.

Under the circumstances, re-scheduling a vote seems very appropriate. But the matter is hidden in today’s agenda, unlikely to be reviewed by parents or others interested in the issue who understood from the newspaper article or from their own attendance at the meeting that their questions have been dealt with.

So parents have another shot at giving testimony to the BOE today if they are aware that there is a re-vote.

Permalink posted by Larry @ 10/04/2011 07:51:00 AM