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Jonathan Okamura: Alarming New Report On Hawaii Public Schools Is One More Sign Of Legislative Failure

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Jonathan Okamura: Alarming New Report On Hawaii Public Schools Is One More Sign Of Legislative Failure


Maybe lawmakers shouldn’t brag about funding new football fields when schools can’t hire enough qualified teachers.

The Kids Count Data Book for 2024 was recently issued by the Annie E. Casey Foundation based in Baltimore, which has been reporting on the well-being of American children and their families since 1990.

For those like myself who advocate for ethnic equality in Hawaii and support public education as one of the principal means for its attainment, the report’s findings are distressing, although they are not necessarily surprising or new.

The report indicates that Hawaii’s public school students are not faring well academically in attaining basic skills such as reading and math and even just showing up for classes.

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While most of the report’s data is not broken down by ethnicity, I’m certain that there are significant differences in educational performance among ethnic groups in the public schools because such disparities are evident in other areas of educational attainment, such as undergraduate representation at the University of Hawaii Manoa.

Since the report is concerned with the educational achievement of K-12 students who have yet to enter the job market, its findings clearly demonstrate the perpetuation of ethnic inequality for another generation due to the ongoing failure of the Legislature to fix the chronic teacher shortage problem.

Indigenous and ethnic minority students represent about 70% of those in the public schools.

The Number Of ‘Chronically Absent’ Skyrockets

In the Kids Count report, what I found most troubling was the 39% of Hawaii students who were “chronically absent,” which means they missed 10% or more days of school in 2022. The DOE school year is 180 days, so these students were absent at least 18 days or about three and a half weeks.

The 39% figure represented more than a doubling from the 19% in 2019, prior to the pandemic, which may have had an impact on the huge increase. It can be assumed that chronic absenteeism negatively impacts a student’s ability to proceed to the next grade level and ultimately to graduate from high school and enter college or the job market.

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This is one area where the report did break down its data by ethnicity. It found that 59% of Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander students, including Micronesians, Samoans and Tongans, were chronically absent in 2022.

A figure that high, a clear majority of those students, indicates that they probably are also well represented among the 14% of Hawaii students who did not graduate on time, according to the report.

Legislature’s Misplaced Priorities

I will cite information from Waianae High School, not to belittle its students, but because more than $6 million in funds were recently appropriated by the Legislature. One might assume that those funds are going to be used to address the school’s long-term chronic absenteeism problem, but one would be wrong.

Of Waianae’s 1,900 students, 54% are Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, 8.7% Asian, 3.3% Caucasian and 22% Hispanic.

According to the DOE Strive Hawaii report on the school’s academic performance in 2021-2022, Waianae had a graduation rate of 81%, which refers to the percentage of 12th-graders who graduated on time with their classmates.

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Waianae High School is photographed Monday, Oct. 9, 2023, in Waianae. (Kevin Fujii/Civil Beat/2023)
Does Waianae High School need a new football field more than it needs more teachers? (Kevin Fujii/Civil Beat/2023)

As for being chronically absent, in 2022, 58% of Waianae students missed 15 or more school days, which might be attributable to the pandemic’s after-effects, but the state average was much lower at 32%.

Despite those troubling statistics in the DOE Strive report, Rep. Cedric Gates, a Waianae graduate, announced funding last week for building a new artificial-turf football field at the school. Gates, who represents Waianae and nearby communities in the Legislature, led the $6 million legislative initiative.

He told a television news reporter, “It’s so important to get Waianae High School up to the same standards as the other high schools in the state,” but he wasn’t referring to academic standards, such as increasing its graduation rate or its college-going rate of 28%.

Gates continued, invoking the arguments used to support race-based affirmative action programs in college admissions as leveling the playing field, but literally referring to athletic fields: “It gives us a fair playing field to compete with the other schools because when you’re competing on grass and you’re transitioning over to a school with turf, it’s just a different field.”

Which Playing Field Do We Really Want To Even?

The $6 million Waianae High School received could have been used to hire more fully licensed teachers, instead of relying on unqualified emergency hires, or additional counselors to keep students on track to graduating on time or to urge them to take Early College courses available on campus.

Those teachers and counselors could have encouraged and supported more of their students to proceed on to college at UH Manoa, UH West Oahu, Leeward Community College or elsewhere so that they can compete fairly in the job market and not just in football.

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Since only 13% of the Waianae community has a college education, teachers and counselors, rather than parents, can play a major role in their students’ further education.

Hiring more DOE staff to fill vacant positions obviously was not the policy priority of the Legislature.

Some might counter that the community wanted a new football field, and legislators responded positively to their wishes. But lawmakers don’t necessarily provide their constituents what they desire, such as publicly funded election campaigns that are supported by a majority of Hawaii voters.

Hiring more DOE staff to fill vacant positions obviously was not the policy priority of the Legislature, which instead allocated almost $600 million this past session for school facilities, including Waianae’s new football field.

While such new facilities won’t be completed before the primary and general elections, photos of groundbreaking or signing ceremonies for them with the governor can be prominently displayed in a legislator’s campaign advertisements and website.

Those ads reveal the personal priorities of many but not necessarily all legislators — to get themselves reelected rather than to address their constituents’ needs and desires for a more equitable and rewarding future for their children.

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‘Tesla Road Rage Driver’ sentenced to seven years in prison after attacking mother and daughter in Hawaii

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‘Tesla Road Rage Driver’ sentenced to seven years in prison after attacking mother and daughter in Hawaii


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A man dubbed the “Tesla Road Rage Driver” was sentenced to seven years in prison in connection with a violent road rage attack in Hawaii.

Nathaniel Radimak was sentenced Thursday in connection with a 2025 attack involving a mother and her 18-year-old daughter in Honolulu.

Radimak, who has prior convictions tied to road rage attacks against motorists, acknowledged his actions during sentencing.

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“I take accountability. I just feel bad about it,” Radimak said, according to Hawaii News Now. “It shouldn’t have happened, but I really need a certain kind of treatment that is being prolonged and farther away. It’s not helping me, but I take accountability.”

TESLA ROAD-RAGE DRIVER ALLEGEDLY ASSAULTS TEEN, MOM IN HAWAII MONTHS AFTER PRISON RELEASE

Nathaniel Walter Radimak, 39, was convicted of attacking several female drivers on Southern California roads. (Fox News)

Radimak was charged with one count of unauthorized entry into a motor vehicle and two counts of third-degree assault. He pleaded no contest earlier this year.

Judge Clarissa Malinao said during sentencing that Radimak had failed to seek necessary medical care and continued using illegal substances while on parole for previous convictions.

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“His history of violence is propensity for violence, and defendant’s voluntary intoxication and discontinuation of medication increase the risk of his dangerousness to self and to the public,” Malinao said. “These findings also demonstrate and reinforce that the defendant is indeed a danger to the safety of the public.”

WATCH: ROAD RAGE SUSPECT DRAGS MOM OUT OF VEHICLE, BODY-SLAMS HER ON PAVEMENT

Nathaniel Walter Radimak is identified by police as a driver involved in road rage incidents while driving a Tesla in California. (California Highway Patrol)

Radimak, 39, was charged after allegedly assaulting an 18-year-old woman and her 35-year-old mother during an incident on May 7, 2025, according to the Honolulu Police Department.

Police said the teen was parking downtown when she saw a gray Tesla drive past her.

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The two allegedly exchanged words before Radimak got out of the vehicle and assaulted both victims before fleeing the scene, police said. Authorities said he was driving a 2022 gray Tesla with Oregon license plates.

MOTORIST ARRESTED AFTER ALLEGEDLY TRYING TO RUN DRIVER OF TESLA OFF THE ROAD AT HIGH SPEEDS: REPORT

Honolulu police arrested Nathaniel Radimak following a reported road rage assault involving a mother and daughter.

Radimak was arrested by Honolulu police the following day.

The arrest came just months after Radimak was released from prison after serving less than a year of a five-year sentence tied to a series of violent road rage attacks in Southern California.

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He was sentenced in 2023 after pleading guilty to assault, vandalism, elder abuse and making criminal threats.

Fox News Digital previously reported that Radimak was known for driving a Tesla and using a pipe to attack the vehicles of his victims, including multiple women.

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The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation previously said Radimak received 424 days of credit for time served while awaiting sentencing in the earlier case.

Fox News Digital’s Pilar Arias and Louis Casiano contributed to this report.

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Hawaii offers support after Gabbard resigns to focus on husband’s health – The Garden Island

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Hawaii offers support after Gabbard resigns to focus on husband’s health – The Garden Island






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Hawaii’s Carissa Moore celebrates comeback victory in Raglan | Honolulu Star-Advertiser

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Hawaii’s Carissa Moore celebrates comeback victory in Raglan | Honolulu Star-Advertiser


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OSCAR HETHERINGTON/WORLD SURF LEAGUE

Five-time WSL Champion Carissa Moore of Hawaii surfs in the Final at the Corona Cero New Zealand Pro on May 25, at Raglan, New Zealand.

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                                Five-time WSL Champion Carissa Moore of Hawaii surfs in the Final at the Corona Cero New Zealand Pro on May 25, at Raglan, New Zealand.

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Five-time WSL Champion Carissa Moore of Hawaii surfs in the Final at the Corona Cero New Zealand Pro on May 25, at Raglan, New Zealand.

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RAMBO ESTRADA/WORLD SURF LEAGUE
                                Five-time WSL Champion Carissa Moore of Hawaii, after winning the Final at the Corona Cero New Zealand Pro on May 25, at Raglan, New Zealand.

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Five-time WSL Champion Carissa Moore of Hawaii, after winning the Final at the Corona Cero New Zealand Pro on May 25, at Raglan, New Zealand.

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                                Carissa Moore talks during the Team USA Media Summit, in April 2024, at the Marriott Marquis.

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Carissa Moore talks during the Team USA Media Summit, in April 2024, at the Marriott Marquis.

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Hawaiian Carissa Moore and Brazil’s Italo Ferreira claimed wins in top-quality surf at the New Zealand Pro in Raglan on Monday, after a delay caused when an in-water photographer was injured by what was thought to be a shark or a sea lion.

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Hosting a full world championship tour competition for the first time, Raglan’s famously long left-handers turned up in perfect form on Monday, with glassy, overhead green walls wrapping around the boulder-strewn point.

Olympic and five-times world champion Moore scored the highest two-wave total of the year, 19 out of 20, in her semi-final on Sunday.

She started strongly in Monday’s final against 20-year-old Californian Sawyer Lindblad, kicking off with an 8.50 out of 10 for a series of powerful carves on her backhand.

Lindblad kept in touch with a 7.67 for some speedy turns on her forehand on the wave behind and then took the lead with an even better 9-point ride on a clean, steep wall.

But Moore, making a comeback after taking time off to have her first child, fought back on a bigger wave and powered her way to 9.4 and a two-wave total of 17.9.

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“When I walked away two years ago, I didn’t know if I’d ever get this feeling back or this opportunity to surf perfect waves with only one other person out, in front of a beautiful crowd and at a beautiful place, with my family on the beach,” said the 33-year-old.

“And in that process, you doubt yourself so much, so the win, it means so much to me.”

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Ferreira’s final against Morgan Cibilic was an exercise in contrasts, with the goofyfoot Brazilian repeatedly taking to the air on the long left-handers, while the Australian employed sharp turns on his backhand.

Cibilic took the early lead, following up an early 7-point ride with an excellent 8.8 for a 15.8 point two-wave total.

Ferreira’s progressive approach and unmatched aerial assault, however, was favored by the judges as he racked up an 8.17 and a 9.33 for a 17.50 total as he spun and carved his way down the point.

“I knew this event would be sick because on the left-handers, we can do some different types of maneuvers,” said the Tokyo Olympic gold medalist, who moved to the top of the world rankings.

Earlier, during Ferreira’s semi-final against compatriot Yago Dora, a photographer suffered what organizers called a “wildlife injury,” forcing the event to be put on hold for a couple of hours.

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The photographer was treated for puncture injuries but was in a stable condition and in good spirits, the World Surf League said.

WSL tours and competition vice president Renato Hickel told the event broadcast they were unsure what kind of animal had caused the injury.

“At this stage we’re not certain if it was a shark or a sea lion. The doctor that was here helping on the scene was inclined to think it was a sea lion instead of a shark,” he said.

“Nevertheless, very scary.”

Wildlife attacks during surf events are rare but not unprecedented. World champion Mick Fanning famously tussled with a shark during the final of a WSL event at South Africa’s Jeffreys Bay in 2015.

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The 12-stop tour next heads to the steamy right-hand point break of Punta Roca for the Surf City El Salvador Pro.




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