Nonpartisan Races (Only Contested Races Profiled)
Maggie Cox
Age: 64
Job: Retired teacher, principal
Past: Served on the Board of Education for one term
What qualifies you to be a Board of Education member?
Because of my educational knowledge as the result of 30-plus years in the Department of Education, I have been given the following board responsibilities: Chairperson of K-12 Regular Education Committee, board designee of Title 1 Committee of Practitioners, board designee of the Hawaii Teachers Standards board, member of the National Association of State Boards of Education Study Committee on Early Secondary Schools, board member on the management negotiations team dealing with the Hawaii State Teachers Association, member of the Budget, Special Services, Support Services/Library, and Audit Committees.
I believe very strongly in our public school system and am diligently working with state and complex area personnel to monitor and improve our schools so that each student may achieve to his/her potential.
Do you support or oppose closing or consolidating schools with low enrollment? Explain.
This obviously is not the first choice for anyone; however, I do believe we need to look at consolidating schools where possible. The majority of a school’s budget is for personnel which means very small schools don’t have enough funds to provide the resources needed for an appropriate education for its students.
Should existing Department of Education funds be used to pay for drug testing of teachers?
The department should pay for setting procedures of “For Cause” testing and adding personnel to run the program. With budget cuts of twenty million dollars so far, I do not want to use funds that could be helping students learn to randomly test teachers.
Do you support or oppose the creation of a statewide preschool system? Explain.
The cost of the 10-year plan is not feasible at this time; however, with the demands put on education by NCLB all children need preschool experience which means eventually we need to get there.
What can be done to ensure that every Hawaii classroom has a highly qualified teacher?
The department has a plan approved by the feds that is consistently increasing the number. Special federal funding is available to help teachers take the PRAXIS as well as courses to get qualified in specific areas.
(To make sure that everyone understands, a teacher may be highly qualified in one subject but teach one class out of their area; they are then unqualified in that class. In the past a teacher could teach a subject with a college minor, but now NCLB says they have to have a major. The toughest is for secondary special education. Their degree has never been in a major core area; they are trained to work with disabilities. They now are considered unqualified under NCLB.)
If the question is looking at recruitment and retention, then the statewide coaching and mentoring programs are addressing the issue with limited resources. At the heart of the problem is that our universities are not able to graduate enough teachers to fill the demand of the department. I was recruited to teach in 1969 and know how difficult it is having family so far away; therefore, many recruited teachers leave for personal reasons.
Larry Fillhart
Age: 57
Job: Carpenter, contractor, building inspector, teacher
Past: Teacher’s credential, parent
What qualifies you to be a Board of Education member?
I believe I am qualified for this position for I am a former California credentialed teacher, graduating from Palomar Junior College, San Marcos, Calif., AA degree, UCSB, Santa Barbara, CA. BA in History and English, San Diego State University, Secondary Education. I have lived 20 of the last 34 years in Hawaii, mostly on Kauai, but living on Oahu, Lanai, Molokai, Mauai, and Hawaii also. I have been a union carpenter in local 745, off and on since 1974, when I first moved to Hanalei … Since I have worked with the people who have children and grandchildren in our school system.
Do you support or oppose closing or consolidating schools with low enrollment? Explain.
I believe all schools should be judged by results. If a school with low enrollment can meet or beat the federal standards, then it should be allowed to operate as is. If they can’t, then they should be consolidated into a group that must meet these standards. There is no place for in between nor excuses. Our students should become educated enough to compete with the rest of the nation and the world.
Should existing Department of Education funds be used to pay for drug testing of teachers?
Drug testing is a big hu-hu in Hawaii schools. To eliminate drugs in the school environment, one must work at the bottom. As in most large private industries, the individual is the culprit, if he does not imbibe, there is no problem. If our teachers may be an example for their students to follow, they must be randomly tested, according to constitutional guidelines. Unfortunately, some our hypocritical and believe students should be better than the teacher. Marijuana is probably the drug of choice and which stays in the system the longest, making it easier to detect. I do not think anyone should be fired for reasonable mistakes. However, the teachers should honor their contract and submit to random testing while the Board of Education should pay for negative results.
Do you support or oppose the creation of a statewide preschool system? Explain.
At this time the public does not seem willing to spend more money on a system that is not working. We should fix the system and ask for extra funding at that time.
What can be done to ensure that every Hawaii classroom has a highly qualified teacher?
All teachers should be credentialed. Moreover, teachers should be compensated well enough to compete with others and maintain a progressive standard of living without the need for supplemental income. We should have more incentives, such as state sponsored housing, to bring more qualified people to our schools and compensate the ones already here doing a great job.
