Chairman: Hawaii Ed Board Not 'Out of Touch'

Katherine Poythress/Civil Beat

The new Hawaii State Board of Education may not hold its meetings in schools anymore, but that doesn't mean board members are out of touch, according to Chairman Don Horner.

Horner responded to criticism from a former elected board member who called the new board "unavailable" and "inaccessible" at a recent meeting.

"The notion that we're somehow out of touch is incorrect," he said. "The first order of business has been to organize the board itself, get our infrastructure in place and address the budgets. During that process we have been, I believe, very open. At every meeting we've had, we asked for community input and encouraged that."

A recent Civil Beat story also found that while some board members have visited only a few schools, only one had not visited any campuses.

Horner countered that school visits are only one of the board's many responsibilities.

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