Every Sunday, “Back in the Day” looks at an article that ran on this date in the Honolulu Star-Bulletin. The items are verbatim, so don’t blame us today for yesteryear’s bad grammar.
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Headlights flash in the early morning.
Children wend their way to school.
This is the way it will be a year from now if the State legislature takes no action in preventing Daylight Saving Time. …
Earlier this year Congress passed the Uniform Time Act requiring every state to go on Daylight Saving Time unless its legislature voted otherwise.
Asked what they thought of these conditions for school children, most elementary school principals called them a safety hazard.
Many suggested taking it before their P.T.A.s for action on the State level.
“I do not want to see children walking to school under conditions like these,” said Paul Shimizu, principal of Kuhio Elementary School in Moiliili.
“If Daylight Saving were to involve getting an extra hour of daylight leisure at the expense of only a few inconveniences, that would be all right. But here we are concerned with the safety of children, and that goes beyond being an inconvenience,” he said. …
Shimizu said he agreed with the Federal Government’s attempt to synchronize time throughout the country. But he suggested the federally-set span, from April through October, is too long for Hawaii’s daylight schedule.
“Why not have it just during summer months,” he said.
Shimizu said that although his school doesn’t start until 8:30 a.m., most students are on campus by 8 and many arrive even earlier.
Classes at Nuuanu Elementary start at 8:15, but many students are there at 7:30, according to Mrs. Mitsuko Yanagawa, principal. …
Leslie Katekaru, vice principal of Kaneohe Elementary School, said 700 of the school’s 1,300 students walk to school, and most come to the campus between 7 and 7:30, although classes do not begin until 8.
“We start even earlier than schools in town,” he said. “We would have children walking to school with even less light.”
Katekaru said he had no opinion on Daylight Saving Time at first.
“I have been hearing the viewpoints from business people only. Now I want to hear more. As a school-oriented person, I am concerned with the safety of the children,” he said.
