For schools, a blue ribbon and cake

What can turn a school into a blue-ribbon award winner? Ask the students, faculty and staff at Enchanted Lake, Heeia and Hokulani elementary schools, selected to represent this state in the 2012 national Blue Ribbon Schools program. The bottom-line criteria are the test scores. Schools must either rank in the state’s top 10 percent or have shown big improvement in both reading and math. But perhaps it also takes a spoonful of sugar. While Hokulani Principal Alan Ramos admitted that most of the $3,000 prize money will be invested in classroom tech, at least some will be spent on cake and ice cream. Spoken like a man who knows kids.

Looking for something more to Occupy

So far, the Occupy Wall Street spinoff groups in the Aloha State have concentrated on discrete actions. Today, for example, Occupy Maui has planned a World March Day, with sign-waving and a trek along Hana Highway and Dairy Road. Over at Occupy Honolulu, the calendar shows a forum on how the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting will affect labor on Sunday.

But there are bigger plans in store, if everyone agrees. The online bulletin board (deoccupyhonolulu.org) includes a discussion thread titled "Are you ready to encamp?" The folks are contemplating setting down tent stakes starting in about a week. Place TBA.