Where is the Honolulu Police Commission on the current issue of requests by neighborhood boards and citizens for information from the Honolulu Police Department (“HPD map omits violent crimes,” Star-Advertiser, Oct. 17)?

The public should be aware that the commission exists, and hopefully will submit its concerns to the commission when requests and concerns are not answered by HPD.

The commission meets with the police chief and evaluates him and his department annually. Without feedback or information from the public, it becomes difficult for the commission to evaluate the chief accurately and fairly.

Semi-annual meetings with the commission and neighborhood boards may be a solution, since both sides can discuss issues that possibly would improve HPD performance.

Leonard Leong

Manoa

Matayoshi should continue at DOE

Our school superintendent Kathryn Matayoshi has and is doing an excellent job.

She is willing to continue to serve the children of Hawaii. This is what I call true dedication and, therefore, should not be overlooked because state Rep. Bob McDermott feels otherwise (“State BOE to start search for new schools chief,” Star-Advertiser, Oct. 27). He should be helping her, as his district has grown tremendously and still is growing.

Matayoshi is competent, has an excellent attitude and has to put up with the backwards Legislature and perhaps our governor, too. She deserves better than to be replaced.

I say we get rid of the Board of Education and Common Core, and give our schools superintendent three terms of four years each.

And once the budget is set for schools and education, it should not be taken from the Department of Education.

Ethel Lundberg

Kaneohe

DOE superintendent no help to teachers

Hawaii teachers are viewing with belated relief the non-renewal of the state Department of Education superintendent’s contract.

Kathryn Matayoshi was the principal figure behind the local facilitation of America’s twin educational disasters — No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top.

Never has she publicly acknowledged the negative outcomes of these programs or admitted her role in the establishment of a school culture obsessed with results on standardized tests of dubious quality and plagued by professional discontent — a discontent that has exacerbated our chronic problems with the recruitment and retention of teachers.

I’m sure that a majority of teachers will join me in pleading with the Board of Education to help reverse the national trend of staffing executive positions in education with individuals possessing little or no K-12 classroom experience. The next superintendent should be a seasoned and well-respected teacher, and one who is intimately familiar with Hawaii and Hawaii school culture.

Andy Jones

Language arts teacher McCully-Moiliili

UH should speak out about campus deaths

If you drive down Dole Street, you will see a memorial to the young man who died on a moped on Tuesday (“1 dead after mopeds crash near UH Manoa,” Star-Advertiser, Oct. 26).

That memorial was made by the young man’s friends.

While the story has been covered by the media, the University of Hawaii at Manoa has not uttered a syllable, except to say that Dole was closed and later re-opened.

Nothing about how students may have witnessed a fatal accident, nothing to express condolences over the loss of life on our campus.

This is not unusual. UH-Manoa never says anything about deaths on campus; it leaves that to the rumor mill. Students should know they can find counseling if they were traumatized by events like this one. They should know someone in administration cares enough to send an email.

The morning after the accident, we got an email telling us that a moped had been stolen at one of the dorms.

Susan M. Schultz

Professor of English

University of Hawaii-Manoa

Show your support for children’s center

The joyful child’s drawing of a smiling sun symbolizing the Hawaii Children’s Discovery Center is in danger of setting forever (“Children’s Discovery Center struggling as homeless troubles persist,” Star-Advertiser, Oct. 20). Revenue and attendance have declined disastrously in the last few years due to fears of safety from homeless encampments.

We can save the center. Donate. Attend. Recently when I visited, I was impressed with how beautiful, clean and safe the park was. Don’t be afraid to go; only be afraid of the center disappearing if you don’t.

Don’t have a child but want to be one? Go and enjoy the children’s fascination for discovery, or borrow your neighbor’s kids. They’ll thank you. A lot!

We can’t let our children’s dreams die because we didn’t care enough to save them. It takes a village to raise a child, but it takes the community to sustain them.

Please keep that happy sun beaming on our keiki.

Linda Hunter

Honokaa, Hawaii island

Women should sue Trump for slander

How about a class-action slander lawsuit by the dozen women who spoke out about experiencing Donald Trump’s alleged sexual assaults? Trump said publicly that they were all lying. He surely also libeled them on Twitter. The same cadre of lawyers who volunteered to defend these women against Trump’s threatened lawsuit should strike first. Why wait until after the election?

George Nakamura

Mililani