Honolulu Star-Advertiser

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Esme Infante

Esme M. Infante is a former education reporter at the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. Her beat covered everything related to education in Hawaii: preschool, K-12 and higher education; public and private schools; on all islands. She came with more than three decades’ experience in communications spanning radio, TV, print and digital media, and marketing and public relations.   An award-winning news reporter, editor, columnist and digital manager, Infante has worked for The Honolulu Advertiser, USA Today and other local and national media outlets. Previous to her return to full-time reporting at the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, she worked as newscaster and host on the highly rated “The Rise & Drive Morning Show with Devon & Esme” on 94.7 KUMU. Other prior positions include communications director for the late Congressman Mark Takai; promotions director for Islandwide Crafts & Food Expos; founder, chief executive and editor of Moms In Hawaii LLC; and founder of the broadcast journalism program at Mililani High School.   The education beat is close to Infante’s heart. She covered education in the 1990s for The Honolulu Advertiser. She is a proud graduate of Mililani High School, and the University of Hawaii, where she graduated with distinction. Infante is also a former classroom teacher who hails from a family of educators, and her two grown children are products of Hawaii public schools and the University of Hawaii system.
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Latest Stories by Esme Infante

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First 11 preschool classrooms launch Ready Keiki initiative

On day one of school, these 3- and 4-year-olds at Fern will mainly just be learning to let go of their parents’ hands, to eat school lunch, find the potty, and make friends with each other and the wiggly tetra and guppies in the class aquarium. Read more

Access to Hawaii public school campus assessments impeded

Periodic requests over the past year by the Honolulu Star-Advertiser to accompany Hawaii public school officials on “campus vulnerability assessments” have all been denied, and requests to view documents from the campus assessments already conducted remain at an impasse. Read more

DOE prevails in lawsuit over school fire alarms

The state Department of Education has prevailed in a lawsuit brought by a contractor that sought $1 million in damages for its claims that the department breached contracts for fire alarm systems at eight Hawaii public schools. Read more

Hawaii school bus driver shortage interrupts service

A worsening shortage of school bus drivers is leading to the partial or complete suspension of bus services at 14 public schools on Oahu and Kauai for the new school year, adding to transportation woes already long plaguing public schools on Hawaii island and Maui. Read more

New BOE Chair Haruki urges priority on keeping more graduates home

In his first meeting as the new chair of the state Board of Education, Warren Haruki said Monday that he believes the board is poised to bring about significant progress at the islands’ public schools, and urged strong leadership and changes so that more graduates can stay in Hawaii. Read more

Hawaii’s public schools lag in violence prevention, experts say

Hawaii’s public schools are lagging behind severely on student monitoring to prevent school shootings, with only one out of the state’s 295 public and public charter schools operating a “behavioral intervention threat-assessment team” that meets national best practices, some local and national experts said this week. Read more

Preschool educators stipend program finally launches

Despite a two-year wait to fully launch Hawaii’s first public stipend program for early-childhood educators, state officials are hopeful that it will make big strides toward solving a chronic and severe shortage of teachers and caregivers for keiki ages 0 to 5. Read more

Gov. Green signs bills to improve school facilities, curricula

Measures giving the state’s new School Facilities Authority access to millions more dollars and dramatically broader flexibility to build teacher housing and preschool classrooms were among a group of education-related bills signed into law by Gov. Josh Green in a ceremony Monday. Read more

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