Random updates

And then there were two

Craig's gone. As he put it, "Some of us have to get back to work." He loves Hawaii and is leaning on me about moving back, some day. We'll see.

Craig is my resident tech support, so I have some concerns about potential problems with cameras, computers and blogging on my own. However, so far I've been doing most of this by myself. With luck I won't get stuck.

Because of all the new fuss about security we dropped him off with two and a half hours before his flight. The good news is he was all done, and twiddling his thumbs at his gate, in 20 minutes. The bad news is he was not happy about the tone and content of some of the airport announcements at his stop-over in Chicago. Some travelers like stepped-up security measures, it makes them feel safe. On the first of many "miss-you" phone calls, Craig recounts his experience and fumes darkly about "police state" mentality.

After living in Honolulu for almost 20 years, we still have a number of friends here. Including families with kids the same age as our son, Wili. That's been fun. Unfortunately, his peers are now back in school, leaving him a bit aimless at times.

School daze

Hawaii is the only state in the nation with a single school system. In theory, this can mean good things, like equal per-pupil funding. In practice, critics call the State Department of Education inefficient and top-heavy with bureaucracy. Anyway, various schools in the islands have been dinking around with modified school schedules for a long time. Now, after years of re-inventing the wheel, the DOE has finally decided all public schools need to be on the same page--the so-called "year-round" schedule.

It's plenty hot in Hawaii in August, so some kids are going back to classrooms with temps in the 90's. Lots of grumbling, from calls to change the schedule, or to get more air conditioning. Of course, the school system's budget will not stretch that far.

Most of my friends followed a pattern that's very common on Oahu, the island with more wealth and more choices. Send the kids to public schools until grade 6, then switch to private schools. For some reason there are splendid elementary schools in the public system. Things sort of seem to fall apart after that.

It's a chicken and egg situation. Did grades 6-12 deteriorate because of flight to private schools, or did the flight occur because the schools were so bad? Some of both, I suppose. State-wide nearly 20% of school-age students attend private schools. (A higher percentage on Oahu, fewer on other islands, which don't have as many private schools.)

In any case, the whole public/private school quandary was one of the biggest reasons we left Hawaii, seven years ago. Craig and I believe that good, free public education is a cornerstone of a healthy society. But we also want our son to have a decent education, in a safe environment.

Tuition for private schools in Hawaii is close to university fees: $8,000-$16,000 per child, per year. (This added to an already-high cost of living!) We voted with our feet and moved. Fortunately, we've been very impressed with the calibre of public education in Ottawa.

Hawaii's troubled public schools is a huge topic, full of old deadlocks and recriminations. Frankly, the staying power of a problem everyone agrees needs fixing, with so few signs of progress, is deeply depressing.

Economic recovery: good news?

Economists are excited about Hawaii's economy, of late. Lots of growth and some of the lowest unemployment rates in the nation. The unofficial "state bird" is back, the building crane. Cranes are busy in several hot spots of construction activity. This snap shot near Ala Moana, the state's biggest shopping center, is representative of Honolulu right now. Lots of bumper-to-bumper traffic. More pretty high-rise condos that only the rich can afford, and more of the same ahead.

I was emailing a friend about the ridiculous cost of real estate in Hawaii, especially on Maui. Quite recently, the median price of a house on the Valley Isle was around $700,000. Wanting to be current, I Googled for the latest figure. Was I ever shocked! Maui's median is now $970,000. The cheapest shack on the whole island, a small tear-down, was over $350,000. Ouch!

[Editor's Update: I think the $970K figure that shocked me so much was a typo. Other sources indicate $780K is the actual median for single-family homes on Maui, this year.]

Mmm, mangoes!

I'll end on a happier note. This is the tail end of mango season. Most trees are all pau (done). These beauties were grown on the windward side of Oahu, in Kailua, at a friend's house. She made a point of saving them, to give to us. Mahalo! (Thanks!) They were ono! (delicious)