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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Saturday, January 30, 2010

State relents, says ‘1,000 Voices’ display at Hawaii Capitol will remain


By John Windrow
Advertiser Staff Writer

Hawaii news photo - The Honolulu Advertiser

These are some of the posters and artwork expressing the thoughts and feelings of Hawaii's public schoolchildren on the subject of school furloughs that line the hallway in the chamber level of the state Capitol. The artwork will be allowed to remain on display, state officials said Saturday.

BRUCE ASATO | The Honolulu Advertiser

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Student posters about furlough Fridays on display at the state Capitol won’t have to come down after all.

The artwork is part of the Save Our Schools Hawaiçi “1,000 Student Voices About Education” campaign regarding furlough Fridays for Hawaii’s public school teachers and is on display on the Capitol’s chamber level.
Save Our Schools Hawaiçi had obtained a permit from the state Department of Accounting and General Services to display the art through Feb. 26. On Thursday they were told to remove the artwork.
Russ Saito, state comptroller, said the posters had to come down because they sent a political message and the application to display the works only approved artwork.
But Saturday, after conferring with Gov. Linda Lingle’s chief of staff, Barry Fukunaga, Saito said he had agreed to rescind the order and let the posters remain on display as originally approved.
“The chief of staff asked to keep it up,” Saito said. “We had a discussion and I agreed.”
Saito said he would closely examine the application process to make sure its “language was much clearer” regarding future displays.
Marguerite Higa, a member of SOS, said they were told that someone had complained about the artwork.
Friday marked the ninth day of lost public school instruction time due to teacher furloughs.