The Honolulu Advertiser from Honolulu, Hawaii • 2

A2 Tuesday, May 1 2007 The Honolulu Advertiser Corzine apologizes upon discharge from hospital ample," Corzine said from his wheelchair outside the hospital. He was headed to the governor's mansion in Princeton, where he will continue his rehabilitation. Senate President Richard J. Codey is acting governor until Corzine can resume his duties. The 60-year-old governor's SUV was being driven by a state trooper at 91 mph when it was clipped by a truck and slammed into a guard rail on the Garden State Parkway.

Corzine wasn't wearing his seat belt, in violation of state law. I If '''''h2Qi: The Htahgfif 1 ill I i (i Lv. vim Photos by BRUCE ASATO The Honolulu Advertiser Natasha Mendonca and Maribell Pabalan chat near the front entrance to the administration building. I i i vtS Nanakuli High and Intermediate School's building is virtually the exclusive domain of middle school students. altering the social and cultural makeup of the predominantly Hawaiian community.

"Things are changing," Keli'i said. "It's not so much that the population is growing. It's that the disposition of the children is different." Nanakuli High and Intermediate School actually began as part of an experiment in transition. In 1967, Nanaikapono Elementary School, which had become crowded, was split in two. The kindergarten through sixth-grade school occupied the west end of the campus, while a school for students in seventh through ninth grades on the east side marked the beginnings of Nanakuli High and Intermediate School.

Nanakuli High and Intermediate had left the Nanaikapono campus by 1972 and moved to its present location on the hillside at 89-980 Nanakuli Ave. 'IT'S ABOUT TIME' School Principal Levi Chang believes that splitting into two separate campuses is preferable, and notes the school would get more money under such a plan. But he wonders if it would work from a practical standpoint. "It's about time we do it if we can," he said. "But our enrollment has declined in the past two years, so I don't know now if it's feasible.

On paper it's a good thing. But realistically, there's just no land around to build another school." And Chang contends that to create separate schools on the same campus would make it "a split in name only." "I think moving to a different campus, that's going to be tough in our day and age, land is hard to come by," he said. "And if it was two schools on the same campus, you'd still have the same problems." Advertiser staff writer Beverly Creamer contributed to this report. Reach Will Hoover at whooverhonoluluadvertiser or 690-8909. BY GEOFF MULVIHILL Associated Press CAMDEN, N.J.

An emotional Gov. Jon S. Corzine was discharged from a hospital yesterday and asked forgiveness for his conduct in a crash 18 days earlier in which he was critically injured. A teary-eyed Corzine, who was not wearing a seat belt while a passenger in a speeding sport utility vehicle, apologized for setting a bad example, especially for young people. "I certainly hope the state will forgive me.

And I'll work very hard to set the right kind of ex SCHOOL BUDGET If the proposed budget numbers stand through this week of final negotiations at the Capitol, some of the items funded for education include: $25 million for electrical improvements. $20 million more for the Weighted Student Formula. $15.8 million in fiscal 2007- 08 and $17.6 million in 2008- 09 for new instructional equipment. $8.7 million in 2007-08 and $7 million in 2008-09 to meet requirements of No Child Left Behind and to test students learning English as a second language. $6 million in extra money for school food services.

$2.6 million for additional school bus transportation costs. $4.2 million over the two years for additional utility costs. $4.2 million for special education teachers to support Individualized Education Plan requirements. $6.2 million over the two years to improve information technology systems, including Schools CONTINUED FROM A1 eluding salaries, was $1.8 billion- It rose to $2 billion for each of the most recent fiscal years. The new $670 million two-year budget is 63 percent of what the Department of Education had requested.

Despite the gap, schools superintendent Pat Hamamoto told the Board of Education "we're doing well." Items that would be funded include $25 million for electrical improvements that would allow more schools to install air conditioners and $20 million for schools that stood to lose part of their existing budget under a new formula being devised to turned to pre-transition levels, while repair call service has improved, Ruley said. Hawaiian Telcom said other accomplishments during the'past two years include: Increased capital spending to update and improve the company's network; Expanded availability of highspeed Internet on Kaua'i, the Big Island, O'ahu, Maui and Moloka'i; And the launch of a new wireless phone service. In addition, Hawaiian Telcom has launched a bundle of local, unlimited long-distance, highspeed Internet and wireless service for less than $100 a month, excluding taxes. FUTURE PLANS Going forward, the company plans to offer faster Internet services, TV service and increased wireless services. A key strategy includes close integration of those services so that, for instance, customers can use a mobile phone to tell their TVs to record a show.

"We're working very hard on all of these things, and these are things we wanted to get out ear- Her but because of these issues with the systems we weren't able to," Ruley said. "I'm excited just to be able to think about these sorts of things more in my day than trying to figure out how to get a bill out the door." A critical component of Hawaiian Telcom's plans is the launch of a new TV service using Internet technology. That will school students are much different than the needs of the high school students. There has been a swell from the community and faculty about wanting the split. Apparently, the Board of Education members weren't real aware that this was an issue.

So, a first step was to educate them. The next step is to follow up with the board and to lobby the powers that be that this is important." PROS AND CONS Department of Education spokesman Greg Knudsen said the BOE generally supports the idea, with reservations. "If it's divided, is it economically feasible?" said Knudsen. "I think that's the biggest question still. When you're looking at the pros and cons, that's one of the cons.

"There are a lot of pros, too," he said. "Yes, the community would prefer having it split. Right now they're not talking about separate campuses. Maybe down the road that will happen. For now, they're talking about taking a closer look at how to make a real distinct separation of the single campus." That needs to happen, said Keli'i.

The school began as a rural institution. Since then, new subdivisions have entered the area, a student information system. $5.7 million over the two years for fiscal accountability, including 15 complex area business managers, three accountants and a new financial management system. $1 million for a special superintendent's fund to bolster crucial needs when weighted student formula funding falls short. But at the same time, the department expects not to get these things it asked for: $8 million for another two months in funding to pay vice principals as their jobs change from 10-month to 12-month status.

$396,000 to design, staff and implement three newcomer centers to help non-native-English-speaking students coming to the state. $736,000 to create a new section to monitor federal law compliance. $5 million of the $10 million requested for air conditioning over two years, which means fewer schools will get relief from summer heat. Half of its request for $1 .6 million over two years for accessible playground equipment. fund schools.

The budget being considered would also contribute $150 million over the next two years to reduce a repair' and maintenance backlog that soared to more than $525 million over the past few years but has already been pared back to less than $300 million. As has been the case recently, the school board and the governor once again presented competing budgets to the Legislature. During the previous two years, the governor trimmed the school board's requests, only to see the Legislature step in and give the department much of the money it asked for. Reach Beverly Creamer at bcreamerhonoluluadvertiser or 525-8013. allow the company to offer wired and wireless phone services, high-speed Internet and video services on one bill.

Bundling is a key part of Hawaiian Telcom and competitor Oceanic Time Warner Cable's strategies. The idea is to sell customers several services, making them less likely to switch to a competitor or "churn." The lack of fully functional systems was one of several factors in the company's decision to delay the new TV service over phone lines that would compete with cable television. Hawaiian Telcom now expects to launch the television service in the first quarter of next year. "If we don't offer a competing package with our video option, we're constantly in a defensive posture and we need to be in more of an offensive posture," Ruley said. "The beneficiary of that competition is the consumer because we'll have a bundle, (Oceanic) will have a bundle, (and) we'll have true competition for video services in Hawai'i, which will make the cable company responsible to the community on their pricing." Given Hawaiian Telcom's recent woes, the company has a reduced margin for error when it launches TV services, Ruley said.

"We've got to get it right because the people of Hawai'i won't give us another pass," he said. Beach Sean Hao at shao honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8093. Junior Danielle Choate and seniors Nanakuli CONTINUED FROM A1 to be an additional principal and other staff, which would mean more money. However, the board challenged supporters to show that the community is clearly united. Kimo Keli'i, 45, a life-long Nanakuli resident, has become the driving force behind the proposal.

"Separating these two schools would definitely be in the best interests of the children for a variety of reasons," said Keli'i. "The high school kids are bigger, older and they're modeling behaviors that influence the younger kids" behaviors such as public displays of affection, smoking and aggressiveness, he said. "You've got these little children who still look like elementary kids who play tag and hide-and-seek, and they're transitioning into this next level. But the influence of the high schoolers is overwhelming them." Keli'i sees the situation from several viewpoints as a community member, as a parent with a daughter at the school, as an English teacher there, and as chairman of the education committee of the Wai'anae Coast Neighborhood Board. The community favors the split, he said.

Less certain is how it would be done. Teachers, parents and community members have been invited to brainstorm the process. "The majority of the community and the parents, they want it separated right off the bat," said Keli'i. "Let's just get it done." SOLUTIONS OFFERED Some have suggested putting barriers between the high school and middle school buildings and splitting immediately, or even building a new intermediate school or high school elsewhere. But Keli'i said teachers believe Telcom CONTINUED FROM A1 right.

Customer-service problems have hurt its reputation something the company can ill afford in an increasingly competitive marketplace. Competition from wireless and cable companies coupled with customer service woes resulted in a 6.6 percent loss of customer access lines last year at Hawaiian Telcom. The number of residential access lines fell 93 percent, or 37,696 lines, last year, which was partially offset by an increase in wireless phone and high-speed Internet customers. Hawaiian Telcom also is in the midst of a state Public Utilities Commission investigation into the company's deteriorated level of customer service. In addition to costing the company customers, the slow response times could result in penalties or fines levied by state regulators.

Leslie Walker, a Lahaina hotel worker, was unwilling to wait for Hawaiian Telcom to get things right. Walker said she left Hawaiian Telcom for a wireless phone company about six months ago, but still receives a $500 bill from the company every month. Walker said she has disputed the bill for nearly a year. "I'm no longer a Hawaiian Telcom customer, and I never will be again," she said. Hawaiian Telcom said it is a new school would be too costly, and a sudden change would be disruptive and controversial.

As a result, they have developed a five-year plan to phase in the shift on the current campus. That would begin by putting a fence between the buildings used by the intermediate and high school students, said Keli'i. Since all students would still share many facilities, the cafeteria, the administration building and even some teachers the fence would be more of a symbolic gesture, he said. But by phasing in the changes, the teachers feel the result would leave two distinct schools on the same campus each with its own administration, principal and teachers. By employing a different bell system for each, high schoolers and intermediate students would, for example, never occupy the cafeteria at the same time.

And although both student bodies would continue to share such things as the library, gym and athletic field, contact could be kept to a minimum, said Keli'L Robin Kitso, the school's performing arts teacher, agrees that the younger students need to be separated from the high school students. "It's just not a good mix," said Kitso. "The needs of middle working to resolve billing problems. As recently as March, Hawaiian Telcom acknowledged that at least 100 low-income Hawaiian Telcom customers have received inaccurate bills that were higher than normal. The company blamed a "system error" for the problem, which resulted in a misapplication of Lifeline phone bill credits.

"We're cleaning up the problems out there that have existed and still exist to some extent," Ruley said. "There are still problems. We're going to clean them up one at a time until we're done. Until we have them all cleaned up, we're going to keep at it." 'FINALLY MADE IT RIGHT Hawaiian Telcom customers with billing issues may need to exercise patience. Honolulu retiree and Hawaiian Telcom customer Barbara Hanson said it took more than a year to resolve a $250 billing inaccuracy.

"It finally got fixed up, but it wasn't over for more than a year," she said. "I thought it was never going to end, but they finally made it right." Hawaiian Telcom's billing problems were the result of a transition from "back office" systems from prior owner Verizon Communications Inc. to Hawaiian Telcom in April 2006. Hawaiian Telcom bought the company in May 2005 with the pledge of bringing back to Hawai'i the finance, human resources, information technology, marketing and executive staff jobs the pre- HAWAIIAN TELCOM COMPLAINTS There were 149 informal written complaints filed against Hawaiian Telcom with the state Public Utilities Commission in 2006, vs. 31 complaints filed during 2005.

Month No. of of residential Installationbilling calls complaints answered in 20 seconds (goal 85 percent) January 2006 1 87 February 0 77 March 2 68 April 5 20 May 9 8 June 14 10 July 20 1 1 August 14 26 September 26 27 October 24 47 November 20 55 December 14 70 January 2007 7 80 February 21 82 March 1 8 Not avail. April 8 Not avail. Through April 25 vious owner had located on the Mainland. The company has since added about 200 jobs.

However the transition to a new Hawai'i back office resulted in numerous unexpected problems. Although Hawaiian Telcom's phone network remained reliable, thousands of customers received inaccurate bills and customers had to endure long waits for customer service. In February, Hawaiian Telcom announced that it hired Ac-centure Ltd. to complete the development and deployment of Source: Hawai'i Public Utilities Commission. the phone company's customer service and business-support systems.

At the same time, Hawaiian Telcom said it reached a mutual agreement to part ways with its original consultant, BearingPoint Inc. As part of the agreement, BearingPoint paid Hawaiian Telcom a $90 million settlement, including $52 million in cash. Hawaiian Telcom is making better progress fixing ongoing systems issues since the change in consultants, Ruley said. Customer service has nearly re- I mmssmmmmmmi I.