Month: October 2014
McDermott makes battle with ‘Pono Choices’ national news
Washington Times – 10/15/14:
Gift cards rewarded to children who participate in Hawaii sex ed program
Read more:
FOX News – 10/15/14:
Hawaii students get gift cards to participate in sex education program
Watchdog.org – 10/15/14
Hawaii students get gift cards to participate in sex education program
McDermott uncovers more “Pono Choices” irregularities
State Representative Bob McDermott has revealed today that the University of Hawaii gave away over $52,200 in gift cards to students in the Pono Choices program!
McDermott Blasts UH for wasting taxpayer money on Pono Choices
The University of Hawaii must have plenty of money, since they are spending it to promote a program that parents clearly said they do not want.
Unknown to parents, the discredited Pono Choices program was a “research project.” Parents were never informed of this fact. They kids were being used as human subjects for research! This is a horrible breach of trust between the DOE and the owners of the system, the parents.
Research projects necessarily require “informed consent” when human subjects are involved. Meaningful informed affirmative consent is the cornerstone of human subject protections; this did not happen. Further, because DOE facilities/resources were used, Pono Choices violated several safe guards contained in the Federal Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment (PPRA). This is all illegal, sloppy and incompetent.
Additionally, the Students, the teachers, and community liaisons were given over $52,000.00 in GIFT CARDS in violation of Hawaii State law. This unlawful actively is bad enough, but it then necessarily renders all the data collected in the research project, known as Pono Choices, as meaningless due to an inherit input bias as a result of a financial inducement. This is a shameless manipulation of the data, give an eleven year old a $10.00 dollar gift card, then ask them how they like the program
READ COMPLETE PRESS RELEASE: Pono Choices Gift Cards Press release
