E Komo Mai

Welcome to the website of the Secondary Student Conference.

Senator Jill Tokuda with students at a hearing for SB8.

The Hawaii Secondary Student Conference established by Act 94 and signed in to law by Governor John A. Burns in 1970. It became Chapter 317, Secondary Student Conference, of the Hawaii Reserved Statutes. Amendments were made in 1972 to include private secondary school students. Additional amendments were approved in 1997 to include students in grades 7 and 8.

The annual conference enables students in secondary schools to identify, discuss, and arrive at recommended solutions to major youth problems. The emphasis is on school problems that require the attention and joint action by the students, the Board of Education, the Department of Education, and the legislature.

The conference is organized by two high school student planners and an adult advisor from each of the seven local school districts and also by two high school student planners and an adult advisor from private schools represented by the Hawaii Association of Independent Schools (HAIS).

Delegates from each school represent their districts at the conference. Each delegate must attend two pre-conferences to prepare for conference and write a resolution from one of the five issue categories to present at the statewide conference. The five issue categories are: State Concerns, Curricular Concerns, Co-Curricular Concerns, Student/Staff Concerns, and Resources/Facilities/Environment Concerns. District councils discuss various concerns.