HONOLULU -- Two "furlough moms" who fought against public school furloughs and the former head of the public school teachers union are running for the school board this year.

Kathy Bryant-Hunter, 46, is the mother of a boy who just graduated from the sixth grade at Aikahi Elementary this year.

She served as the volunteer project coordinator for Aikahi’s new playground and decided to run for the school board after kids were out of school 17 days because of furloughs.

"It really compelled me to get involved with what was happening, 'cause it didn't seem like that made any sense, to parents, to the community and we seem to have lost our way," said Bryant-Hunter, a Kailua resident.

She's running for one of three at-large seats on the Board of Education. Bryant-Hunter served ten years on the Kailua Neighborhood Board and six as its chair.

"One of the reasons why I'm running is to make sure that in the decisions of the Board of Education, we're looking at the students' interests first, engaging our communities and making them good partners," she said.

Bryant-Hunter works part-time as a meeting facilitator, running meetings of all types for community groups, businesses and nonprofits. She did graduate work in urban planning at the University of Hawaii.

Her friend Melanie Bailey is also running for the Board of Education. Bailey, 48, also has a son who just graduated from the sixth grade at Aikahi Elementary.

“I have always done volunteer work and this is just notching it up a level,” Bailey said. She said she and Bryant-Hunter made the decision to jump into the BOE race just a few days before the filing deadline earlier this month. “I think we can bring some positive energy to the board,” said Bailey.

Bailey works as human resources manager at Duke’s Canoe Club Restaurant in Waikiki.

In June, Bailey stood next to the lieutenant governor at the governor’s office, when he signed a bill requiring public schools to offer 180 days of instruction a year.

"I wanted to see what we could do to make sure we never had to come into a situation like this again," she said, as she explained why she pushed for the bill’s passage before the legislature.

Bailey and a friend called schools across the mainland to find out Hawaii had the fewest classroom hours in the country. Bailey and Bryant-Hunter lobbied legislators to pass the minimum instruction requirement.

Another candidate for the at-large BOE seats is Roger Takabayashi, 62, the former president of the public school teachers union, HSTA.

"After 40 years of teaching, as an educator, I think I have a perspective of what needs to be done in our state educational system," Takabayashi said.

His six-year term as president of the 13,400-member teachers union was up last summer and he now works as a student services coordinator at Farrington High School, his alma mater.

"I want to ensure that policies that the board creates are workable policies, not like the No Child Left Behind polices which were established by the U.S. DOE and it's just not workable," he said.

The teachers union and the BOE did not support the new minimum instruction requirement.

The only incumbent at-large member running for re-election this year is Kim Coco Iwamoto. In all, 12 people are running for three open seats, guaranteeing two new members will be elected to the BOE.

The others are: Noela Andres-Nance, Todd Hairgrove, Malcolm Kirkpatrick, Marcia Linville, Roberta Phillips Mayor, Brian Yamane and Randall Yee.

The list includes a woman named Pamela Young, who is not KITV4's weekend anchor. KITV4 was unable to reach candidate Pamela Young by phone to ask about her background.