Creation of Preschool Program Focus of ‘Twitter Town Hall’

State Sen. Jill Tokuda, head of the Senate’s Committee on Education,will hold a “Twitter Town Hall” from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 22, on the creation of Hawaii’s Keiki First Steps Program.

The state-funded pre-school program will be an offshoot of the Executive Office on Early Learning, which was created last year by the state Legislature.

Sen. Jill Tokuda. Senate photo.

During the town hall the public will be able to use Twitter to submit questions and comments regarding the Keiki First Steps Program, and receive live answers and view the senator’s replies by using the hashtag #askjill.

Tokuda will be tweeting answers through her Twitter handle, @jilltokuda.

Also participating in the Twitterview, as the town halls are also known, will be Terry Lock, executive director of the Executive Office of Early Learning.

This will be Tokuda’s second time using the social media platform to produce an informal public policy forum. She previously held a Twitter Town Hall prior to the 2011 legislative session on the topic of an appointed Board of Education.

“Social media provides an innovative mechanism for policymakers to engage constituents in new and meaningful ways,” Tokuda said.