Freitas, 36, was selected from a field of 16 finalists representing the best of the state’s 13,000-plus public school teachers, and will represent Hawaii in the National Teacher of the Year Program in the spring.
Makana Boinville Emery was just 8 years old when she was found Dec. 7, 2017, bound to a bed frame with her mouth taped on the second floor of a North Shore vacation rental while her mother lay lifeless downstairs.