Longtime HIDOE administrator, former teacher Ann Mahi will replace him
Posted: May 19, 2022
Hawaii State Teachers Association Executive Director Wilbert Holck plans to retire at the end of July after a distinguished career lasting 31 years at the union.
Longtime public school complex area superintendent, principal, administrator, and teacher Ann Mahi will succeed Holck as executive director on Aug. 1. The two have worked out a transition plan in which Mahi will begin attending in-person and virtual meetings at HSTA over the next two months before taking the helm in August.
HSTA President Osa Tui Jr. said, “Wilbert has been such an asset to HSTA through his many years of service.”
“His excellent shepherding of our legislative priorities over the past few months was a major factor in securing the needed funds to fix salary compression affecting thousands of our members who have been affected for so long,” Tui added.
HSTA leaders, staff laud Holck in tribute video
Current and retired HSTA governance leaders and staff saluted Holck in a video full of memories, along with humorous and touching remembrances.
Jaime Cunanne, HSTA’s executive assistant to the executive director and president said, “Wilbert is a huge-hearted introvert. He likes people and he’s the nicest person I’ve ever met, but he does not like the spotlight.”
Corey Rosenlee, who was HSTA president from 2015 to 2021, said, “There were many times at HSTA that a crisis would happen. Wilbert would come into my office and close the door and I would feel my heart rate go up. But what was so important during those times is just the trust and respect that I had for Wilbert. That through all those crises, we were able to get through them, and at times when it feels like the entire world is trying to knock you down, it was just always just great to have Wilbert by my side.”
Roger Takabayashi, who served as president of HSTA from 2003 to 2009, described Wilbert as “a good worker, he’s a good cook, he’s an overall good guy and even to some women he’s good looking.”
Retired UniServ Director/Lead Advocate David Forrest partnered with Holck in his earlier years on staff when they both worked in the field.
“Wilbert has been a great friend to me, as well as a great partner,” Forrest said.
“Wilbert is an excellent cook. He loves to cook. And I love to go to his house to eat his cooking,” Forrest added.
HSTA Retired Executive Director Joan Husted recalled, “Wilbert is calm. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him get angry or defensive. And sometimes I wish I had his calmness.”
“When a teacher got in trouble, they were comfortable talking to him, but the administrators were also comfortable seeking his advice in how to deal with the issue. So his advocacy was not angry advocacy, it was problem-solving advocacy,” Husted said.
Former HSTA Interim Executive Director Dwight Takeno, who is now the deputy director at the University of Hawaii Professional Assembly, said, “Many who know Wilbert honestly can say that his teachings are still ingrained in our brains and our memories and they shall last forever.”
Holck started at HIDOE as Kaiser teacher, held first HSTA UniServ job in Central Chapter
Holck began his first public school teaching job at Kaiser High as an outreach counselor in 1981. He also taught in a special motivation program for students having difficulty adjusting to a traditional classroom. He later ran the alternative learning center which took in students from Kalani High, Niu Valley Middle, and Kaiser High.
Holck transitioned to a staff job with HSTA in 1989, first working as a UniServ Director serving educators at schools in Leeward and Central chapters.
Retired Central Chapter president Jan Turner said, “Working with Wilbert was always the best of times, even in the worst of times. He was like a sensei, he was a good mentor.”
His immediate predecessor as Central Chapter UniServ Director was Mae Kim, who left Hawaii and HSTA to work at the Oregon Education Association and went on to move to Washington, D.C. as an organization specialist at the National Education Association.
“When he was an NEA trainer, we trained brand-new UniServ directors right after being hired,” Kim recalled.
“In addition to training how to be good UDs, I forced Wilbert to teach them tai chi and massage therapy. Can you imagine a whole classroom of these rugged, rough UDs doing tai chi?” Kim said.
Holck said, “I’ve worked with teachers and represented teachers in every single HSTA chapter statewide over my career.”
“My greatest joy has been working with all of these devoted teachers and our dedicated staff,” he added. “The thing I’ve loved about this job is meeting and knowing so many teachers and becoming friends with so many of them along the way.”
In 2010, Holck became the deputy executive director of HSTA until 2013 when he became the deputy executive director at the Hawaii Government Employees Association, a position he held for a little more than a year until the executive director position opened up at HSTA.
In 2014, Holck became HSTA’s executive director.
“I’m extremely proud of what we accomplished during the 2001 strike, and more recently in our efforts at the Legislature and our advocacy focused on the teacher shortage crisis such as the creation of teacher shortage differentials in 2020,” Holck said.
“We have more people looking at special education as a career than ever,” Holck added.
Holck will retire before the next school year begins and says that will allow him to find time to travel with his wife Terry, who’s been a public school educator for three decades.
“There are things Terry wants me to do around the house,” Holck joked.
June Motokawa who was HSTA president from 1994 to 1998, said, “I want to wish Wilbert all the freedom from the clocks that he has endured over 31 years in the profession.”
“Much happiness, much aloha to Wilbert, always,” added Motokawa, who is now president of the Hawaii Education Association.