The Hawaii State Teachers Association continues to pursue the issues and problems that have arisen since the transition of the responsibility for the DOE’s professional development (PDE3) course program from the DOE’s Office of Talent Management (previously the Office of Human Resources) to the Office of Curriculum, Instruction, and Student Services (OCISS). On Friday, Oct. 19, HSTA Executive Director Wilbert Holck and Deputy Executive Director Andrea Eshelman met with Interim Assistant Superintendent for OCISS Donna Lum Kagawa. They discussed our concerns about the program and addressed the letter we sent to Superintendent Christina Kishimoto on Sept. 12.
Link to earlier HSTA web story about PD delays, problems
At the Oct. 19 meeting, the department acknowledged the need to review the PDE3 course program and invited HSTA to participate in the newly established DOE Professional Development PDE3 workgroup. HSTA has been told this workgroup will review the current program and procedures for all courses offered (credit and non-credit) on PDE3. HSTA was told that the workgroup is to have a recommendation for changes presented no later than March 2019. While HSTA continues to try to address this issue from a variety of different ways, including working with the department on the workgroup, we are not ruling out other options. Therefore, we need more information from our membership, including but not limited to gathering specific details from those who have experienced trouble with course availability, portfolio approvals and receiving credit for completed courses.
We are looking for instructors or course participants who have had problems with the DOE PDE3 program and have been negatively impacted during the 2017-2018 or 2018-2019 school years. If you have been affected, please take some time to fill out our survey. Please complete the survey by Monday, Nov. 26.