They worry a lack of HIDOE agreement makes it unclear how kids continue learning when quarantined
Posted: September 24, 2021
Teachers from all around East Hawaii conducted informational picketing late Friday afternoon outside the State Office Building in Hilo, raising concerns about a lack of uniform health protocols in public schools. Wearing masks and socially distanced, more than 40 members of the Hawaii State Teachers Association’s Hilo Chapter held signs and received support from pau hana drivers.
HSTA Hilo Chapter President Edwin Kagawa says he fears the lack of consistent health protocols in public schools is driving school staffers to quit.
“Because of the inconsistencies, a lot of them are leaving. They’re quitting, they’re retiring. They’re moving to areas where they feel a little bit safer to teach. So the ones that are suffering are the kids,” said Kagawa, who teaches all subject areas to at-risk students at Keaau High in an alternative learning program.
Last school year, HSTA negotiated an agreement called a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Hawaii State Department of Education, which detailed safety protocols during the pandemic and outlined how teachers would be expected to continue educating students if disease outbreaks forced students into distance or hybrid learning. Since late 2020, the state refused to negotiate another MOU with HSTA for this school year, meaning schools are all forced to make things up as they go along.
Aaron Kubo, an 8th-grade social studies teacher at Hilo Intermediate said, “We should have continuity of education, absolutely.”
“There are inconsistencies without hybrid models or distance learning models. We don’t have those models anymore because the COVID MOU went away,” Kubo added.
HSTA President Osa Tui, Jr., who joined Hilo-area educators on the picket line Friday, said, “Hilo Chapter has very remote and rural schools who need easy access to testing and also flexibility to make decisions for their communities during outbreaks because they have network access issues.”
State Sen. Laura Acasio (D, Hilo) also joined the picketers Friday afternoon.
Kagawa said a lack of an agreement with HSTA leads to confusion for families and educators as more and more staff and students either are sidelined with COVID-19 or have to quarantine because they were close contacts.
Kagawa said parents are “confused about when their children can go back to the classroom and what kind of services they will have at home when they’re stuck at home being quarantined. What kind of lessons will be provided to them, what kind of support will be provided for the kids.’
“Because it’s a school-by-school decision, it’s not very consistent, it’s not fair for the kids, it’s not clear and it causes a lot of confusion for everyone in the community,” Kagawa added.
Kagawa said another agreement between HSTA and the state would allow everyone to “have something that we can follow statewide so that all the schools can be organized and consistent and we can provide a safe environment for our kids, so they prosper in class.”
A lack of free, easily accessible COVID-19 testing in Hawaii Island schools also concerns educators.
“A lot of rural areas are very isolated, so a lot of our families don’t have adequate access to testing sites, they don’t have adequate access to vaccination sites, medical facilities, and transportation to these facilities,” Kagawa said.
Kubo, the teacher at Hilo Intermediate, said, “We want to keep schools open, but we need the health and education departments to do a better job protecting the students, school staff, and our community.”
Educators around the state are holding different informational picketing events over the next couple of weeks. They started Tuesday, Sept. 14, when about 200 Leeward Oahu teachers held an outdoor picketing event outside the State Office Building in Kapolei.
This past Tuesday, dozens of Maui educators conducted informational picketing outside Maui Waena Intermediate, Maui High, and Kahului Elementary schools. School-level leaders from HSTA’s Honolulu Chapter gathered outside the HIDOE headquarters on Punchbowl Street Tuesday afternoon for informational picketing.
Similar events are planned for this coming Tuesday, Sept. 28, morning on Kauai, and this Tuesday afternoon in HSTA’s Kona, Hamakua, and Central chapters.
