Osa Tui, Jr. replaces Corey Rosenlee, whose term ends this weekend
Posted: July 1, 2021
When Osa Tui, Jr. becomes president of the Hawaii State Teachers Association July 5, he will bring a varied background in teaching, volunteering and actively serving the union to his new role.
Osa’s first years as a public school student, teacher
Tui grew up in Kaneohe in public housing on Oahu’s windward side and saw public school as a safe place. He attended Head Start at Enchanted Lake Elementary in Kailua, followed by Kailua Elementary, Kalihi Uka Elementary and ended his primary school years at Kapunahala Elementary in Kaneohe. Tui attended King Intermediate and Castle High, and went on to earn his bachelor’s in secondary education and mathematics from the University of Hawaii at Manoa.
He always had a love for mathematics, which led him to be a part of Castle’s math team. Tui’s trigonometry teacher (who also served as the math team coach), Mr. Mizuta, was his impetus for wanting to become a math teacher.
“It’s funny, because he would often sit in front of the room and try to dissuade anyone from going into the teaching profession,” Tui recalled. “He would tell us, ‘Whatever you do, don’t become a teacher. It’s just getting worse and worse.’ However, our students need local teachers who can empathize with them and know what’s going on, so that didn’t stop me. He was still an inspiration to me.”
Tui’s first teaching job was at his alma mater, Castle, where he remembers trying to get used to calling his former teachers – his new colleagues – by their first names. He also realized that when students complained about something, they had merit to what they were saying, and at times the teachers felt powerless to help.
“We need to change our system so that teachers do have the power to make change, and if we can just organize and get together, we can advocate for improving our schools,” Tui said.
After working at Castle for three years, he moved to McKinley High School and taught math there from 2001-2007 before becoming a registrar in 2008. Registrars, like counselors, librarians, student service coordinators, and other non-classroom teachers are also represented by HSTA.
Tui also served as a coach for both Castle and McKinley’s math teams before switching to McKinley’s robotics team to take care of administrative and teambuilding duties.
“I became heavily involved in organizing VEX and FIRST robotics competitions across the state and also assisting with international events in China and Japan and at world championship events on the mainland,” Tui said. “Being a robotics tournament organizer became my niche since I was neither a programmer nor a builder.”
In 2016, he was awarded the VEX World Championship Volunteer of the Year Award in Louisville, Kentucky for all of his efforts in traveling the state to ensure consistency in events and supporting tournament organizers.
Early on, he helps fellow educators interpret their contract, pay
Tui’s experience in mathematics and knack for problem-solving made it a natural fit for him to start helping his fellow faculty members interpret things like their contract and pay scale.
“I put together a color-coded breakdown of where everyone was going with their salaries, because it was hard to see based on the documents we were given,” Tui said, referring to the end of the three-week strike in 2001. “Likewise,” he said, “even as a beginning registrar, I would answer a lot of contractual questions from other registrars from across the state.”
Tui became a McKinley school-level leader after a new principal divided the faculty. It necessitated teachers getting organized and resulted in the principal being removed after one year.
After advocating for 12-month teachers in a 2010 meeting to push for a 12-month salary schedule, HSTA Board member and fellow McKinley teacher, Lillian Yamasaki, recommended that Tui volunteer for an opening on the Negotiations Committee. Hoping to try and make some change from within, he gladly accepted the Honolulu Chapter spot and his first meeting was in 2011 after the state imposed its Last, Best, and Final Offer contract. After a year of tumult, he was named to the Negotiations Team in 2012 after which HSTA secured a solid contract in 2013. Happily, that contract included a 12-month salary schedule and closed a chapter in our history of working without a contract, Furlough Fridays, and department directed leave without pay (DLOWP).
“We resolved a number of the issues that had been lingering over the four years,” Tui said. “There were pay raises, and that was the beginning of when things started to look up. The contract also included a brand new evaluation system and the 21 hours of job-embedded professional development (PD) to address that new system and offered, for the first time, PD credits awarded for work done during the workday.”
The 21 hours of paid time has evolved over time and is often used to deal with other things like accreditation and other school initiatives. However, the most recent contract that begins July 1 does not have the 21 hours secured. Tui said he plans to work with the Board of Education to seek resolution.
“There’s a lot of moving parts with this, like the governor’s veto list and how the Legislature is trying to direct federal funds to be spent, but a lot of hearts are coming together wanting these 21 hours,” Tui said. “To try and keep paychecks from being smaller in the next school year and to ensure the continuation of job-embedded PD credits, that’s what we’re fighting for right now.”
After some time spent as the Negotiations Committee chair, Tui stepped away from his robotics duties and ran for Honolulu Chapter president in 2017 where he served for one year before successfully running for office as HSTA’s vice president, a position he held for the past three years.
Pursuing HSTA’s presidency has never been about power for Tui. Instead he says it’s about making sure teachers have the tools they need so no one takes advantage of them. He is known as the “memo king” for posting HIDOE memos on his social media channels to keep colleagues up-to-date.
He plans on continuing the work the union carried out under outgoing President Corey Rosenlee, including addressing issues like the teacher shortage crisis, developing scholarships to recruit more locals into the profession and exploring the community schools model.
Rosenlee is limited to two terms as HSTA president and his second term ends Sunday. Rosenlee will return to the classroom next school year, teaching social studies courses at Campbell High, the school where he taught for years before becoming HSTA president in 2015.
Rosenlee praised his successor, saying “He’s so passionate about what he does. He works so hard for our members and he really cares.”
“Osa, you’re going to be a great state president, I wish you the best,” Rosenlee said during a video interview between the incoming and outgoing leaders this week.
Osa outlines his plans for the future
As far as new initiatives, Tui sees that members need more meaningful opportunities to engage saying, “Members need to have a voice in the direction of their union.”
Even though HSTA already has a lot of avenues for teachers to get involved, he envisions expanding member participation and, together with Secretary-Treasurer-elect Lisa Morrison, has begun developing interest caucuses, forums for members to assert their voices on a more frequent and accessible basis.
“One thing the pandemic has afforded us is the value of the virtual option,” Tui said. “It brings more equity for our members on the neighbor islands. Zoom allows us to reach every corner of our state equally.”
Tui plans on leveraging technology for school level leaders to dialogue about what’s working and share best practices with one another. He’s also looking to implement just-in-time training that would better equip SLLs to prepare for upcoming events like the Academic and Financial Plan (AcFin plan) and the Teacher Assignment and Transfer Process (TATP), both of which are contractual and deadline-sensitive.
As president, Tui will prioritize ensuring teachers have protections and can better their working and living conditions while also advocating for the schools keiki deserve.
“Public school is very important, as I’ve seen throughout my childhood,” Tui said. “It’s a way to access a better life and can give you upward mobility if you take advantage of it.”
Tui believes that our members are HSTA, and added, “HSTA does the work of our members. Our members need to speak up and let us know if we’re going in the right direction or if we need to make a change. We’re not going to make positive change if we’re not all together. Educators should get involved because it’s only going to make us better. We want to be the best union that we can be for our members and for our keiki.”