Lawmaker says educator concerns are ‘not being addressed’ by governor, interim superintendent
Posted: September 22, 2021
Dozens of educators, who also volunteer as Hawaii State Teachers Association school-level leaders, gathered Tuesday afternoon in downtown Honolulu to raise concerns over inadequate COVID-19 response in schools.
They held an informational picket in front of the Queen Liliuokalani Building, which houses the Hawaii State Department of Education and Board of Education offices.
“We’re concerned about safety. We’re concerned about what’s going on in the schools and the lack of consistency between schools,” said HSTA Honolulu Chapter President Inga Park Okuna, a counselor at Kalihi Uka Elementary. “So in one school, they may quarantine a whole class if someone’s ill and another school, only that student, or maybe the couple students next to them.”
Okuna also pointed to inconsistencies regarding student spacing in cafeterias, lack of free, accessible COVID-19 testing at schools, and changes in working conditions when teachers or entire classrooms are forced to quarantine.
“It’s being left up to the principal or to different schools or complex area superintendents to decide on what’s right and what’s wrong, and it’s not safe that way,” Okuna said.
During the picket, members of HSTA’s Honolulu Chapter delivered a petition signed by hundreds of colleagues urging the Board of Education to direct the HIDOE and interim Superintendent Keith Hayashi “to negotiate with HSTA regarding changes to working conditions, instead of acting unilaterally. For the betterment of our students and staff, we need an MOU (memorandum of understanding) to address the following:
- Prioritize health and safety through consistent, effective, and efficient protocols;
- Address and mitigate the impact on teacher resources and working conditions due to COVID; and
- Provide free on-site testing for staff and its school community (including time to test) at all school sites.”
“We’re just asking for some kind of agreement, because it’s not just teachers, it’s all of us who work at the school,” Okuna said.
“We want to keep everyone out of the hospital. We want to keep them out of the ICUs, and we feel we can do that if we have the safety protocols set in place so that there is a consistency across the schools,” Okuna said.
State Rep. Amy Perruso, who represents Wahiawa, Whitmore Village, and Launani Valley, took part in Tuesday’s informational picket. A teacher for nearly two decades and a former HSTA leader, Perruso says her office hears many of the health and safety issues occurring in schools, such as inconsistent contact tracing and notification, and inconsistent reporting of cases.
“I feel that the governor and the superintendent really need to enter into conversations with the teachers to develop an understanding that protects teachers and students in the classroom, because I feel like the safety concerns that they have are not being addressed,” Perruso said.
“In the end, it’s really about the students, and it’s really about coming together as a community and protecting everyone in our public schools so that we can provide a public education that these kids deserve,” she said.
Educators around the state are holding different informational picketing events over the next couple of weeks. They started last Tuesday, Sept. 14, when about 200 Leeward Oahu teachers held an outdoor picketing event outside the State Office Building in Kapolei.
Earlier Tuesday, dozens of Maui educators conducted informational picketing outside Maui Waena Intermediate, Maui High, and Kahului Elementary schools.
