She will replace Wilbert Holck who retires in late July

The Hawaii State Teachers Association’s Board of Directors Saturday approved hiring veteran Hawaii teacher, administrator, union and student advocate Ann Mahi as the HSTA’s next executive director. She plans to begin the job on Aug. 1, replacing Wilbert Holck who is retiring after more than 31 years at HSTA.

HSTA President Osa Tui Jr. said, “I’ve had the pleasure of knowing Ann Mahi for many years and she’s always been a passionate and tireless advocate for the keiki of Hawaii and will serve HSTA well with her extensive knowledge of the inner workings of the Hawaii State Department of Education.”

“Wilbert has been such an asset to HSTA through his many years of service,” Tui added. “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.”

Holck and Mahi have worked out a transition plan in which she will begin attending in-person and virtual meetings at HSTA over the next two months before taking the helm in August.

Holck said, “Ann Mahi is a well-respected educator, former union leader, and proven teacher advocate. She will work well with HSTA’s leadership to elevate the prestige of our union in the eyes of the community at large and our members.”

HSTA Board Member Vickie Parker Kam, who serves on HSTA’s Executive Director Search Committee, said, “Finding an executive director who had the experience, knowledge, and understanding of local culture was quite challenging. Ann has held such a variety of positions within the Department of Education and she has knowledge that cannot be matched.”

“I am confident that she will be able to strongly represent the HSTA in negotiations, in the media, and through government relations to ensure our members are protected and well-represented,” said Kam, who is a teacher at Ilima Intermediate.

Mahi will oversee HSTA’s staff of 44 employees on four islands and the union’s annual $12 million operating budget.

Mahi began and ended her HIDOE career on the Waianae Coast

Mahi started her teaching career as a 9th-grade guidance teacher at Waianae High in 1976. Then in 1981, she became a social studies teacher at Aiea High, where she taught World History and Modern Hawaiian History, among other subjects. A few years later, she taught social studies courses at Radford High, where she also was the Rhythmettes drill team coach, driving the 40 girls on the team in a large school bus to perform at events around Oahu.

Mahi next taught at Kahuku High, which she described as “a close-knit school community where I got to see how teachers make an impact on students in rural communities.”

“There was a diversity of kids that ranged from middle class to those who had challenges which left them houseless, living on the beach or living out of cars and buses. In those days we didn’t have as many services as we do now and I saw my colleagues always helping out in whatever way they could,” she recalled.

She also worked in the gifted and talented program for 7th and 8th graders at Kahuku and was an advisor to National Honor Society students.

“As new teachers, we were also class advisors and it was a wonderful way to interact with our fellow advisors and student leaders,” Mahi said.

She next returned to Radford in 1986, where she spent four years as the student activities coordinator.

Mahi recalled how she and other teachers held after-school workshops for students to make their own corsages and boutonnieres during prom season for the affordable price of just $10.

“As class advisors, it was important to be able to create equity for all students as they prepared for these social events,” she said.

In 1991, Mahi moved into school administration, serving three years as vice principal at Heeia Elementary School.

“When you’re a vice principal, you get all the complaints and concerns regarding school operations and thus, you get to work with the APC (Association Policy Committee),” Mahi said.

“I really enjoyed it, because they would tell me ‘Here are the issues that we have’ and I would write the responses for each of the concerns and provide it to them prior to our APC meeting to share with the other teachers. As a new vice principal I wanted to do a good job in preparing and got a bit overzealous. I remember writing an 11-page response to nine concerns/questions, and they told the union that ‘We ran out of our year’s supply of paper,’” she recalled.

Next, she spent three years as principal at Kailua Elementary, seven years as state educational director at the Office of Curriculum, Instruction and Student Support, and four years as principal at Roosevelt High. She then spent a year as complex area superintendent for the Kaimuki-McKinley-Roosevelt Complex Area. She retired from the HIDOE in 2020 after eight years as complex area superintendent for the Nanakuli-Waianae Complex Area and 42 years in the public school system.

A veteran of many many leadership positions in the HIDOE, Mahi said, “I understand how to navigate through a lot of those different issues that come up from personnel to facilities to budget and academic issues that impact our teachers and their ability to provide excellent learning opportunities for our haumana.”

Mahi has decades of experience as a union leader

From 1991 to 2009, Mahi was an elected leader of the Hawaii Government Employees Association’s Unit 6, which represents principals, vice principals, athletic directors and other HIDOE administrators. She served as a board director before becoming the first woman to be elected president of Unit 6 Board of Directors since its inception in 1971 and also served as the vice president of the state HGEA Board of Directors.

Her broad experiences bring to HSTA “an understanding and knowledge of both the educational system, the union, as well as being a teacher in the field and being able to bring those things forward in support of what needs to happen for teachers for them to do their jobs well, in a classroom and in schools,” Mahi said.

In recent years, Mahi worked at the Legislature, served on various community boards

Following her retirement from HIDOE in the summer of 2020, she worked as a legislative assistant and session staffer in 2021 for state Sen. Michelle Kidani, chair of the Senate Education Committee, and in 2022 for state Sen. Donovan Dela Cruz, who chairs the Senate Ways and Means Committee.

Working with lawmakers, she advised them on various education-related programs and spending, from operating budgets to construction projects, which Mahi said gave her an “understanding of how bills can be effectively written to support teachers and the students they serve.”

For the past 12 years, Mahi served as a volunteer board member at the Atherton YMCA, and after she retired from HIDOE, she became a board member for Hookakoo Corporation, a nonprofit that oversees three public conversion charter schools on Oahu, Molokai and Hawaii Island.

Since 2020, she has also served on the boards of Mental Health of America Hawaii and Teach for America Hawaii.

Her daughter teaches 8th grade science at Kaimuki Middle School, where she is completing her tenth year as a public school teacher.

Mahi graduated from Castle High, completed a Bachelor of Education degree from the University of Hawaii, Manoa, and also earned a Master of Education Degree in Curriculum and Instruction and a Master of Education Degree in Educational Administration from UH Manoa.

“I’m very excited and hopeful that I can be of service to the teachers of Hawaii and to HSTA,” she said.

“We can never lose sight of the fact that we’re here because we need to make sure that our children have a successful pathway to achieve their dreams. HSTA provides me a wonderful opportunity to be able to work with those who are right there on the front lines and to be able to support them with what they need in order to do the work that will impact the lives of the next generation and the future of Hawaii,” said Mahi.