Educators implore BOE to ensure that campuses are safe, services are provided to students, staff
Posted: August 23, 2023
In the wake of the Maui wildfires, the Hawaiʻi State Department of Education must provide crisis counseling, establish safe campuses, keep displaced Lahaina students and staff together, and improve its communication with parents and educators, said Hawaiʻi State Teachers Association President Osa Tui, Jr. in written testimony to the Hawaiʻi Board of Education.
The board holds its next General Business Meeting Thursday afternoon at 1:30 p.m., during which Schools Superintendent Keith Hayashi will provide a report on the department’s response to the wildfires’ aftermath.
Tui to HIDOE: ‘This is your opportunity to lead’
Tui told the board in written testimony that “HSTA members are concerned and frustrated over the lack of timely communication from the HIDOE, which employs methods of communication largely inaccessible to those who remain in the Lahaina area.”
On Friday, Aug. 18, the HIDOE set up a support hotline for families and staff which the department said would “help guide those in need with information and next steps relating to schools, enrollment, and other resources.”
“This hotline, which took nearly two weeks to set up, requires those struggling with loss of life and property to take the initiative to obtain important information that should have already been in their hands. Teachers are also reporting that their calls often go unanswered,” Tui wrote.
Tui also said the department needs to connect with the community face-to-face. Campus visits to assess damage and meet with administrators are not enough, he said.
“Earlier this week, President Biden and first lady Dr. Jill Biden traveled thousands of miles to visit the Lahaina community, hear residents’ stories, and offer words of support. Decision-makers for our Hawaiʻi public schools, a mere 100 miles away, have yet to do the same,” Tui added.
“The HIDOE and the BOE must hold in-person community meetings to assess and ensure everyone’s needs and desires are being addressed. The community is desperate to participate fully in the next steps for their beloved town and for their cherished keiki, who have been through so much,” Tui wrote.
Another major need in the aftermath of these historic losses is crisis counseling for both students and educators, he said.
“We need thorough and proper training to deal with our own trauma and grief, and properly prepare for students, knowing that former colleagues and classmates remain unaccounted for and may never return. This cannot be accomplished in just a few days. Teachers will need at least a week or more of counseling and training before students are brought back to campuses,” Tui’s testimony said.
As best as possible, students in the Lahaina area want to remain in the Lahaina area to maintain their sense of community. So Tui said, “HIDOE must provide as much normalcy as possible during this chaotic time. While some are enrolling in other schools or into distance learning programs, setting up alternate sites on West Maui needs to happen as soon as possible.”
Hotels have vacant spaces that can be converted into classrooms, Tui noted. Portable classrooms can be set up similar to the effort in 2014 when lava threatened Keonepoko Elementary on Hawaiʻi Island, and the school was relocated to a parking lot on the Keaʻau High School campus, he said.
Toxins that have proliferated on Maui school campuses need to be appropriately disposed of using professionals who can do it in a safe way, Tui said, “rather than exposing well-meaning volunteers to possibly life-altering ailments. If running water isn’t safe, then the department needs to provide alternative methods to provide clean water.”
Tui said, “HIDOE must lean on state and federal leaders now to ensure that resources and funding are swift in coming to address the proper reopening of schools and determining the future of the King Kamehameha III Elementary school campus, students, faculty, and staff. Gather community input right away and be transparent. The public has every right to know and be involved in what happens with their public schools. Leaders step up in a time of crisis. This is your opportunity to lead.”
Teachers affected by fire pen handwritten pleas for support
Tui attached handwritten testimony from four Lahaina-area educators who have been dealing with spotty communication coverage because of electricity, cell phone, and internet outages after the fires.
Krystle Dunn, a Lāhainā Intermediate School teacher and parent of a former King Kamehameha III Elementary student, wrote, “I love and miss my students but I want them to learn in a SAFE environment where we don’t have to question the truth of whether or not the air is safe to breathe or the water is safe to touch, let alone drink.”
“Please consider other satellite options, emergency structures to be installed/built in open spaces, pre-existing locations like ballrooms and conference rooms in hotels – any place that can be used in this emergency situation to provide a guaranteed safe learning environment until our beautiful Lahaina is cleared of the debris and unsafe materials,” Dunn wrote.
Another Lāhainā Intermediate School teacher, Mariadonell Thomas, also submitted handwritten testimony that said, “Please keep our kids and community together. Right now, the best alternative is gathering our students at hotel conference rooms. It’s safe and kids won’t have to drive through the disaster area.”
Mike Landes, a teacher at Lāhaināluna High and parent of two students in Lahaina-area public schools, and president of HSTA’s Maui Chapter, submitted testimony to the BOE outlining the stressful situations that families, students, and school staff still face two weeks after the fires.
“Students and families are stressing about when they will be able to safely return to their Lahaina schools and if/how Kamehameha III Elementary students and those who have evacuated to the other side of the island will be able to remain members of Lahaina schools. This includes Lāhaināluna’s boarding students, as well as many others who attend Lahaina schools on a geographic exemption (known as a GE) because the high cost of housing on West Maui means so many who work there have to live on the other side of the island – these families worry that they will lose their approved GEs if they re-enroll elsewhere, and need written assurances from the DOE that they can absolutely return to their Lahaina schools even if they temporarily re-enroll elsewhere,” Landes wrote.
“DOE employees are stressing about if they will be forced into other schools or even lose their jobs, and how much advance notice they will be given before returning to school campuses – for those employees struggling to find housing, necessities, or even loved ones, advance notice would most certainly be needed. None of these stresses or worries should be added on top of things for our community members who are deep in trauma, focusing on survival, and grieving their losses,” Landes added.
Michelle Abad, another Lāhaināluna High teacher, noted in her testimony that the town’s schools have served as the pillars of our community, and “I am so grateful that three of our public schools were spared from the fires. However, there is an uneasiness in me when thinking about schools reopening as I do not feel properly prepared to take on the duty of helping our kids process this event, not yet.”
“First, as someone who lost a home and watched as others evacuated and fled, I feel that the proper mental health support needs to be provided to help me and other teachers process what we went through and what is left of our town. If I feel this way, I know my students who were deeply affected the same way will also need that support,” Abad said.
“Second, I am not trained to give that same mental health support to our students in the classroom. I get anxiety thinking about welcoming kids to my class. How can I hold them accountable for math homework when they’re likely grieving the loss of a home, loss of their town, and/or the loss of a dear friend or family member,” she added.
HSTA’s wildfire response: text check-ins, in-person meetings, relief checks, more
Over the past two weeks, the HSTA has devoted hours and resources to check on our members’ well-being and needs through multiple means, including surveying via email and text, calling members by phone, asking other faculty to report on the status of colleagues we are unable to reach, and holding in-person meetings to provide what answers and support we can as well as allow our members to simply grieve together.
We coordinated several caravans into Lahaina to take food and supplies to those in need, especially when access was severely restricted in the days following the wildfire. We activated and deployed staff locally and from across the country to assist in our efforts. We are amplifying members’ crowdfunding websites and accepting financial donations on behalf of our members. To date, we have already cut tens of thousands of dollars in relief aid checks for HSTA members who have been displaced after losing their primary residence or, in the case of those at Kamehameha III Elementary, their classrooms and workspaces.
Initial counts indicate at least 57 Maui educators have either lost their homes entirely in the fires or their homes suffered damage to the extent that they have to temporarily relocate. Another 44 teachers reported property damage from the fires. Since the flames destroyed King Kamehameha III Elementary School, all of the teachers there have lost their classrooms and workspaces.
The HSTA is accepting donations via check or credit card of funds that are being sent directly to our educator members who lost homes, classrooms, and workspaces in the fires.