‘There should be no educator left behind’
Posted: January 23, 2025
Natalia Sandoval, a special education preschool teacher at Waikīkī Elementary, returned to her classroom with three- and four-year-old students at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“They don’t know personal boundaries. So they’re climbing on you, sneezing in your face, right? They don’t know how to cover their faces or sneeze in their shirts or things like that. So it did leave us susceptible to getting sick often,” Sandoval recalled.
“We put ourselves in a situation in which we had no idea how it was going to impact our health or the health of our family members,” Sandoval said.
That’s one reason why the Hawaiʻi State Teachers Association is asking state lawmakers for a one-time hazard pay bonus for the thousands of public and charter school teachers who worked directly with students during the pandemic. The HSTA supports educators represented by other unions receiving hazard pay if they have not already been issued such payments.
Classroom educators, principals, vice principals and professors faced a heightened risk of exposure to COVID-19 during the pandemic due to the nature of their work and the need for consistent in-person presence. These employees, including those in Bargaining Units 5, 6, and 7, provided essential services to the public, often in challenging and potentially hazardous environments.
HSTA President Osa Tui, Jr., said, “A one-time hazard pay bonus is an appropriate way to recognize and compensate these employees for their selfless service during the pandemic.”
“There should be no educator left behind,” Tui added.
In the state Senate, Sen. Henry Aquino, who chairs the Senate’s Labor and Technology Committee, has introduced SB 181. A companion bill, HB 618 was introduced in the state House by Rep. Justin Woodson, who chairs the House Education Committee and 15 other representatives. The proposals await committee hearings.
The specific funding amounts are still under consideration and will be finalized during the legislative process, assuming lawmakers approve them. This is standard practice for appropriation bills. In addition, it’s still too early to say when any payments might be made to educators, should legislators appropriate the money for such payments.
Some other bargaining units have hazard pay provisions written into their contracts, and qualified for COVID-19 hazard pay only after lengthy grievance procedures with the state when they were not automatically given such payments.
While teachers do not have a hazard pay provision in their contract, the Hawaiʻi State Department of Education has paid hundreds of employees who don’t work in classrooms but also don’t have hazard pay agreements hazard pay bonuses late last year.
In December, the Board of Education approved $20,000 and $10,000 COVID-19 bonuses for 247 HIDOE employees who are excluded from collective bargaining agreements. Unlike classroom teachers, most of them did not work directly with students during the pandemic but were in offices and other areas where health risks were nowhere near as high as in classrooms.
Sandoval, the special education teacher at Waikīkī Elementary, said, “We put ourselves in a situation in which we had no idea how it was going to impact our health or the health of our family members. I’m super glad that my EAs (educational assistants) did get the money (because their HGEA contract has a hazard pay clause). They definitely deserved it. They put in so much work and dedication. But I also think so did teachers, especially those of us who went back without question.”
“It would be nice to get compensated for that sacrifice that we made to go back with no questions asked, doing our job,” Sandoval added.
‘We put ourselves at risk to keep our students’ lives going’
Tammy Chang, a special education preschool teacher at Mountain View Elementary, said, “As special educators for students with moderate to severe special needs, we were placed in the workplace with our students half a year into the pandemic.”
“We worked closely with our students, even though our students could not understand what it meant to socially distance or struggled to wear or keep on their masks daily. We struggled to keep them safe from each other and us. It was emotionally, physically and psychologically draining for many of us, We were essential workers for our students with special needs and should have been paid hazard pay,” said Chang, who was a fully self contained special education teacher at Keaʻau Elementary during the pandemic.
Daphna Ehrenhalt, a fifth-grade inclusion teacher at Keaʻau Elementary, said, “I think it would be important for us to have hazard pay from the time that we were teaching during COVID, because a lot of us did get sick from COVID. A lot of us put ourselves at risk to keep our students’ lives going. We got down to their level. We worked hard with them, we showed up, we made sure that they were getting as much of an education as we could.”
Brandon Galarita, an English language arts teacher at Princess Ruth Keʻelikōlani Middle recalled “I went to school every day, except on days that I was required to stay home as a COVID contact, to make sure my students got the education they deserved.”
“There are others in a different bargaining unit who taught at the exact same location as me, and some of whom were in arguably in less-exposed roles, that received hazard pay. I know of employees in other roles outside HIDOE, who spent zero days in front of students that received hazard pay. That is simply not fair. I was there, alongside the educators at my school and across the state, providing an education our keiki deserve,” Galarita added.
Wendy Shishido, a retired first grade teacher at Kahului Elementary, remembered that “During COVID, my class was shut down three separate times. I spent my own money to purchase plexiglass glass shields, a room sanitizer machine, and other face protection not supplied by the school in order to better protect myself.”
“The state should have given us hazard pay because we were exposed in a room full of unvaccinated students on a daily basis,” Shishido said.
Even many months after pandemic vaccinations became available, about 60% of HSTA members reported feeling unsafe in classrooms during the first few weeks of the 2021-2022 school year.