”The president held my hand this afternoon”
Posted: August 23, 2023
Lāhaināluna High teacher Ashley Olson said “it was super touching” for her and her educator colleagues when the public meeting with President Joe Biden and First Lady Dr. Jill Biden on Maui Monday began with a number of songs, including the Lāhaināluna High alma mater.
At the request of the Hawaiʻi State Teachers Association, the White House invited at least 15 public school teachers to Monday’s Lahaina Civic Center gathering attended by about 350 people.
Olson and some colleagues from her high school were seated “maybe eight feet from the president and Dr. Biden,” she said.
After the president’s speech, the teachers spoke directly with him and the first lady.
Olson said they spoke with Dr. Jill Biden about, “really big frustrations and stressed that we want, obviously, to get back to school, but there’s been a dearth of information from the DOE or piecemeal information. ‘OK, you’re on administrative leave until Friday. OK, now you’re on administrative leave until Wednesday.’ And that’s hard on teachers and it doesn’t provide information to parents and kids.”
She told the first lady that “We’re hoping that you’ll help us to advocate for crisis counseling for trauma-informed counseling because as you know, a dysregulated child can’t learn. A dysregulated adult can’t teach.”
Olson said she told the president, “You’ve been through some horrible things in your life and you were younger than I am now, but your kids are probably about my age. When do you start to feel whole again?”
“And that’s when he was holding my hand and said ‘That hole in your chest will start to fill up. That hollow feeling will start to fill up again,’“ Olson said.”The president held my hand this afternoon. I’m not going to lie – it was comforting.”
The teachers told the president it would be years until Lahaina rebuilds but they said they wanted the Bidens to come back and see the town rebuilt and maybe they could take the Bidens to dinner.
“Maybe you guys can come back and we can show you Lahaina when it’s shining brightly. And he made a comment, ‘Well, it’s hard for presidents to just go to dinner and maybe we’ll just have you to the White House.’ And I said, ‘Ok, cool!’” Olson said.
“You know, he (Biden) can’t wave the magic wand to bring everything back, but certainly with his support will be able to hopefully build back in a way that will prevent a tragedy like this from ever happening again,” Olson added.
Fellow Lāhaināluna High teacher Jackie Ellis, who also met personally with the president and first lady, said, “My one hopeful moment from this event is when we snagged a moment with Dr. Jill Biden. We were able to voice concerns about how the DOE is handling the situation and our concerns for our students.”
Biden: ‘Whatever it takes, as long as it takes’
Biden ended his remarks at the Lahaina Civic Center by pledging to meet with anyone who wanted to talk to him afterward. Speaking with as many people in the room as he could delayed his departure by over an hour.
Biden pledged to rebuild the original capital of the Hawaiian kingdom only in the way the community wants, responding to lingering concerns that luxury tourist developments will rise out of the ashes and make housing unaffordable for survivors who lost their homes and still have no word about whether loved ones survived the wildfires.
Biden said, “We’re going to get it done for you, but get it done the way you want it done — not get it done somebody else’s way. No, I mean it,” in remarks greeted with applause.
Biden tried to ease community concerns, pledge support, and offer consolation to the people of Maui.
“Jill and I are here to grieve with you but also want you to know the entire country is here for you,” Biden said. “That’s not hyperbole. We mean that. The entire … country is here for you.
The first family cut a vacation in Lake Tahoe, Nev. short to fly to Maui to view the destruction and console survivors.
Before the Civic Center event, the president and first lady joined Gov. Josh Green and first lady Jaime Kanani Green to tour burned-out historic Lahaina Town.
Biden promised that the federal government will continue to help the people of Lahaina with “whatever it takes, as long as it takes” to rebuild from the Aug. 8 wind-whipped inferno that killed at least 115 people, with between 1,000 and 1,100 people still listed as “not found.”
Biden said, “The devastation is overwhelming,” as he stood on the ocean side of the 150-year-old Lahaina banyan tree that has come to symbolize hope and survival.
“Today it’s burned but it’s still standing,” Biden said of the iconic banyan. “The tree survived for a reason. I believe it’s a very powerful symbol of what we can and will do to get through this crisis.”
