Teachers reflect on year of resilience after Maui wildfires

A year after devastating fatal wildfires swept through Maui, teachers across the island continue to deal with the tragedy’s profound impact and acknowledge the crucial role played by their union, the Hawaiʻi State Teachers Association, in recovery efforts.

‘The first help that I got was from our union.’

Maui High School math teacher Jodi Kunimitsu, who chairs the HSTA Human and Civil Rights Committee, recalled how she and other union members mobilized quickly to help those affected by the fires that sparked on Aug. 8, 2023.

“We organized supply drives and set up a hub at my house for people to drop off and pick up essential items,” Kunimitsu said.

“We went to Costco, bought supplies, and set up my house as a drop-off point. HSTA leadership coordinated efforts, and those with permits to enter the burn zone picked up supplies from us to deliver to Lahaina,” she recalled.

Mike Landes, president of HSTA’s Maui Chapter and a social studies teacher at Lahainaluna High School, reflected on how educators supported each other and the community.

“In the first days after the fire, HSTA was like ʻohana,” Landes said.

“We joke about it now. We’ve hugged more over the past year and especially in that first week or so, than ever in our lives,” he added.

Landes, the elected president of roughly 1,400 public and charter school teachers on Maui, said countless colleagues told him, “The first people that I got contacted from checking to see if I was OK were my fellow teachers, my fellow members, my coworkers, my friends, my fellow HSTA members.

“The first help that I got was from our union, was from HSTA,” Landes shared, quoting his fellow educators.

Lisa Thompson, the student activities coordinator at Maui’s Kūlanihākoʻi High School and HSTA secretary-treasurer at the time of the fires, recalled, “I happen to live very near to the (Kahului) airport. So when our HSTA staff from Oʻahu organized and got over as soon as they could, my dining room table was a tactical station for a couple of days, because we were trying to go through where our members were, creating maps, an overlay with what the fire impact area was so that we could reach out to them, trying to help them out because as they couldn’t get through one side of the mountain, they could come around the other side, and making sure that we met up with them in order to give supplies.”

Ashley Olson, a teacher at Lahainaluna High who works with multilingual students, said the union worked swiftly to provide financial, legal, and emotional support.

“In the immediate aftermath, our (HSTA) executive director and deputy executive director came (to Maui) and they brought with them attorneys who were doing pro bono work to just help people sift through their new reality. And it’s meant a lot. And I feel that whatever I’ve ever given to HSTA, and my colleagues in time or dues, my community has gotten back a thousandfold,” said Olson, who is a member of HSTA’s Board of Directors.

More than 100 public school teachers and retirees lost their homes in the fires while educators lost their classrooms at King Kamehameha III Elementary School to the flames in Lahaina.

The National Education Association, HSTA’s national affiliate union, “pledged significant funds to support teachers who lost their homes or classrooms. HSTA promoted GoFundMe pages and other financial aids,” Olson said.

NEA President Becky Pringle told the HSTA Board of Directors in November, “Know that we will be there with you throughout as you rebuild, as you heal, as you grieve, as you inspire each other.”

HSTA President Osa Tui, Jr. said, “Our heartfelt thanks to more than 300 people and organizations from around the nation and across the state who have donated more than $434,000 for HSTA’s fire relief efforts, especially the NEA and NEA Member Benefits.”

In its first round of relief, the HSTA provided $1,000 checks to members who were displaced from their homes because their primary residence was damaged by the fires and $500 checks to members whose classrooms or workspaces were destroyed in the disaster. In late fall, the HSTA sent a second and final round of $2,665 relief checks to 92 members and HSTA-retired members whose homes remained unlivable or were destroyed.

Several Maui educators also spoke with President Joe Biden and the first lady, Dr. Jill Biden, a fellow educator and NEA member herself, when the couple visited Maui last August. Dr. Jill Biden subsequently met with HSTA educators over Zoom to get recovery updates and share her support.

Disaster spotlights ongoing housing, mental health challenges

Despite these efforts, Olson acknowledges that challenges persist, particularly concerning housing and mental health.

“Many teachers are still struggling with housing issues and the ongoing emotional impact of the fires,” she added.

Evelyn Ibonia, a fifth-grade teacher at Kihei Elementary School, described the immediate aftermath of the fires as a period of intense adjustment.

“We had students from Lahaina displaced and brought into our schools. Our priority was to support these students and the teachers who were relocated,” Ibonia said.

Ibonia noted that HSTA was instrumental in providing resources and emotional support during this challenging time. “It has made us feel like more of a family,” she said. “That is why I feel so good to be part of this union.”

Thompson, the student activities coordinator at Kūlanihākoʻi High and a longtime HSTA governance leader, noted the broader implications of the fires on education.

“The influx of students from Lahaina has put a strain on schools that were already facing challenges,” Thompson said.

Thompson also pointed to continued difficulties in finding affordable housing and the exacerbation of pre-existing teacher shortages.

“We already had a housing shortage that affected teachers before the fires. Now it is even more difficult, so people who would love to stay cannot,” she said.

“There was a very valuable teacher at the elementary on the west side, who had to move to Oʻahu in order to find housing, because they lived in an area where the landlord could get so much more money that they were kicked out. That’s a teacher who wanted to stay, who was willing to stay, despite all the challenges, but could not get housing,” Thompson added.

Success, support continue along road to recovery

With the one-year mark of the fires this week, teachers and their communities continue to navigate the wildfires’ aftermath.

“People are still dealing with the trauma, and it’s crucial that we continue to support one another,” Thompson said.

Overall, HSTA leaders said the resilience demonstrated by teachers and the support provided by HSTA have been pivotal in helping the community recover.

“We’ve seen how powerful our union can be,” said Landes, the president of HSTA’s Maui Chapter.

Landes recalled that in the immediate aftermath of the fires, people who lost their homes had a long list of things to do, such as “checking their properties, clearing their land, meeting with FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency), insurance companies, everything, and it has exhausted the leave that many people have banked up over the years.”

Classroom teachers in the islands receive just six personal leave days that they can take during the school year before they have to start taking leave without pay or sick leave.

In the weeks after the fires, the HSTA asked the Hawaiʻi State Department of Education to allow educators statewide to donate some of their leave and create a leave bank similar to what educators do now if someone has a terminal illness.

“The Department of Education’s response was ‘no.’ In fact, I believe it was, ‘We are not willing to consider that,’” Landes said.

“As a result, a group of our members said we’re going to go to the Board of Education and say we need to do this. And we pressured the Board of Education, and the Board of Education members overwhelmingly supported us. And thanks to those efforts, we got a memo from the superintendent saying they now will create the leave bank,” Landes said.

HIDOE employees must complete leave share paperwork to receive or donate Maui fires leave by Sept. 13.

Thompson concluded, “It’s definitely been a year of resilience, and we have seen that people have soldiered on and gone back to the classroom, and really tried to be there for students, as well as other colleagues while they’re suffering.

“But it’s been a year where I think that from the outside, we’re expected to be all better a little bit too soon,” Thompson said.