Administrative leave available as Maui schools reopen this week
To our educator ʻohana on Maui, your well-being is top of mind. Please know your colleagues across the state are working to support and advocate for you in your time of need.
HSTA demands bargaining as omicron surge triggers school closures, teacher reassignments
This week, the Hawaii State Teachers Association submitted a new demand for impact bargaining to interim Schools Superintendent Keith Hayashi and Hawaii Board of Education Chair Catherine Payne over recent changes by the Hawaii State Department of Education to members’ working conditions without appropriate negotiation or a consult-and-confer process, which are violations of our contract, HIDOE policy, and state law.
Severe weather closes HIDOE schools on Maui, Molokaʻi, Lānaʻi
If you have not been notified, Hawaiʻi State Department of Education schools on Maui, Lānaʻi, and Molokaʻi are closed tomorrow (Monday, Dec. 6) due to severe weather. Bargaining Unit 05 employees should not report to campus per our contract.
Public school classrooms to remain closed through the end of the school year
HSTA President Corey Rosenlee said, “As long as there was ambiguity about when school would open, it made it very difficult for our teachers to plan. Now we know what’s going to happen with the rest of the school year."
Board approves request that will allow Hawaii public school seniors to graduate on time
Thursday’s decision means that about 10,000 public high school seniors who are on track to graduate will be able to do so on time. Another 1,000 or so students are not on track to graduate. Guidance will be released next week that include ways for educators to work with students to ensure they can graduate, if possible.
HSTA’s open letter to the Hawaiʻi public school community
We know our public schools serve as not only hubs of learning, but as safe spaces that provide much-needed stability for our keiki. The recent coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has fractured this stability, and we are working hard to pick up the pieces.