Superintendent Schools Superintendent Patricia Hamamoto -- flexing her court-appointed powers to hasten compliance with the Felix consent decree -- has barred special education teachers from transferring to non-special education posts for the 2002-2003 school year.
locks in special
education teachers
Hamamoto bars them from
transferring to non-special
education posts for 2002-2003By Lisa Asato
lasato@starbulletin.comThe ban aims to help the Department of Education meet a benchmark of having 90 percent of its special education teachers certified but has sparked opposition from the Hawaii State Teachers Association, which has sent letters to U.S. District Judge David Ezra and special master Jeffrey Portnoy asking them to intervene.
"Frankly we're hoping the court can help the superintendent come up with a different solution to meet her benchmark, and we are more than willing to meet with all parties to work out a more equitable solution," said Joan Husted, HSTA executive director.
The Felix consent decree is a federal mandate to improve special education services in Hawaii's public schools.
Ezra had granted the superintendent and state health director "extraordinary powers" over personnel policies and other issues to speed up compliance. He is expected to decide whether the state is in compliance at a June 10 hearing.
Husted told school board members Thursday the directive is having a "devastating effect" on teachers struggling with "an unbearable workload and poor morale" and many are considering leaving the department because of the ban.
"It will only compound an already bad situation," she said.
Hamamoto defended her decision, saying she weighed many options before settling on "perhaps the least intrusive" one. She noted that the directive also gives principals and schools the flexibility to make exceptions.
"I don't know if we're going to have a flood of teachers leaving tomorrow, but I do know that if we do not do something to at least put a stop where we are now then the kinds of options that would be open to us, including (being appointed) a receiver does not lend itself to all the things we have worked so hard to do," Hamamoto said.
Eighty-eight percent of the department's special education teachers are certified, she said.
Board Chairman Herbert Watanabe said Friday the board would not be taking a position on the matter. "There's no sense taking a stand if the superintendent says: 'I need to do this to meet the court requirements,' we can't overrule it," he said.
Special education teacher Ron Ikari of Highlands Intermediate School told the board he went back to school to get his master's of library and information science degree with the understanding that he would return to the department and be able to apply for a library position, which also faces shortages.
Now that he is qualified, he said, he is being denied the "basic rights that most of my colleagues in regular education enjoy."
"The DOE is telling special education teachers that we are an important group of individuals who are depended on because of our expertise," he said. "So as a special education teacher why am I being treated like a prisoner? Why am I being discriminated against because of no fault of mine?"
Portnoy said he will hold an April 15 meeting with the interested parties to "see if we can find some answers" to satisfy all sides.
State of Hawaii
