Gathering Places
Gathering Places
The 2000-2001 school year has been forever embedded in the memories of many in Hawaii. The strike this past April brought together people in what seemed to be support of the public school teachers. Although the issue of money dominated much of the union's efforts, contradicting those efforts was the president of the Hawaii State Teachers Association, Karen Ginoza, who argued that it was about more than just money. Teachers’ ‘victory’
was short-livedIronically, three months later, not only are teachers still without raises or bonuses, but, more importantly, many teachers are still plagued by problems in the Department of Education that were never even addressed by HSTA in the first place.
Isn't it fair to think that with the combined decades of experience HSTA leaders have in working in public schools themselves, that they would've been familiar and equipped to address the "real problems" facing teachers? Perhaps I'm just a naive public school teacher. I was one of those who believed that the strike would make a difference. Who are we really fooling? Did the strike spark any systemic change that teachers desperately needed?
Maybe many of us feel contempt because while students and teachers in the Leeward and Central Districts continue to struggle to keep their classrooms from soaring to more than 90 degrees, HSTA's headquarters is located in a new multimillion-dollar, air-conditioned building near Moanalua Valley. Maybe we feel contempt because while many public school teachers have limited copying privileges and continue to spend much of their precious time wrangling through paper jams, HSTA can spend nearly $93,000 for copier maintenance.
Certainly we can't help but feel contempt when those teachers with master's degrees continue to fight for their $36,000 salaries, while HSTA's own Strategic Budget showed that close to half a million dollars was allotted to salaries for 2000-2001 fiscal year, which includes the executive director's salary of $86,000.
So while salaries, benefits and bonuses continue to be haggled over for teachers, HSTA rests comfortably with the nearly $500 in annual dues paid out by each of its 12,000 members. Why couldn't some dues be used to pay supplies or school improvements? Why couldn't some dues be used to help teachers who are really struggling? HSTA rationale? Just go ahead and give every teacher a gold-colored pin of a foot to remind us all the many hours' teachers spent walking the picket lines and then offer to charge them $10 for a green strike survivor T-shirt.
In the search for solutions to problems many teachers face, we have simply substituted one bureaucracy for another. We are no closer to having our needs met by the union than we were by the state Department of Education. Many teachers I have spoken to, including myself, will be the first to admit that we need to be more responsible in understanding exactly what HSTA is doing to meet our needs.
But there is a lot of responsibility to go around. In the end, we should all take responsibility. HSTA, the state leaders and every taxpayer must ensure that we keep our excellent teachers in this noble profession. Listen to the voices of teachers. If we don't help them now, any responsible person knows that, our students will be the real losers.
Trancita Winquist is a special education
teacher at Olomana School.