Almost 200 Maui County special-education teachers will receive their paychecks late because of errors in payroll processing by the state Department of Education. Paychecks delayed for
Maui special-ed teachersAlmost 200 county teachers will
get paid late because of errorsBy Treena Shapiro
tshapiro@starbulletin.comThe teachers and education assistants in the Extended School Year program had expected to get their paychecks on July 19, but they will not get paid until Aug. 20 at the earliest.
The problem appears to effect only ESY instructors, who stayed on for an extra six weeks to help special-education students.
Lorna Sanches, a educational assistant and long-term substitute on Lanai, said this is the second year in a row that the ESY teachers have been paid late.
Last year, she was paid in September for work she did in June and July, Sanches said.
With a delay again this year, she said, the ESY teachers on Lanai do not want to come back next summer.
"The reason we put in this summer was that they promised us ... that we would get paid on time and everything would fall into place," she said.
Donna Whitford, Maui complex area superintendent, said the ESY teachers signed forms that said they would be paid within six to eight weeks of the day they started working, between June 13 and June 18.
The teachers were informed that July 19 was the earliest they would be paid, but more than likely they would not be paid until Aug. 5, she said.
However, because the department mishandled the paperwork, the teachers will not be paid until Aug. 20. Furthermore, teachers who filled out their paperwork incorrectly may not get paid until Sept. 5.
Whitford said the DOE is doing what it can to help the teachers who need help, including writing letters to their creditors.
Sanches said she is not behind on her bills because of the delay, but the paycheck was meant to help her to get her son set up for college on Oahu.
"The airfare, the rental car, it costs us money," she said.
Joey Vierra, a special-education teacher at Kahului School, is also frustrated with the delay. He said he tried contacting the teachers union, but learned that the ESY program is on a separate contract not covered by the union.
Vierra said the department will lose qualified special-education teachers if the payroll problems continue.
"I don't know where they think they're going to get these teachers if they don't pay them or treat them like working individuals," he said. "I've heard a lot of teachers say that they're going to wait tables."
Maui County
