Charter school teachers walk the walk
By Suzanne Roig
Advertiser East Honolulu Bureau
KAIMUKI — For a week now, only one of Jackie Lau's two daughters has gone to school.
Gregory Yamamoto • The Honolulu Advertiser
Alena, a seventh-grader at Kaimuki Middle School, has been out of class since public school teachers went on strike a week ago.
After school, Carol McSheehy leaves Lanikai Elementary to picket at Kailua Elementary School. Charter schools, such as Lanikai, have remained open, but their teachers support their striking colleagues by also walking the picket line.
As she leaves home each day bound for work with her mother, younger sister, Leah, a fourth-grader, heads for Wai'alae New Century Charter School, where classes are being held despite the strike.
The Laus' situation underscores the unusual position that charter schools are in.
Charter schools, while public and financed by the state, operate independently, have their own contracts with teachers, and remain open despite the strike.
So while charter school teachers are members of the striking Hawai'i State Teachers Association, they are still at work and drawing regular paychecks.
But their days are anything but normal.
While the Laus get ready for the day, Wai'alae teachers such as Susie Kim join other teachers on the picket line at other schools.
"We come out here every day," Kim said from the picket line at Kaimuki Middle School on Kilauea Avenue. "The first day of the strike was the weirdest day.
"We reported to school. That was a very uncomfortable feeling. Now that we're participating, it feels better."
Teachers change from pumps to tennis shoes before and after school to walk the picket line at whatever school needs them.
The charter schoolteachers, though unaffected by the strike, feel they must support their profession, Kim said.
Their presence is reassuring to the striking teachers.
"It boosts our morale when we see colleagues form other schools on the picket line and out supporting us in different ways," said Myles Furubayashi, Kaimuki Middle School librarian. "They're giving up their valuable time and coming out and walking with us."
The two charter schools on O'ahu, Lanikai and Wai'alae New Century Charter School, together employ about 50 teachers, who educate about 700 students.
There are four other charter schools in operation, all on the Big Island: Connections in Mountain View, Kanu o ka 'aina in Waimea, Waters of Life Charter School in Puna, and West Hawai'i Explorations Academy in Kailua-Kona.
Wai'alae, serving students through sixth grade, was the first school to become a charter school in 1996 and Lanikai came next. Charter schools have local control over curriculum, budget and staffing, flexibility over policy, less bureaucracy and accountability to a smaller school board.
Lanikai principal Donna Estomago said it is a strange feeling for teachers at charter schools. Estomago said the teachers all have banded together, trying to present a united front.
"The strike is bringing more attention to charter schools," Estomago said. "Our teachers feel bad for their colleagues."
Jackie Lau feels bad for the school groups that had planned to visit the Honolulu Academy of Arts where she works but won't be able to due to the strike.
"They've lost this whole opportunity," Lau said.
She is grateful that Alena can accompany her to work, where her daughter is helping her get ready for the academy's summer programs.
"I have a special kind of work that enables me to do this," she said.
