Teachers welcome students back
By Jessica Webster
Advertiser Staff Writer
The back-to-school buzz of new sneakers and fresh markers transcended any teacher union discord today as hundreds of Hawaii's year-round public school teachers returned to their classrooms.
Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser
Teachers at Gus Webling and Pearl Harbor Kai elementary schools said the focus today would be on the students, and it would be inappropriate to assert anxiety or displeasure with beleaguered contract negotiations.
Steven Ching, 9, carries a boxload of supplies to his fourth-grade classroom at Gus Webling Elementary School in Halawa Heights, where classes began today on a year-round schedule.
Three months after the three-week public teachers' strike, the state and union still cannot agree on the meaning of a provision giving bonuses for teachers with advanced and professional degrees — how many are eligible and for how many years. The disagreement has delayed signing of the contract, and the HSTA has threatened legal action or another strike.
Teachers said the back-to-school glow won't last long if their contract isn't resolved.
Come Friday, they will have no qualms about donning T-shirts with messages of union solidarity in their classrooms, said fourth-grade Gus Webling teacher Scott Sakihara.
Sakihara said his third-graders were introduced to new vocabulary words last year such as "impasse" and "negotiation." He said he will run the same dialogue with his current class.
"I'm excited to start school, and there's too much to think about in getting ready for class," he said. "But the thing is, this job goes on whether the governor signs (the contract) or not, and we teachers will be showing our support for the strike on a different day in a different way."
When parent Bruce Ladeira dropped off his second- and eighth-graders at Gus Webling Elementary in Halawa Heights, he said the negotiations were in the back of his mind.
"You know, it seemed like it was over, but I guess not yet," he said. "They just need to cough it up and support the teachers."
Kim Yamashiro, a Pearl Harbor Kai phonics resource teacher with a master's degree, was among the few teachers who wore her "Got pay raises" navy blue shirt to school today, but only because she was setting up her classroom in the absence of students.
"I think teachers feel uncomfortable starting the first day of school with their shirts in front of the students," she said. "But we're thinking about it. It's frustrating and we feel that we striked for three weeks and didn't get anything out of it."
Regardless of tension over contract battles, little girls like Carina Pelletier, 6, strode into her new classroom proudly wearing a green-and-white polka dot dress and blinking sneakers, oblivious to anything but the start of school.
"It was a little hard for her to get up this morning, but she is really happy to be back at school — and to be wearing that new dress," said mom Sarina.
