Some progress reported in hiring teachers

By Alice Keesing
Advertiser Education Writer

In the wake of recent furor over Hawai'i's teacher shortage, schools chief Paul LeMahieu yesterday said the Department of Education has made some progress, but is still short 389 teachers.

That's down from 437 vacancies nearly two weeks ago.

Hawai'i is struggling to put a teacher in every classroom during a nationwide teacher shortage. And the issue has become contentious as the state and teachers union continue to argue over their contract.

The union has said the lack of a contract is making it difficult to attract new teachers. And the governor has accused both the union and LeMahieu of using "misleading" estimates of the number of vacancies.

LeMahieu has agreed that the numbers can fluctuate as teachers are hired daily and as the department finalizes its enrollment numbers, which affects how many teaching positions there are in the system.

In the past two weeks the department has hired 63 new teachers and rehired 11 probationary teachers.

The department also has received more than 2,200 job queries in the two weeks since LeMahieu announced that the department accepts applicants with bachelor's degrees but no teaching qualifications.

The flood of calls has so far resulted in 302 applications.

Thirty-one of them were from people with teaching experience. They are being given priority, LeMahieu said, and already have been sent out for interviews with individual school districts.

"We may have, by virtue of calling this to the public's attention a week and a half ago, broken something of a logjam, making people aware of the opportunity," he said.

Anyone hired under such conditions is required to simultaneously pursue their teaching license, he said, and also will be given support with training on issues such as classroom management.

In response to criticisms that hiring such people is merely putting a "warm body" in classrooms, LeMahieu said it is "far preferable to an indeterminate string of substitutes who are not only warm bodies but who come and go frequently."

One of the continuing areas of concern is special education. The department faces a possible federal court takeover if it cannot increase the number of special education teachers who are qualified to 85 percent by Nov. 1.

Of the 389 remaining vacancies, 133 are in special education. The department suffered a small setback in its recruiting efforts this week, having to cancel tomorrow's special education job fair because of the terrorist attacks in New York City and Washington, D.C.

The paralysis of the nation's airports also has led to the cancellation of other department activities, including teacher-training workshops.

At this stage, however, the events of this week should not hinder the department's efforts to meet the federal court's deadline, LeMahieu said.

Reach Alice Keesing at akeesing@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8014.