Posted on: Friday, March 7, 2003

Bargain fairly, teachers tell BOE

By Curtis Lum
Advertiser Staff Writer

Dozens of public school teachers berated the Board of Education last night for what was described as a "plantation" mentality in the state's approach to the latest contract negotiations.

The teachers jammed the board's meeting room last night and pleaded with its members to negotiate in good faith. The state's contract negotiating team includes two BOE members and a representative of the schools superintendent.

The Hawai'i State Teachers Association, the union that represents the teachers, declared an impasse in contract negotiations with the state on Monday. The declaration of impasse was needed before the union could set a strike process in motion.

Last night, several teachers criticized the board for not being more supportive of them. Instead of offering incentives and raises, the state has been seeking take-backs and offering no pay raises over two years.

The teachers have been asking for a 6 percent increase in wages over two years.

Vaughn Tokashiki, a fifth-grade teacher at Benjamin Parker School in Kane'ohe, said the state's offer was evidence that teachers are not regarded as valued employees.

"When did teachers become the enemy?" Tokashiki asked the board. "When did the Board of Education stop being teacher advocates and, instead, join with the forces that oppose teachers?"

None of the board members responded to the accusations at last night's meeting. Schools Superintendent Pat Hamamoto also did not respond to the teachers.

HSTA president Karen Ginoza said she grew up on a Maui plantation and finds the state's attitude reminiscent of the days when the employee had no say about working conditions.

"Every take-away that this board and the superintendent are proposing takes teachers one step closer to the plantation, turning us into people who do what they are told without question and without hesitation," Ginoza said. "I'm here to tell you that I am not going back to the plantation, and I refuse to allow you to force teachers back to the plantation as well."

The state's package would do away with pay differentials for teachers with professional certificates and doctorates, eliminate the peer assistant pilot program, create a single-track, year-round school calendar and eliminate school-based budgeting. In addition to the pay raises, the teachers are asking for incentives to continue their education.

Jan Turner, a fourth-grade teacher at Solomon Elementary in Wahiawa, said the board and state should stop "chipping away" at teachers' rights.

"Is my employer attempting to break me and my fellow teachers?" Turner asked. "Is my employer actually attempting to reduce the number of teachers in Hawai'i during a teaching shortage?"

The increasingly tense words between the two sides came almost two years after the state's 13,000 teachers went on a three-week strike.

Also at last night's meeting, about 50 Waimanalo residents pleaded with the board to allow their public library to remain open on Saturdays.

State Librarian Virginia Lowell announced last month that libraries will be restricted to operating no more than 40 hours per week as a result of budget cuts. Because the Waimanalo library is part of the elementary school, it must be open Monday through Friday and therefore would have to close on Saturday.

But a $10,000 grant from the Verizon Foundation has allowed the library to be open for four hours on Saturdays. The grant pays for a reading program for children, as well as an adult and computer literacy program.

The residents said the programs do not cost the state anything and help to keep Waimanalo children interested in reading and away from crime.

"To close the library on Saturdays would prevent many children from having a safe, nurturing, educational and fun place to go," said Elizabeth Fien, who runs the library's reading program for children. "The children are learning to love reading and find the library an interesting and exciting place to be."

Jean Charbonnet, a part-time school traffic monitor who hopes to learn enough computer skills to become a medical transcriptionist, said she attends the library's Saturday program because she cannot afford computer classes.

"Please keep this class open to help people like myself to progress, seek better job opportunities, help prevent unemployment and get off welfare," Charbonnet said.

BOE Library Committee chairwoman Carol Gabbard said her committee will discuss the matter at its meeting Thursday.