Teachers back but unhappy

Focus is on students despite contract stalemate

Teachers, their union leaders and school administrators agree: Public school teachers won’t allow their contract dispute to affect how they go about their jobs of teaching the children of Kaua’i.

School is back in session tomorrow for students at Kilauea and Kapa’a elementary schools, Kapa’a Middle School and Kapa’a High School, which operate on a modified school year calendar.

They do so without a contract for the teachers as the year begins.

“The teachers are professionals, and they are focused on the students’ learning,” said Daniel Hamada, the state Department of Education’s Kaua’i district superintendent.

While the teachers are disappointed that promised wage hikes and bonuses supposed to kick in this month haven’t yet materialized because of an ongoing dispute about how one bonus provision for teachers with advanced degrees is worded, the chief negotiator of the teachers union said teachers will do a professional job in the classroom despite the impasse.

“Teachers are going to do the job they’re getting paid to do. They’re going to take their dispute into a proper arena at the proper time, and they’re not going to take it out on kids,” said Joan Lee Husted, HSTA executive director. “They’re getting paid to teach kids. They’re not getting paid to punish kids.”

While HSTA leaders encouraged teachers to wear their strike t-shirts to work yesterday, at Kapa’a High School only a handful of the 85 teachers did, reported principal Gilmore Youn.

“Excited to be back to school the first day,” Youn said of the mood of the teachers. There was no discussion that he heard about teacher frustration at starting the school year without a contract, he added.

“We’re back in school because this is what we chose (as a profession) and this is what we’re committed to do, and we’re hoping that they can resolve everything at the other level without us having to do anything more,” said Liela Nitta, a core curriculum coordinator at Kapa’a High.

She said teachers wouldn’t let the contract dispute impact how they teach children.

“However, teachers do deserve what was agreed to, and we would like to see that actually come to reality,” she said.

At the heart of the dispute is a 3 percent raise for teachers with advanced degrees. The union contends the final two-year settlement reached in April includes those raises in both years of the contract, while Governor Ben Cayetano and state chief negotiator Davis Yogi say that raise was written only for the first year of the contract.

Yogi and Cayetano said the advanced-degree bonus provision could be set aside to be ironed out later. The contract could then be signed and the teachers could get their pay raises, which total 16 percent over the two years.

But Nitta said the bonus issue is important to teachers, and she doesn’t think HSTA will set aside the bonuses and sign the contract.

Husted last night said she has heard nothing nor seen anything in writing from state negotiators regarding a contract-approval-minus-bonus plan. Such a proposal would require union membership approval.

The drawn-out dispute has led the union to threaten legal action or another strike.

The start of school doesn’t mean the problems dissolve that caused teachers to strike during the last school year, Nitta said.

“We cannot just say, ‘Oh, well, they’re fine.’ It’s not OK, because we still believe that what was agreed to should happen,” she said.

Nitta said it wouldn’t be a bad idea to use the dispute as a learning tool, to apply the contract situation to teach students about problem-solving, math, sociology, politics and other life lessons.

“Some of them are going to become teachers,” said Nitta, agreeing that at the high school level some sort of dialogue about the teachers’ situation, including potential impact on classroom climate, would be appropriate.

Teachers should be used to working without a contract, because the last two school years they did just that. But they were supposed to also be given $550 per year for each of the years worked without a contract, for a bonus of $1,100 per teacher that was supposed to have been delivered earlier this month.

Because the contract remains unsigned, that bonus hasn’t been received yet, either. Ditto for the negotiated pay raises.

Hamada visited the four public schools on Kaua’i where teachers reported for duty yesterday on what should have been their official first day on the job under their new contract. Despite the dispute, spirits were high, he reported.

“I am sure that the thought of the contract not being signed is in the back of their minds, but I think you’ve got to give credit to the teachers as well as the staff. While it’s not signed and it’s sort of out of their hands, they know what their focus is,” Hamada said. “And, again, it kind of really talks about how dedicated these individuals are. Because the teachers, the support staff, even the administration, were all working together to get ready to open up the school year.

“I know it’s always on the back of their minds, but it wasn’t really the priority of conversation in terms of how do we open school for the kids,” he said.

Still, Hamada joins the teachers in their frustration over starting the school year without a signed contract that was negotiated before and during an April strike.

“For the sake of everyone – for the teachers because it’s their contract, and especially for the kids, and for the peace of mind for the parents – my perspective is that this contract be settled as soon as possible,” Hamada said. “It’s been lingering too long. This kind of stuff we cannot just leave hanging. It’s very unsettling.”

Monday was devoted to meetings and workshops for teachers, and today the teachers are preparing classrooms to accept students tomorrow.

Staff Writer Paul C. Curtis can be reached at mailto:pcurtis@pulitzer.net or 245-3681 (ext. 224).