Vacant positions lamented by union “Good morning, class. My name is Miss To Be Hired.” All public schools will be in session throughout Kaua’i within the next two weeks, but school principals are still interviewing candidates for vacant teaching positions.
Vacant positions lamented by union
“Good morning, class. My name is Miss To Be Hired.”
All public schools will be in session throughout Kaua’i within the next two weeks, but school principals are still interviewing candidates for vacant teaching positions.
According to Brent Mizutani, personnel specialist for the state Department of Education on Kaua’i, the number of openings isn’t high, but he couldn’t provide actual figures other than “single digits.”
Mizutani said the 11th-hour hiring is for highly specialized positions that are hard to fill, such as band. However, at least one school was scrambling earlier this week to find second-grade teachers.
A written statement from the Hawai’i State Teachers’ Association confirmed that fact and attributed the teacher shortage to the state’s refusal to implement the teachers’ new contract, which the union and Governor Ben Cayetano announced in April after a two-week strike by the teachers.
“There are empty classrooms in schools statewide because teachers are either quitting in frustration or deciding not to come to Hawai’i,” HSTA officials said. “Sadly, schools are not fully staffed and classrooms are overcrowded. We must get our contract implemented.”
While accurate data regarding enrollment and teacher-to-student ratio are hard to come by (Department of Education officials say the figures won’t be available for a couple weeks into the school year), the estimated number of public schoolchildren on Kaua’i this year is 10,521.
HSTA officials are worried about the low morale among their members and ttracting new teachers while the status of their contract is unknown. Earlier this week, the union requested the state labor board to intervene in the dispute.
On Kaua’i, classes will begin next Thursday and Friday at some elementary schools and one high school (Kaua’i High). The rest will start Aug. 27 or 28. Schools in Kilauea and Kapa’a opened the 2001-02 school year July 25-26.
Staff writer Yael Li-Ron can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 226) and yael@pulitzer.net
