LIHUE – More than 50 Kauai teachers showed up Tuesday night to Wilcox Elementary School with complaints about a pilot program that evaluates their classroom effectiveness. Don Horner, chairman of the Hawaii Board of Education, listened for more than two
LIHUE – More than 50 Kauai teachers showed up Tuesday night to Wilcox Elementary School with complaints about a pilot program that evaluates their classroom effectiveness.
Don Horner, chairman of the Hawaii Board of Education, listened for more than two hours as teachers objected to the Educator Evaluation System.
“I’m proud of what I do,” said Jessica Kerber, a third-year technology coordinator at Hanalei Elementary. “But this is eating away at the heart of every teacher I know. I feel unappreciated, underpaid and overworked. It’s too much change, too fast and I’m left exhausted.”
The EES calls for two observations or evaluations of the teachers per school year, extensive testing of students and data collection among other new requirements. Officials said the intent is to develop and retain teachers who are highly effective in Hawaii schools, thus educating students to their peak potential.
Teachers say it puts unnecessary and excessive demands on them and their students.
“Thank you to the Board of Education for helping me to make my decision to retire at the end of this school year,” said third-grade Kapaa Middle School language arts teacher Kevin Nunn.
Laura Burton, a kindergarten teacher at Hanalei Elementary, read a letter from a consortium of North Shore Kauai teachers.
“If the goal of the program is to only retain the best and further grow the basic and proficient teachers, why are we pushing them to want to leave the profession all together?” she read. “Instead of professional, organized and focused teachers and administrators, I am seeing exhausted, scattered teachers and administrators gasping for breath between EES, Student Learning Objective sessions and many, many professional, long-term teachers in tears.”
When sixth-grade Kilauea School teacher Joanne Thompson asked how many teachers in the room were stressed out, all hands went up in the air.
Pam Zirker, who has a master’s degree in elementary education and has taught for 27 years, said the menial tasks she and others are being forced to undertake, along with their regular workload, hurts students.
“I don’t need to spend my time proving that I’m worthy to teach,” she said. “I don’t mind being observed, I do mind being judged for things I have no control over.”
Those things include student surveys about the teachers which they say in some cases can be inaccurate if students don’t understand the questions or may be filled out by students who want to retaliate against them. The impact will hit the teachers when it comes to pay raises and job security when it is implemented in the 2014-15 school year and they say it is unfair.
“Don’t base my pay on children I haven’t given birth to myself,” Zirker said.
Halfway through the meeting Horner said, “We are listening. We’re not listening well.”
After more testimonials from the teachers he said, “We’re here to fix it. Not to defend it (the EES). But I do apologize.”
A round of applause followed Nate Pontious’ comment about EES: “We should get rid of EES. I think it has failed,” said the ninth-grade teacher at Kauai High School.
Sarah Tochiki, band teacher to 200 students at Cheifess Kamakahelei Middle School, said the DOE no longer cares about the whole student.
“All the board cares about is if a student can read, write and do math,” she said. “We need to put emphasis on the whole child.”
An emotional Tochiki added, “I’m so fed up with my job, I am about ready to give up.”
Nancy Budd, Kauai representative on the Board of Education, offered hope to the teachers.
“We want everybody wanting to come to school, including the teachers and the students,” she said.
Ninety minutes into the meeting, as Horner alerted the group he needed to catch his flight back to Oahu, he said, “We hire the heart first, not the head. Core values are what we’re looking for.”
Teachers continued to pour out their hearts with loss of family time due to being overworked.
“This is the worst year I’ve had in 20 years,” said Terry Low, 12th-grade teacher at Kauai High School. “This program needs to go. We don’t need this garbage.”
Tochiki agreed.
“Let’s just stop already. We tried it. Stop push, push pushing us. If you would just stop it, I’d dance around,” said Tochiki.
Kauai Area Superintendent Bill Arakaki spoke near the close of the meeting.
“I take full responsibility as to how EES was implemented. My heart is broken. I have no answers today,” he said. “And I apologize for all the suffering. I haven’t forgotten what it was like to be a teacher in the classroom.”
EES survey feedback results completed and submitted by teachers statewide are expected to be made public this week. Meanwhile, a joint DOE/HSTA committee continues to look for opportunities to make changes to the evaluation system.
• Lisa Ann Capozzi, features and education reporter, can be reached at 245-0452 or lcapozzi@thegardenisland.com.
