Dash of Calabash

1 Comment

• #1 by Michael Sabetta on October 4th, 2009

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  I am still trying to understand the reason why 81% of Hawaii’s school teachers voted to close the schools on seventeen Fridays and not educate our children properly this year. I’m not ready to accept this as a done deal, and I know there are thousands of other parents out there who feel the same way I do. If enough of us get involved, we can stop this. I would like to present an idea of a possible strategy to defeat this plan, but first, I’d like to make a few points.
  There are other states that have had to implement teacher furlough days, but all of them have done it on teacher only days, not on days when students are in school. There are eight teacher only days from October to May. Of these, only two were chosen as furlough days. So while other school districts made sure that students would be affected as little as possible by budget cuts, Patricia Hamamoto, the Superintendent of Education, and the leaders of the HSTA did the opposite. They made sure that students and parents would bear the brunt of their decision. I think there are two reasons why they did this. One is simple, it gives them an excuse to have such a poor performing school district. When they are asked, “Why are Hawaii’s schools so bad?” they can say “we only have a four day week, because taxpayers don’t want to pay enough to educate their kids.” The other reason, I believe, they did this was to get out of No Child Left Behind. They’ll say, “How can we participate in NCLB if our students are missing so much instruction time?” A few weeks ago, Patricia Hamamoto was asked if she was going to fire failing teachers, as is required by NCLB. She said that she had no intention of firing anyone. Then, on the night of the infamous vote, a spokesman for the HSTA said that the NCLB requirements would have to be “adjusted” for Hawaii’s schools to take into account the furlough days. They passed this contract to wash their hands of all responsibility for a failing school district, and to pass the blame to the Governor and the taxpayers.
  Teacher to student ratios is another topic that I would like to address. There are 13,000 teachers and 172,000 students in the district. That comes out to 13 students per teacher. When I was in school, we had 30 to 40 kids in a class. We had one teacher, and she did most of her instruction with a blackboard and a piece of chalk. We also got a better education than kids are getting now. Do we need 13,000 teachers? Maybe 10,000 is enough. That would still only be seventeen students per teacher. California just had to layoff 20,000 teachers. Times are tough all over.
  Teachers are scheduled to work 189 days a year. That means that they have 176 days a year off. If they go ahead with the furloughs, it would be 172 days of work and 193 days off. This does not include sick days. In my son’s class they have a substitute teacher at least once a week.
  The average teacher’s salary in Hawaii is over $50,000 a year. If they work 172 days, that comes out to $290 a day. Is it asking too much for them to work on these 17 Fridays, instead of taking the day off?
  The 81% of teachers who voted yes on this contract also decided to do away with random drug testing for teachers. I cannot believe the arrogance of this. Not only do they come up with a plan to punish students and working parents, but at the same time, they decided that it’s nobody’s business if they are doing drugs or not. I sell coffee for a living, and I had to take a drug test, TO SELL COFFEE! Is it asking too much to know if the person educating my kids is on drugs?
  I do not believe that the majority of teacher’s wanted to vote yes on this contract. I think that their arms were twisted by HSTA leaders and Patricia Hamamoto, for the reasons I stated earlier. There are better ways to address the budget shortfall. Most teachers know this. Most teachers do not want to punish their students or working parents. They should get together, scrap the contract and vote on a new one that says they will accept the pay cut, but they will show up for work on those seventeen Fridays. If there has to be furloughs, why not stagger them, and shift the students to different classrooms on those days. It would be disruptive, but preferable to keeping kids out of school. Other options are layoffs, cutting administrative costs or cutting extracurricular activities. I find it absurd that afterschool sports will continue on the same days that students are not allowed to go to school and learn.
  Patricia Hamamoto has threatened to close the schools down before. When Federal Stimulus Funds were used to pay down the state’s deficit, Patricia Hamamoto said that if she did not get her 90 million dollars, schools might have to be closed. She is not the right person to be Superintendent of Education. We need somebody who will put students first. We need somebody who will do everything in their power to keep the schools open, even if it means angering the HSTA leadership. If there is a choice between cutting salaries or not letting kids go to school, we need somebody who will side with the kids. We need somebody who will hold teachers accountable and fire the ones that are not giving our kids a decent education.
  If the teachers choose not to scrap this contract, and they go ahead with the furloughs, concerned parents need to take matters into their own hands. Patricia Hamamoto’s contract with the Board of Education states that she can be removed from office for “The willful failure to execute the duties and responsibilities of the office.” It is my contention that by not putting the education of students as her first priority, she has failed to execute her duties and responsibilities. We have one of the lowest rated school districts in the country. Not allowing students to go to school for 17 days out of a 180 day schedule will only make matters worse. There are over 300,000 parents of Hawaii public school students. None of them are happy with Furlough Fridays. We need to get at least 10% of them to show up in front of Patricia Hamamoto’s office on a Saturday or Sunday. We need to demand that she gets rid of Furlough Fridays or resign from office immediately. The voices of 30,000 people cannot be ignored. Make homemade signs, bring your kids. This will not be a political rally or an anti-government rally, it will be a pro-education and pro-student rally. Anybody who has an idea or wants to participate, please send an email to nofridaysoff@aol.com.
  Michael Sabetta