King K teachers supported at rally

HANAMA‘ULU — More than 50 people, including teachers, staff, parents and students, were met with sympathetic horn honks and shaka signs Tuesday morning in Hanama‘ulu.

Teachers at King Kaumuali‘i Elementary School held an informational rally along Kuhio Highway fronting the Peter Rayno Sr. Park close to the school. A rally was also held after school was let out starting at 3 p.m.

Tom Perry, the Kaua‘i representative to the Hawai‘i State Teachers Association, said there have been no developments to the negotiations between the state and the HSTA in regards to a contract.

A Nov. 14 story by The Associated Press reports that a state negotiating team and the teachers union resumed contract talks, with Superintendent Kathryn Matayoshi and Board of Education representatives joining the initial discussion on state proposals for a two-year contract which would start next year.

Two days later, another AP story reports that approximately 600 people, including teachers, parents, students and community members, held a protest near James Campbell High School in Ewa Beach, O‘ahu, to speak out in favor of a negotiated contract for teachers.

The Ewa Beach rally came a day after the state’s negotiating team presented the teacher’s union with a contract for 2013 to 2015. Wil Okabe, the HSTA president, told AP the union is still looking over the contract, but teachers are disappointed so far.

In May, 66 percent of the teachers union members approved a contract the union had previously rejected, reports the AP. Because of the initial rejection, the state has not accepted the vote as valid.

The King Kaumuali‘i school rally comes a week after a similar rally was held at Elsie Wilcox Elementary School in Lihu‘e.

Hawai‘i public school teachers have been working without a negotiated contract for more than a year.