LIHU‘E — The Hawai‘i State Teachers Association claims the state Department of Education’s plans for reopening public schools as early as Monday are both “dangerous” and violate labor agreements.
The HSTA filed the prohibited practice complaint and petition for declaratory order and injunction relief on Thursday. HSTA named Gov. David Ige and DOE Superintendent Dr. Christina Kishimoto in the complaint.
“The spike in COVID-19 cases and the widespread transmission of the virus is an unsafe and hazardous condition which imminently endangers the health and safety of all BU-5 (HSTA bargaining unit) members who are required to report to their respective school and related worksites,” the complaint reads.
The complaint states the DOE did not negotiate or bargain in good faith with the union per its collective bargaining agreement (CBA) with regard to a more-recent spike in cases. Since Aug. 3, the state has reported new, triple-digit cases every day.
“The HIDOE inappropriately claims that there is no significant change in working conditions, buildings are open, schools are safe, and students can return and teachers will need to report to their worksites next week,” HSTA said in a statement Friday.
Part of the union’s CBA states, “Teachers shall not be required to work under unsafe or hazardous conditions or to perform tasks which imminently endanger their health or safety.”
Further, the CBA states that when students aren’t required to attend school or are sent home “due to emergencies which endanger health or safety, teachers will not be required to remain at, nor report to, said schools.”
There have been at least 15 Hawai‘i public schools that reported at least one COVID-19 case or have been quarantined. The HSTA also requested to know how many students were returning to schools.
“The Employer has not disclosed how many school staff members are currently being quarantined, which directly impacts the ability of a school to safely provide instruction,” HSTA’s complaint said.
On Kaua‘i, due to a positive case, the summer school program at Kekaha School shifted to online learning in June.
Part of the concern is that the state Department of Health’s contact tracing unit has been overwhelmed, and that can cause a delay in notifying schools of potential coronavirus contacts.
The HSTA also plans to file a class grievance on behalf of Bargaining Unit 5 employees for CBA and memorandum of understanding violations that were reached with the state in June.
The MOU which requires the DOE to consult with the DOH on health and safety measures, provide a written procedure for health screening at each school and work site, a written procedure to address reports of symptoms or COVID-19 cases at each school and worksite, and the implementation of health-check procedures upon reopening.
According to the complaint, on Aug. 12, the DOE notified HSTA “that it could not provide the union with the number of students expected to report to school on 8/17/20, had no update on any written guidance from the DOH, and could not confirm whether each school had the mandatory written procedures outlined in the MOU.”
In a press release response Thursday afternoon, Kishimoto said that HSTA helped to build the reopening plan.
“Teachers have been back on campus full time since July 29, and we have no evidence of widespread transmission on any of our campuses,” Kishimoto said. “We have had individual cases at individual campuses, as we reported earlier this week, and will continue to report on weekly moving forward.”
Kishimoto went further to say that HSTA President Corey Rosenlee is working “against what is in the best interest of Hawai‘i’s children.”
“We will not allow Mr. Rosenlee to script out the work our principals need to do to lead, nor drive a wedge between our principals and their staff,” Kishimoto said.”Our students have physically been out of school since spring break. It’s time we all put the futures of our students first. That’s what our keiki truly deserve.”
HSTA said that the DOE has “claimed the intent of the scheduled first four days on campus for students starting Monday is for parents and students to pick up distance-learning packets and materials,” which HSTA has stated can be done in a
grab-and-go system.
“I want to applaud all the principals across the state that have chosen this model. Other schools, unfortunately, will bring hundreds of students into classrooms for many hours, increasing close contact and transmission of the disease,” Rosenlee said.
“To have teachers be required to meet with students face-to-face in the middle of a raging pandemic is reckless, and will risk the lives of everyone,” Rosenlee said.
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Sabrina Bodon, public safety and government reporter, can be reached at 245-0441 or sbodon@thegardenisland.com.
HSTA are ridiculous. They couldn’t care less about the safety or education of our students. Their only priority is to give their teachers a year-long paid vacation at home, that is all. Of course the teachers love this idea because distance learning means sitting around at home in their bathrobes, sending out a couple email assignments every morning; no actual teaching involved.
Meanwhile, the Hawaii DOE are so archaic and inept that in the past 6 months they have not done a single thing to ready for the fall semester; a bunch of out-of-touch aunties sitting around the office gossiping and eating – and getting paid for it with our taxes.
On top of this, the Hawaii DOH is totally corrupt: they claim their contact tracers are overwhelmed…yeah, because they only have 10 (ten!)! They were given $50 million from the federal government to hire 100 tracers and other staff to prepare for a second wave, and now that $50M has disappeared into the DOH void and nobody is being held accountable.
All this adds up to our children being trapped at home for another 5 months and our working-class parents having to give up their jobs and income to be at home with their kids. In turn, more people will go on unemployment and welfare, which creates an even bigger burden on the state of Hawaii, which will ultimately result in higher taxes and a bigger government bureaucracy.
Nice work, Ige. Good job, Kawakami. Well done, Zina. I hope the voters remember your names next election.
DOE is gonna end up with a bunch of PIE on their face. I think stuff like this would be funny if it wasn’t so dangerous. Who thinks we have an actual plan that will work? People must watch tv shows about Denmark or Switzerland and think “ah, we should do that here in Hawaii” – completely ignoring the fact that we lack educated people, we lack infrastructure, and most of all we lack leadership. What that means here is that whatever plans they’ve made are incomplete, untested and rushed through. Of course kids are gonna spread Covid! And to the teachers. Of COURSE! But later these same people will act puzzled because they thought their thrown-together plan would work. “We didn’t expect the virus to spread so quickly” will be what they say in 3-4 weeks. And by then many needless infections will occur. We’re NOT DENMARK!
There has not been one case of a student transmitting covid to a teacher.
Unsafe and Hazardous? What about all the grocery store workers who have worked throughout this “pandemic” encountering thousands of people a day? Where are all the grocery store employee deaths? Get a grip DOE. Kids belong in school.