LIHU‘E — Janice Bond, a retired English teacher who taught for twenty-plus years, is stepping down from her position as Kaua‘i director of the Hawai‘i Education Association, and is passing the baton to Kaua‘i High School English teacher Jonathan Medeiros, starting July 1.
HEA is a nonprofit organization that provides an entity for networking for educators, parents and professors, and provides scholarships in cooperation with other entities.
Bond was first elected to the HEA board in 2011, and first decided she wanted the position as a way to be involved with the association’s literary magazine. During her teaching years, she directed her students to write and send essays or short stories to get evaluated by HEA.
Over the years, the job changed.
“(Now) it’s mostly dealing with a lot of funds,” Bond said.
As she prepared to leave her post as a HEA board member, Bond started communicating with Medeiros, and eventually suggested he apply for the position.
Medeiros said he was happy to consider.
“It always surprises me when I hear that somebody else somewhere else had thought of me for something,” Medeiros said.
Medeiros will begin the 2021-22 school year by teaching ninth-grade language arts and choir. He has been teaching at Kaua‘i High School for 15 years, and is looking forward to learning more about his HEA position and how he can contribute to his teaching community.
“I’m always interested in figuring out how I can, you know, work with people across the state for education-related areas,” Medeiros said, “in trying to make sure that organizations like the DOE or HEA or HSTA are connecting with neighbor islands and are connecting with students.”
Medeiros said he is looking forward to learning from other directors, their points of view, their expertise and, hopefully, sharing a little bit of his experience and perspective from Kaua‘i.
Part of that perspective is shaped by one of Medeiros’ hobbies — woodworking.
“I’ve been building wooden surfboards recently, which is a difficult thing,” Medeiros said. “I want there to be a class here at Kaua‘i High School where we mix literature and surfboard-building.”
Bond said she is looking forward to building teacher clubs with Medeiros, and encourages teachers to join HEA, especially to bring the younger generation in and build membership.
“So there’s a contract going because the HEA is a nonprofit and Hawai‘i State Teachers Association is not, so we’ve come together to give scholarships and things for the regular teachers and active teachers,” Bond said.
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Stephanie Shinno, education and business reporter, can be reached at 245-0424 or sshinno@thegardenisland.com.
