Sunday, May 3, 2015

Hawaii State Teacher Association Announcement

After burning a few bridges with the Hawaii State Teachers Association earlier this year, I am both pleased and pissed that they were able to negotiate a raise with the state and a one-time bonus.  I had the opportunity to sit down with the president of H.S.T.A. in my classroom earlier in the year, just following the hurricane and during the middle of the lava flow crisis.  Needless to say, when someone asks me to be candid and tell them how I am really feeling, I have no choice to but to do so.  In retrospect, perhaps they should have met with a different teacher...

They probably should not have asked me how I felt about the H.S.T.A. and union response (or blatant lack-thereof) to the crisis that was impacting my students and school.  After they met with a few of us at a charter school, we never heard from them again.  Sometimes it is awesome to live on the outer islands and get treated like second-rate citizens.  The best part of it was the email that was sent by H.S.T.A. sometime after this meeting where they never even mentioned my school nor my students.

It is almost impressive how fast they can forget about and disregard a school and students.

Well, to make matters a bit shorter for this blog post, I just videoed some thoughts after I found out about the raise that teachers would be getting - the year after I leave.  I know I am only 28, but I have never in my life gotten a bonus.  I cannot believe I am going to miss this one by a matter of months.  Way to freaking go H.S.T.A.




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