Lahaina teachers rally for more support and funding

HONOLULU (KHON2) — Nine months after the Maui fires, West Maui teachers are rallying before the Board of Education to call for more support and funding.

This comes as the teacher’s union said the Department of Education has denied some of their requests.

“We’re hard to staff anyways and if we lose teachers and essential staff, we can’t give our students the education they deserve,” said Donelle Thomas, Lahaina Intermediate School teacher.

Each year, “hard to staff” schools receive shortage differentials to attract teachers. Lahaina area teachers were receiving a $5,000 differential per year before the wildfires. The union said the DOE denied its request for an increase to $8,000 post-fire.

West Maui teachers said this increase would make all the difference for impacted educators.

West Maui teachers said this increase would make all the difference for impacted educators.

“I lost my house and right now I’m living across the island,” said Arica Lynn, Lahainaluna High School teacher. “I’m willing to make two hour drive for our students. I love them, I care for them, I’m willing to do that for the DOE. This would be a huge impact for our family because frankly we can’t afford that kind of gas or travel every day.”

During the Board of Education meeting Thursday, the DOE said it’s willing to consider increasing the differentials.

“We know that our existing differentials are effective at recruiting and retaining staff at our schools,” said Keith Hayashi, Hawaii Department of Education Superintendent. “New differentials will be something that we will be willing to explore with the appropriate parties.”

According to the HSTA, this past school year, a dozen Lahaina teachers temporarily transferred to other campuses and the DOE posted over 30 vacancies for Lahaina area schools as of this spring. The vacancies breakdown is as follows:

Princess Nāhiʻenaʻena Elementary: 8

King Kamehameha III Elementary: 11

Lahaina Intermediate: 7

Lahainaluna High: 13

Some teachers said this comes ahead of the next school year as some educators’ decisions are up in the air about returning to Lahaina schools.

“Some have to make the difficult decision and it’s very unfortunate teachers that are so dedicated to their students and Lahaina are being forced to be put through this decision making,” said Luxmi Quall, Lahaina Intermediate teacher.

Other requests from the union include the creation of a fire relief bank, which the DOE said is an ongoing consideration.