hsta updates : Member Matters: NEA RA wrap; Windward teacher wins $15K at convention; Know your back-to-school rights; 2 librarians of the year honored, 7-9-2016

110 HSTA delegates wrap up NEA convention in DC

Teacher delegates from across Hawaii concluded the four-day National Education Association’s Annual Meeting in the nation’s capital Thursday after voting on policies and priorities for the country’s largest union, hearing from a top presidential candidate and honoring a former HSTA member with a national award.

When the final day of the Representative Assembly (RA) ended at 9:33 p.m. Thursday night after almost 12 hours at the Washington Convention Center, NEA’s 7,500 delegates had voted on 125 new business items (NBIs), along with bylaw amendments and other measures.

One proposal calling for more scrutiny of what is causing some Asian-Pacific Islanders (APIs) to fall through the cracks of the public education system passed in the final minutes of the RA, an item that was championed by many Hawaii delegates. Delegates from the islands served on numerous caucuses to review and debate proposals of all kinds, about such subjects as APIs to English language learners and special education.

Leeward Chapter delegate Juli Patten was selected by Hawaii delegates to continue for another year as representative to the NEA’s resolutions committee. She will meet with other delegates from around the country this winter to go over NBIs and related items that NEA received so far and she’ll also travel to Boston a few days before the 2017 NEA RA to continue that work.

Read a roundup of the NEA RA here

Haaula Elementary teacher wins $15,000 prize at NEA RA

HSTA Windward chapter member Melissa Ferreira was the big winner Thursday night as the National Education Association Annual Meeting came to a close. She won a check for $15,000 from the NEA, as winner of the grand prize the association gives away to encourage delegates to stay until the final votes of the day have been completed. Other smaller cash prizes were given away Thursday and every night over the last week.

Members of the Hawaii delegation got really excited when business concluded for this year’s meeting about 9:30 p.m. Thursday night at the Washington Convention Center in the nation’s capital. That’s because an NEA official asked the delegation that’s “surrounded by the Pacific Ocean” to stand up. That meant someone from Hawaii had won the grand prize.

When the announcement was made that Ferreira, a curriculum coordinator at Haaula Elementary, was the winner of the $15,000 final cash prize, members of the Hawaii delegation reacted by cheering and shouting and hugging her as she made her way to the stage.

Ferreira said she plans to pay off some credit card debt and may take a vacation with part of the winnings. It’s the first time in at least 30 years — if not ever — that a Hawaii delegate to an NEA Annual Meeting has won the big prize, according to HSTA-R and longtime HSTA members who’ve been to dozens of conventions over the years. Congrats, Melissa!

Hawaii delegates enthused by Clinton speech to NEA RA Tuesday

Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton spoke to the National Education Association’s 95th Representative Assembly in Washington, D.C. Tuesday, including more than 100 public school teachers from across Hawaii who are delegates to the annual gathering.

Clinton entered the Washington Convention Center to a thunderous greeting from 7,500 delegates, many of whom wore blue “NEA 2016 Hillary” t-shirts cheered and clapped blue plastic Hillary batons together.

“We are hearing those thunder sticks all across Washington!” Clinton said after she took the podium. “The NEA is in town and people should pay attention.”

“I want to say right from the outset that I’m with you,” she told delegates, who chanted: “Hillary! Hillary!”

Read a complete story about Hillary Clinton's NEA RA speech and HSTA members' reaction here

Neighbor Island ESSA town halls start Monday

Calling all teachers! HSTA, the State Senate and State Sen. Michelle Kidani, a member of the state’s Every Student Succeeds Act Task Force, invite you to town hall meetings on the neighbor islands several nights next week to learn more about ESSA and to hear from guest speaker Lee Posey, a lobbyist who specializes in education.

Hawaii Island’s town hall will be held Monday, July 11 at Hilo High School, Maui’s town hall is Tuesday, July 12 at Baldwin High School and Kauai’s town hall will be Wednesday, July 13 at Kapaa Elementary School cafeteria, which is connected to Kauai High School. Each event is offered free of charge and will run from 5 to 7 p.m.

Posey is a federal affairs counsel with the education committee of the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL). She lobbies on education, representing state positions and concerns to Congress and to President Obama’s administration. She was NCSL’s chief lobbyist on ESEA reauthorization.

Please encourage anyone who’s interested in improving public education in Hawaii to attend this event, including fellow teachers, students, parents, community members, business leaders and other stakeholders.

For more information on next week’s town hall meetings, email Kidani atsenkidani@capitol.hawaii.edu or HSTA Teacher Lobbyist Mitzie Higa at mhiga@hsta.org.

Click here for more on the ESSA town halls

Know your back-to-school prep rights

Remember that under HSTA’s contract, only two of teachers’ first four work days (without students) are for administration. The other two “shall be for teacher-initiated activities.” That means on those two teacher-initiated work days, teachers are not required to attend IEPs or departmental meetings.

If teachers are interested in being actively involved in HSTA at their school or chapter level, please contact your chapter president or UniServ. This involvement can be included as part of your EES Core Professionalism.

Two HSTA members recognized as librarians of the year

A hearty congratulations go out to two members who were recognized as the state’s outstanding librarians this year, winning the Golden Key Award from the Hawaii Association of School Librarians before the school year ended.

They are Michelle Colte, the librarian at Daniel K. Inouye Elementary School (formerly Hale Kula Elementary) and Diane Mokuau, librarian at Molokai High School.

Colte has already won national recognition, being named the 2014 School Librarian of the Year by School Library Journal. Google previously selected her to be one of 50 educators for its Google Teacher Academy. Colte has provided numerous training sessions to librarian colleagues about all kinds of tech skills, from improving their Destiny homepage, and using Twitter, Facebook and several free apps.

Cole’s principal, Jan Iwase, praised her “involvement and relentless energy and commitment to teaching and learning.”

Mokuau has been a librarian at Molokai High and Intermediate since 2002. She has organized an annual SLAM poetry event and created literacy circles that include students, teachers and the community. She has also promoted lifelong learning through the Family Learning Center and participates in the Senior Project Cadre.

Mokuau also serves as an Americorps site sponsor for youth and adult volunteers and is past president of a grassroots recycling and conservation organization.

Mahalo to Colte and Mokuau for their dedication to the school librarian profession and for making a big difference for public school students!

Teachers will see pay raises of more than three percent

Effective the first working day of the 2016-2017 school year, teachers will receive a 3.2 percent across-the-board salary increase. While 12-month teachers will see the hike in their first paycheck of the school year July 20, 10-month teachers will see raises in their first paycheck of the school year, August 20.

The specific date for raises to kick in for multi-track teachers will vary depending on when their track begins. The 2016-2017 salary schedules can be found on pages 15 and 18 of the 2015-2017 HSTA Supplemental Agreement. Exhibit EE of the agreement reflects pay rates for 10-month teachers and Exhibit QQ shows rates for 12-month teachers.

http://www.hsta.org/index.php/news/know-your-rights-contract-update-for-2015-2017

Teachers face increased health insurance costs

Rising prescription drug costs have contributed to health insurance premiums for more than 5,500 HSTA VEBA policy holders increasing by double digits starting this month.

The approximately 3,500 teachers enrolled in the HSTA VB 80/20 plan saw the sharpest increase, with their employee contributions rising about 33 percent as of July 1. Another 2,000 or so teachers in the HSTA VB 90/10 plan saw their employee contributions go up by nearly 22 percent.

In the HSTA VB Kaiser plan, which has about 1,200 teachers, each teacher's monthly share went up between 5 and 6.5 percent.

The new higher employee contributions will be deducted from teachers' next paychecks starting July 20.

Even with the premium increases, teachers with HSTA VEBA health coverage still are paying less for health insurance than those in the EUTF system. EUTF controls the health insurance rates and negotiations with health coverage providers. But HSTA will be working on this issue in bargaining our next contract when negotiations begin later this year because we know health premiums are a concern for all members.

Please take this ESSA online survey

With the passage of the federal Every Student Succeeds Act, HSTA teachers have a major opportunity to reclaim the discussion on public education in Hawaii. Gov. David Ige and his ESSA Task Force are seeking teacher input about the blueprint that will shape the direction of change and lay the foundation for the educational system we seek to create. Please take a few minutes to share your thoughts about the current state of public education in Hawaii and the ways in which you think it should be transformed.

We will also be asking you to join us and speak out at Town Hall meetings across the state about ESSA.

Take the brief survey here:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/govessateachersurvey

HSTA hosts grant writing workshop July 12 and 13

HSTA will host a "Grant Writing That Gets Funded" workshop July 12 and 13 at its Red Hill union headquarters. This is the second time our union is hosting this national grant training event by Grant Central USA, a grant training company. We decided to house this conference at HSTA to help our region in garnering more federal, state and foundation grant money after receiving positive reviews from several other agencies about the value of this event.

The training, which runs from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. both days, was especially designed to help people to write better grant proposals quickly and easily by using many of today’s best practices and tips.

The organizations that have already signed up for the training include: Paia Elementary School, Maui Fire Department, Senior Daycare, U.S. Navy, Maui Food Bank, Ka Waihona o Ka Na'auao Charter School, Arcadia Family of Companies, Maui Police Department, One Lucky Local, and the Community Action Program Inc.

Registration is limited to 40 people and there were only a dozen openings remaining as of early July. The cost of the two-day workshop is $650.