Testimony BOE From: brad silva <[email protected]> on behalf of brad silva Sent: Friday, February 12, 2021 8:39 PM To: [email protected] Subject: TESTIMONY Aloha, I am testifying in support of Action Item A, for the Special Meeting, regarding Superintendent Christina Kishimoto’s discontinuance of extra compensation for classroom teachers in special education, hard-to-staff geographical locations, and Hawaiian language programs. I am a Special Education teacher on Hawaii Island for 18 years. I was in the midst of leaving the classroom / profession, but then discussion of the differential pay for SPED teachers were being discussed. When it happened, it definitely made me want to hold my position. To finally get compensated for all the EXTRA work we do as case managers was awesome. Now that it is being taken away, I am waiting for the job postings and exploring other avenues due to the loss of pay. Please reconsider allowing differentials for SPED, LANGUAGE, and hard to fill positions. Mahalo for your time, Brad Silva SPED Teacher Keaau Middle School Sent from Yahoo Mail on Android Testimony BOE From: Kaylie Breaux <[email protected]> on behalf of Kaylie Breaux Sent: Friday, February 12, 2021 9:10 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Testimony Hello, I am testifying in regards to action item A. My husband and I are both HIDOE teachers, I am a special education teacher for middle school and he is math. Without question and as a great understatement, this has been the most challenging year of my career as a special educator. Since August, I have spent countless hours beyond the workday trying my absolute hardest to serve my already challenged students through a computer screen. As this wasn’t adequately meeting their needs, I advocated for them and sacrificed my own safety as well as my family’s safety to bring them into my classroom so I could support them both educationally and emotionally during this traumatic time for them. In addition to my in-person learners, I still have to balance the needs of the students in special education whose parents are uncomfortable with bringing them into school, let alone learn technology and create digital lesson plans in a completely different format than I have ever practiced before. On top of this all, I have had to complete two extra rounds of IEP paperwork and meetings regarding COVID Impact Plans as required by the district for special education students. My body is drained, my mental health has suffered tremendously, and I have made sacrifices out of love for my Kelli that I never I would have to make. The $10,000 differential I have received as a special educator has kept our family afloat as we struggle to pay bills with two teacher salaries raising a family with Hawaii’s high cost of living. In response to the memo from Superintendent Kishimoto, my husband and I have already applied to outside positions due to the fact that we simply cannot afford the pay cut. The stress and tears that pending furloughs have caused for our family combined with now taking away our much needed differential has made us feel extremely undervalued, unappreciated, and honestly, unable to emotionally and financially bear the stress we continue to be unnecessarily subjected to as our superintendent makes extreme and bold statements prematurely and without accountability. Please, for the sake of our keiki and your kumus who have sacrificed more than others could imagine, do not cut our differentials. Testimony BOE From: [email protected] Sent: Friday, February 12, 2021 9:43 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Pay Differentials are necessary and covered by Federal Funding Dear Board of Education Members, The pay differential for Special Education teachers is something that has been very important to my family. The workload and legal responsibilities of a Special Education teacher are enormous. This Presidents Day weekend will see me spending at least 12 hours developing draft Individual Education Programs for two of my students to meet deadlines for annual meetings next week. I estimate I spend at least an extra 200 hours every year at weekends completing work that cannot be fit into the already full and demanding workweek. The correct appropriation of CARES funds is important not just on a policy level but we must adhere to guidelines laid out for the use of such funds. DOE and BOE must use federal stimulus funding to avoid layoffs and pay cuts. The stimulus funding should be enough to avoid pay cuts and furloughs. The next stimulus package coming from DC means an additional 442 million for education and will be enough continue to operate payroll and programs. Indeed that is EXACTLY what it is designed to do. Thank you. Angela Huntemer M.Ed. Testimony BOE From: Todd Holmberg <[email protected]> on behalf of Todd Holmberg Sent: Friday, February 12, 2021 9:55 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Teachers need you Dear Superintendent Kishimoto, I am a special education teacher at Maui High School. I changed my career in 2019 to become a teacher in order to do something that matters. My job is challenging but it the most rewarding position I've ever had. I really felt like Hawaii wanted to keep encouraging good people to make a difference in kids lives with incentives like the diferential. If HI takes that away and makes additional cuts in pay, it's game over for me and many other teachers. There will be now way to live here, with the insane housing prices and so few extra income options now, due to COVID related business closures. A mass exodus of SPED Teachers, will lead to cuts to services kids need, spurring endless litigation from frustrated parents. You're going to need us more than ever now. Despite the incredible efforts teachers have made to teach online, a lot of ground will still need to made up once we're all back in the classroom. I fear draconian cuts at this juncture will exasperate an already tenuous educational deficit, which could be devastating to so many of our students for years to come. I urge you to look for ways to hold on to Hawaii's teachers. We can't afford to push them out of the field or out of Hawaii completely. Thank you Testimony BOE From: Holly Sullivan <[email protected]> on behalf of Holly Sullivan Sent: Friday, February 12, 2021 10:40 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Testimony Aloha, I am testifying in support of Action Item A, for the Special Meeting, regarding Superintendent Christina Kishimoto’s discontinuance of extra compensation for classroom teachers in special education, hard-to-staff geographical locations, and Hawaiian language programs. I am a Special Education Teacher at Kalihi Waena in a Fully Self Contained classroom. My classroom size has almost doubled from last year's number of students. My students require significant adult assistance and I have a devoted staff dedicated to serving their needs. The pandemic has increased the demands and time for all of us to do our jobs. This year feels like the workload has significantly increased beyond any of the demanding 20 years I have worked in special education. Additionally, there have been less funds available. My principal is creative and supportive but due to the varying demands (pandemic, etc.) and budget cuts there have been less funds available. While we were awarded a grant from Hawaii State Federal Credit Union for materials and best practices software, Boardmaker Professional, we still have many needs. The stipend has been a huge benefit to be me: 1) I do not have to work 2-3 jobs to make ends meet. Hawaii is very expensive and I have huge student loans . I am fortunate that my landlord is teacher-friendly. This does not mean I have much money left for savings, etc. but I am able to survive. 2) I have also been able to use the additional money to buy the materials, or have upfront money to buy materials cheaper on Amazon, that my students need and/or benefit from. These include materials, curriculum, support, specialty items, and everyday items that include but are not limited to: noise cancelling headphones, velcro (lots of it), math mats curriculum, sensory items, laminating cartridges for quick in class cold process laminating, noise cancelling headphones, card stock (for picture icons), paper towels (we are going through a big Costco package every 2 weeks for bathrooming assistance and my staff and I are doing our best to keep up with these needs). I was also able to purchase 2 additional storage units for home to hold the many materials I have bought personally in the past for students with special needs as there is not enough space for materials at school with the social distancing demands and increased class size and adults required to assist them. Also we need more than one set of materials for safety and social distancing. Thank you for your continued support and commitment to our students and staff in these difficult times. Holly Sullivan Testimony BOE From: Jonathan Kissida <[email protected]> on behalf of Jonathan Kissida Sent: Saturday, February 13, 2021 7:35 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Testimony Aloha Board of Education, I am testifying in support of Action Item A. for the Special Meeting, regarding Superintendent Christina Kishimoto’s discontinuance of extra compensation for classroom teachers in special education, hard-to-staff geographical locations, and Hawaiian language programs. Hawaii's keiki have already gone through a lot over the last year and a half with online learning/learning at home, rotation schedules, and countless other social emotional challenges.