As a teacher, I strive to create the best educational environment for my students to learn all of the skills that they need to make wise decisions later on in their adult life.
When I became a parent through fostering one of my students, I wanted the best education for my daughter.
I know the parents I see in parent-teacher conferences want the same. It takes a lot of work to create a great school where we can nurture our students and inspire their creativity and imagination, and it takes people who are in the classroom every day identifying challenges, voicing concerns and finding solutions.
The Hawaii State Teachers Association building on Ala Kapuna Street. A federal court case could hurt the rights of public unions, the author argues.
Cory Lum/Civil Beat
I am a 10th grade math teacher and a proud union member. Through my union, the Hawaii State Teachers Association, we collectively bargain for issues like planning time, which allows us to collaborate with our colleagues and develop learning plans for our classes and for individual students.
We fight for additional positions to keep our class sizes small enough to allow us the ability to connect one-on-one with each student, so none of our students falls through the cracks. We make sure that each teacher has the resources every professional needs, and that students in every class in the Nanakuli-Waianae District have the support and tools they need to succeed.
Educators work in schools because we believe in children, and together we negotiated fair pay and protections that provide stability for our families to let us do what we love.
A Dangerous Attack
Yet, our collective voice and union threaten some special corporate interests. These interests have launched an all-out effort to silence us and take away our collective power.
This corporate-inspired attack on teachers, nurses, first responders and others with the freedom to join together and advocate for public services and fair treatment is at the heart of a U.S. Supreme Court case on public unions called Janus v. AFSCME, Council 31. Not only is this attack dangerous to educators and other public servants like myself — it’s detrimental for our entire community.
I have held the line with my fellow educators to fight for our students, schools and community here in Hawaii. I will continue to raise my voice in this fight because the cost of staying silent is too great.
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