HSTA COVID-19 Briefing 3-16-2020

We at HSTA want to acknowledge the anxiety and fear many of our members have in regards to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

On March 15, Gov. David Ige and the Hawaii State Department of Education announced that all public schools would have an extended student spring break while teachers would report to work from March 23–27 to “plan for implementation of social distancing within the school setting, arrange for professional development to support modified operations.” HSTA quickly initiated a grievance as we believe this plan is in violation of Article X - Teacher Protection in our contract.

In Sunday’s news conference, the governor encouraged state administrators to allow employees to work from home if possible. We are asking the HIDOE if there is a work-from-home option for 12-month teachers starting immediately, and for 10-month teachers during the week of March 23–27. We believe this option is important, especially for teachers who have health concerns or care for elderly, at-risk family members, and/or school-aged children.

In this live briefing, we offer a comprehensive overview of where things currently stand, and what questions and concerns we've posed to the HIDOE. We also address members' questions, though given these unprecedented circumstances, we do not have all the answers.

Check our COVID-19 web page for the latest updates: http://bit.ly/hstacovid
Subscribe to Member Matters for email updates: http://bit.ly/hstaemail