Several public school teachers represented by the Hawaii State Teachers Association were angered recently when local and state elections for new union officers were tainted by the actions of at least three state chapter presidents. They insisted the elections be redone, threatening to seek recourse through filings in circuit court or with the Hawaii and National labor boards if their demands weren't met.

HSTA’s trouble began in early-March when Maui HSTA Chapter President Lester Kunimitsu and Central Oahu Chapter President Jan Turner attached their personal endorsements of candidates to official HSTA e-mails that were sent to teachers through the state Department of Education’s e-mail system. Turner ran unopposed and was elected as National Education Association Director for Hawaii. Kunimitsu was also re-elected. Another violation involved Kona Chapter President Shannon Garan, who told teachers at an HSTA meeting who to vote for, according to sources.

The e-mails and verbal report appeared to represent official endorsements of candidates by the HSTA Board of Directors, but they did not. According to HSTA bylaws, communications using the official HSTA logo must come from the HSTA’s Board of Directors only.The HSTA contract with the state does allow for the use of the publicly-owned Lotus Notes e-mail system for union business, but is not intended for personal campaigns of individual candidates. Teachers are concerned that the use of Lotus Notes, which allows the whole list of all statewide teachers to be available to candidates, uses a state-funded system to advance their personal candicacy.

The election process, including dates for filing, was changed this year, causing some teachers to call for a complete re-election rather than a revote only. A tainted election process could trigger trusteeship by the National Education Association as well as penalties under state and federal labor law, according to a labor expert.

Protesting during a caucus on Thursday preceeding the convention, one teacher attempted to place the discussion of these violations on the agenda, but discussion was deferred and the minutes did not reflect discussion or concerns regarding misconduct. The Chair refused discussion of violations of the election process. On Friday night, March 24, before the convention, candidates asked the Board of Directors about the process for filing a formal complaint, but they responded that they did not know.

A candidate filed a complaint with HSTA President Roger Takabayashi and with copies to HSTA Executive Director Joan Husted and Vice President Joan Lewis. Acting on the advice of HSTA attorney Vernon Yu, the Board of the Hawaii State Teachers’ Association conceded to re-ballot the HSTA State Elections due to improprieties, but in March voted down Election Committee recommendations and candidate demands for a full re-election process.

HSTA Executive Director Joan Husted asked a candidate who filed a complaint with the Board of Directors what it would take to withdraw the complaint.

The response included: formalize the complaint process, update by-laws to spell-out the election process, include a process for censure, hold offenders responsible by removal from office or expulsion from the union and an apology to members by those who violated the process. They also asked for a complete re-election at the local, not just the state-level, and not just revote.

Although HSTA by-laws state that ‘willful and intentional acts’ of misconduct may result in removal from office and expulsion from the organization, complainants were told that nothing would be done. Article XIV, Sections 4 and 5, of the HSTA by-laws allows for recall or removal of officers who have violated membership or election rules, but it does not delineate the process that must be used to file a complaint.

HSTA Vice-President Joan Lewis, who ran as a candidate for President Takabayashi’s position, sent out an e-mail to teachers after the convention using the DOE’s Lotus Notes system to explain what had gone wrong with the voting process. She then included personal endorsements in that e-mail for herself as President and for Karolyn Mossman for Secretary-Treasurer.

She stated that her main concern was the cost to members for the revote, which she estimated at around $30,000. Teachers were concerned that the cost of the revote would be taken out of their "strike fund," but Husted confirmed that there is no "strike fund" and that the cost would be paid out of the Crisis fund. The NEA Crisis fund is supported by annual individual teacher assessments in each state that are submitted to the NEA for any emergency situation that occurs in any state.

The slate of officers in the state elections includes:

President: Joan Lewis vs. Roger Takabayashi

Vice President: Wil Okabe

Secretary Treasurer: Ruth Dalisay; Beverly Gotelli; Karolyn Mossman

NEA Director: Jan Turner

NEA Alternate Director: Fran Bellinger

Also on the ballot are 47 nominees to the NEA Representative Assembly.

Some teachers feel that this list of candidates does not represent real choice and that the bungling of the election and the failure of the Board to implement accountability procecedures may mean that it is time for a complete change of union leadership.

Laura Brown is the education reporter and researcher for HawaiiReporter.com and the education policy analyst for the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii. She can be reached via email at mailto:laurabrown@hawaii.rr.com