Law to protect educators from harassment shot down - KHON2

HONOLULU(KHON2) — A law protecting teachers from threatening behavior was stalled by the legislature but many still feel that more needs to be done to prevent educators from harassment.

Recently, the Hawaii Department of Education (DOE) requested a bill they said was, “necessary to address the growing problem of adults who both threaten and harass educational officials and obstruct the operations of the school, school administration office, or school board.”

HB2125 aimed to “create the offense of harassment of an education worker for disrupting or interfering with functions of school or administration.”

It was shot down by the Senate education committee after a scathing and concerning testimony.

Michelle Castamaga, the parent of a SPED student, testified that, “we are extremely concerned that DOE representatives will continue to try and suppress SPED parents and children and suppress any authority granted to them if this bill passes.”

But many said there is still a need for something put in place to keep educators safe.

“It gets kind of heated at times,” said McKinley High School Principal Ron Okumura.

The principal said he gets threats all the time and noticed people lashing out more since the pandemic.

“I’ve had parents come in, and they’re just overcharged,” he explained. “But for the most part, we can kind of settle them down.”

He said he would be in favor of stiffer penalties, for harassment and threats protecting educators in schools but said if it’s like existing laws it’s unnecessary.

House Speaker Scott Saiki said more needs to be done to prevent hostile behavior.

“The bill was dealing with the backend and how to — how to punish someone for it,” said Saiki. “But I think it’s just — it’s just as important for us to figure out how to prevent these kinds of incidents from escalating and occurring on our school campuses.”

He said the legislature will continue to look at ways to resolve this important issue.

“Because what we want to ultimately make sure that schools are safe for students, staff, teachers and parents,” said Saiki.

source: https://www.khon2.com/local-news/law-to-protect-educators-from-harassment-shot-down/

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