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As a special education teacher, I was not surprised by the results of a teachers’ union survey earlier this year — released to the public in August — that sounded an alarm about Hawaii’s ability to meet the needs of students with special needs.

Department of Education Assistant Superintendent Suzanne Mulcahy publicly responded by writing an excellent article for the Star-Advertiser titled It elevated the critical need to address Hawaii’s current vacancies in this specialized area of teaching.��Mulcahy rightly stated that we can and must do better for our keiki.�� �� ��

Certainly setting a priority to hire more special educators is a good idea and is the first step in solving this problem.��An essential next step is to set more specific priorities in the hiring qualifications for this challenging work.

The first priority must be to hire special education teachers who are highly qualified, experienced in working with a variety of students and able to pull from a range of instructional strategies. These teachers should be knowledgeable with the Individualized Education Program process and up to date on current laws and legislation affecting students with disabilities.

They should also be deeply passionate, open minded, empathetic and flexible. Our children with disabilities deserve nothing less.

Some may argue there aren’t enough qualified candidates. I disagree. As part of this hiring priority, we need to cultivate the talent within our own state. We need to inspire our students interested in the profession to pursue teaching credentials. We need to cultivate their passion and support their educational journey from college coursework through those first few years where a beginning teacher either sinks or swims.

There is an amazing, untapped pool of passionate, educated and driven persons in our very own backyard; we just need to tap it with purpose and support.

Furthermore, as I thought about Mulcahy’s pledge, I couldn’t get away from the fact that the problem of special education teacher vacancies is really symptomatic of a much larger, long-term problem with Hawaii’s education system:�� teacher retention.

Every year, Hawaii schools lose valuable teachers at one of the highest rates in the nation, with many new teachers leaving before they reach five years in the profession. These issues are not new and are often cited year after year by educators and others. No one seems to be able to find lasting solutions, however.

I have personally watched more than a dozen highly qualified and deeply passionate teachers leave Hawaii’s education system over the past seven years, and there are some common themes I have found.

First, the experience and expertise of teachers from others states are not valued as highly as they could be. These teachers enter at salaries well below their previous pay, and they are forced to accept huge deductions to their overall years of service in the teaching profession.

Second, when pay issues are coupled with our high cost of living, teaching in Hawaii becomes much less attractive. If Hawaii seeks to build a high performing educational system, one part is to honor and financially reward incoming teachers’ earned expertise and prior years of service.

I know we can create a better system that attracts, recruits and retains highly qualified and effective teachers if we just put more value on the skills, tools and knowledge they bring to the table with their prior professional experiences.

Regarding our current teachers, we have been through a great deal in the past five years. Furlough Fridays and directed leave without pay hit the livelihood of teachers in very real ways.�� Some struggled to make ends meet.

This happened at the same time we were working with a new set of standards, new curriculum, new expectations and a new evaluation system. For many it was overwhelming, frustrating and took a great deal of energy away from what we do best, which is teach.

These negative feelings still linger, and we need to repair the relationship between teachers, lawmakers and administrative officials.

We need to work together to find solutions where all parties feel heard and valued. One person or one group acting alone cannot solve the problem of teacher retention and special education vacancies.

By working together we can rebuild a relationship that develops trusts and promotes respect.��We can create a system that supports, inspires and encourages the very best from teachers as they serve our students’ needs.

As Mulcahy says, “We can and we will do better.”

I couldn’t agree more, and look forward to seeing what we, as a team, can come up with.